During the Middle Ages Cork was a busy port and an important town (although it would seem no more than a village to us with a population of probably not more than 2,000). Animal hides and woollen cloth were exported from Cork and wine (the drink of the upper class) was imported. The streets were really narrow, normally just wide enough for one horse and cart to pass. Leading off the streets were countless lanes and alleyways and all of these lanes were teeming with people- men, women and children going about their daily lives. The streets were normally muddy and full of potholes, the garbage was piled in heaps so that the pigs, which nearly every citizen kept in his yard, could snort and grunt and have its feed. The houses were almost all made of timber, with the upper rooms projecting out so that the houses on both sides of the street were almost touching. Because of this the streets were dark and saw little sunshine.

Street scenes from the Middle Ages

The vast majority of the people could not read or write so instead of advertising notices, the various shopkeepers and tradesmen had painted signs over their premises. A wine merchant would have a bunch of grapes over his shop, a fishmonger a fish and so on. In Cork there were also the same craftsmen you would find in any Medieval town such as blacksmiths, goldsmiths, tinsmiths, carpenters, coopers (they made barrels), tailors, glovers, potters, shoemakers and wheelwrights.

There were no newspapers or radio or television in those times so how did people find out what was going on? The town cross was the place where all the announcements were made by the Town Crier. He rang his bell to gather the citizens before he made his announcements. The town cross stood in the North Main Street .Here, too, criminals were brought before the people and flogged (whipped) an indeed hanged.

Photo shows a barber's pole (the only kind of sign from that time still in use today)

At night time the Night Watchman patrolled the streets. He carried a lantern and a cudgel
(a large stick) to chase away any robbers he might meet. Every hour he shouted out the time and the state of the weather and when the honest craftsman sleeping on his feathered bed in an upper room in the North Main Street heard the Watchman cry 'Four o` clock and all is well' he turned over in his bed and went soundly back to sleep.

In 1349 the Black Death ( a disease spread by rats ) came to Cork and it killed half the population of the town.

Fire was a constant hazard because of wooden houses and thatched roofs, disease was always a danger because of poor sanitation and the lack of clean drinking water.
A huge fire destroyed 1500 houses in the city in 1622 and after that 'thatched roofs' were banned in the city.