Cottage with fine tied down, thatch, F Kane, licensed tobacco dealer, outside car, people
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Where: Northern Ireland, Antrim, United Kingdom
Try to find the spot where the photographer was standing.
When: Unknown
Try to find the date or year when this image was made.
How times have changed, the establishment was required to have a sign above the door showing that they were licensed to sell tobacco. Today they could not even consume tobacco in the premises.
With thanks to all the contributors below, it seems pretty certain that this is the Kane "Temperance Tea Rooms" (later "Kane's Royal Hotel"), at the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim. The date of the image is very likely c.1870 (+/- 6 or 7 years) and possibly c.1866. See the comments below for other images, adverts and items related to the hotel - which remained within the Kane family through at least the first half of the 20th century - but is now demolished.
Photographers: Frederick Holland Mares, James Simonton
Contributor: John Fortune Lawrence
Collection: The Stereo Pairs Photograph Collection
Date: ca. 1860-1883 (though likely 1863-1876)
NLI Ref: STP_2036
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Source: Flickr Commons
Views: 56795
With thanks to all the contributors below, it seems pretty certain that this is the Kane "Temperance Tea Rooms" (later "Kane's Royal Hotel"), at the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim. The date of the image is very likely c.1870 (+/- 6 or 7 years) and possibly c.1866. See the comments below for other images, adverts and items related to the hotel - which remained within the Kane family through at least the first half of the 20th century - but is now demolished.
Photographers: Frederick Holland Mares, James Simonton
Contributor: John Fortune Lawrence
Collection: The Stereo Pairs Photograph Collection
Date: ca. 1860-1883 (though likely 1863-1876)
NLI Ref: STP_2036
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Info:
Owner: National Library of Ireland on The CommonsSource: Flickr Commons
Views: 56795
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georgekane
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stereopairsphotographcollection
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Niall McAuley
Sidecar, in Kerry, maybe? There are Kanes, shopkeepers, in Cloghane, Dingle peninsula, in the 1901 census.
Niall McAuley
Hmm, there are a lot of Kanes in Antrim, and STP 2030 on are all in Antrim...
O Mac
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley] I think you're right about Antrim. I suspect it's somewhere near the Giants Causeway ( townland Ardihannon) and maybe where the Nook now stands. While this Streetview is not of the same house, whoever built the chimneys may also have built those above as they all have the exact same unusual drip detail. Census 1901 Possibility ??
Niall McAuley
Lookie here in the Archive - The Causeway Hotel and Kane's Royal Hotel (now demolished )
Niall McAuley
And in the distance here. And then, in close-up! This is indeed Kane's Royal Hotel in it's early days, at the Giant's Causeway in Antrim, and [https://www.flickr.com/photos/91549360@N03] 's census 1901 is correct.
Niall McAuley
F is for Francis, he has an ad in an 1888 Antrim directory. (But it is behind a paywall, boo!)
sharon.corbet
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley] Look familiar? :-) www.flickr.com/photos/proni/13734790105/in/photostream/
sharon.corbet
There's an ad for the hotel here, with the prices from 1902.
Niall McAuley
By 1910 it is listed as F & G Kane. Son George is in the 1901 census, but proprietress Mary Jane is a widow in 1901, so F&G is a bit odd.
Niall McAuley
In 1910, the Kane family purchased the Causeway Hotel; and in 1963 the Hotel was sold to Frank Fleming. according to this history of the Causeway Hotel next door.
sharon.corbet
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley] G is for George, his brother.
Niall McAuley
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129555378@N07 I suspect that the Francis in the ad from 1888 must be their father, Mary Janes husband, but yes, the two brothers are the F&G in the 1910 listing.
Niall McAuley
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129555378@N07 Ha ha! Reading the bottom of that 1902 ad, I can see why the Kanes bought the Causeway later: THE ROYAL HOTEL Being looked upon as opposition to the Causeway Hotel is denied the privilege of having a porter to represent it at the tram terminus; but the Porter attends on the public road. Please look out for him, and don't mind the touters for the Tram and Causeway Hotel, but keep to the right, and insist upon getting to KANE'S.
Niall McAuley
There must have been constant building going on - this image is the earliest, then the thatch is replaced by a second storey, but still in two buildings here, then we see the 1888 PRONI image where the hotel is a single building with 3 chimneys (still with the little porch!) and finally the 3 storey thing from that ad in 1902.
Niall McAuley
The tramtracks are still there, in use as a steam train tourist attraction, although streetview caught them shunting with a little diesel loco, by the looks of it. The Nook bar is the former schoolhouse, built in 1915.
sharon.corbet
By 1918 Francis is in charge of the Royal, whereas George is at the Causeway.
O Mac
www.flickr.com/photos/91549360@N03/23261627609/in/datepos... The obligatory Streetview of where Kanes was in its day. How a carpark next to the new visitors centre. The competition and rivalry between the two hotels must have been fierce as can also be seen from the "ad" . "Opposition keeps down Imposition" I'd say the Kanes were a tough bunch.
O Mac
There was also a Kane's Hotel in Bushmills just down the road. catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000322823
sharon.corbet
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley] Yet another picture for your sequence. The second earliest, I think.
sharon.corbet
TripAdvisor style review from 1901: The Causeway is not far from the end of the tram-route; yet on a hilltop directly in the path thither stands Mary Jane Kane’s Royal Hotel, by far the most conspicuous feature of the landscape. The position of the hotel seemed to thrust on me the duty of engaging lodging there before I went farther. This I did, and found the hostelry a very comfortable one, though the “Royal” portion of its name was not as realistically descriptive of it as the “Mary Jane Kane” part. Indeed, grandiloquent titles are favorites among the Irish, and “Royal” Hotels and “Palace” Hotels are as likely as not to prove the opposite.
John Spooner
The Standard, Saturday, August 27, 1853, quoting the Derry Standard about the Londonderry and Coleraine Railway Company's "arrangements for facilitating the progress of tourists to the Giant's Causeway":
A tripadvisor-style review or an infomercial?O Mac
Hayday
Niall McAuley
Mrs. Kane was evidently in charge by 1898: This road is just in the same condition as it has been to our knowledge for thirty years, except that some improvement has been made at the top near Mrs. Kane's.
Niall McAuley
In 1874: Abont four miles past Dunluce the cars struggle uphill towards a village of white houses overlooking the sea. They consist of a new hotel, a public-house, and a few cottages occupied by a legion of guides male and female, juvenile and superannuated So, is the Hotel Kanes or the Causeway? We know from the history of the Causeway I linked earlier that the Causeway was built in the 1840s, and refitted in 1863. It hardly counts as a new hotel in 1874, but it is certainly a hotel. I suspect that Kane's was just a public house in 1874.
sharon.corbet
There's a book by George Kane-Smith (Francis A.'s grandson) with a chapter giving the whole history of the hotel here. In it he claims this photo is from about 1866, when it was Temperence Tea Rooms with some sleeping accommodation.
sharon.corbet
The Kanes were also on hand when the Emperor and Empress of Brazil visited the Causeway in 1877.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
Remarkable that the cute little windowed porch survived all the subsequent rebuilds and extensions.
Niall McAuley
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129555378@N07 What a find! So the thatched tea room was added in 1863. If the Prince of Wales story is to be credited, the 2nd storey instead of the thatch was 1876 (along with the Royal name). This aligns with the 1874 newspaper description of a public house (the book says the Kanes had a full licence before building the Royal). So this image must be 1863-1876.
Niall McAuley
Small fly in the oinkment - Sharon's 2nd earliest image shows the first 2 storey build, but no Royal sign, and is titled "Temperance Hotel, Giant's Causeway", suggesting that the Kanes did not have a license before the extension. But if the Royal namel comes from the Princes visit, we know that the 2 storey extension was in place before that but not exactly when, so 1876 is still the latest date.
Niall McAuley
I think the big woman standing outside the porch is Mary Jane Kane, proprietress. Her 1897 picture is in the second part of that exhaustive book., on page 184. The same woman is sitting in the PRONI picture.
Niall McAuley
Per the book, Francis Frederick Kane was married in 1863 (when the business began - his wife was a hotelier), and died in 1899. I think the white bearded gentleman sitting beside Mary Jane in the PRONI image is probably him, he would have been 71. He lived a further 11 years.
Niall McAuley
I just noticed that the man 2nd from our left in the PRONI picture is carrying a little dog.
O Mac
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129555378@N07 George Kane-Smith's book was a great find and a great read.
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Thanks all. Map, description, tags, etc all updated. Much appreciated as usual!
startovercool
Great photo nice catch ;-). Congrats on Explore!
Niall McAuley
Hold on to your view counter!
zane & his camera
I put on my 3D glasses but nothing happened? ;)
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zanell Very Funny!!:)