The Colour of Ireland
A fascinating new book transforms black and white images of people and places of bygone eras, bringing them to life in incredible colour and vibrant detail. Author Rob Cross, who painstakingly researched and restored nearly 200 photographs for the book, writes about what inspired him to put together this treasure trove.
One of the first questions people asked me concerning my new book The Colour of Ireland - County by County 1860-1960 is what was the main driving force in deciding to write and eventually publish the book. The answer to this all stems back to my childhood. From an early age I developed a keen interest in architectural heritage while growing up in the medieval heart of Limerick City, just across the road from the thirteenth century King John’s Castle on King’s Island. It is surrounded by an abundance of architectural heritage, such as the Bishop’s Palace (built-in 1780), and St Mary’s Cathedral (founded in 1168).
PASSION FOR HISTORY
From those early days in the 1980s I could see a lot of Limerick’s architectural heritage being left to fall into a state of disrepair owing to absentee landlords and poor urban planning. ‑ is passion for history grew stronger as the years passed, so I wanted to find a way to encourage people and policymakers to appreciate and hopefully preserve our architectural heritage for future generations to enjoy. I started the ‘Bringing Ireland’s History to Life’ project and began sharing a lot of my research work along with my photo colourisation and restoration work. But one of the key factors in developing the Bringing Ireland’s History to Life project was my extensive skill set, developed and fine-tuned over the years working in the field of architecture such as art, photography, history, research, technology, graphic design, urban design and computer coding. So I had the essential tools to start publishing unique content on the social media platform Twitter. Over time it helped me build up a significant social media following which attracted people from all walks of life from all over the world, including politicians, academics, historians, actors and film directors.
People could see from the beginning that what I was publishing on Twitter was both fascinating and unique since I was not only publishing restored and colourised photos but my Bringing Ireland’s History to Life tweets were accompanied by an extensive
Twitter thread exploring and analysing the background of each photo.
SOCIAL MEDIA
In many ways I was using social media as a tool to publish, gather and document my history research. The decision to share my work on social media also allowed the general public to see, engage and contribute to my research especially during the long months during the Covid lockdowns in Ireland. But for me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing this book was the actual journey itself, especially meeting so many interesting people whilst learning more about the fascinating history of each of the 32 counties on this island and the people that once inhabited this ancient land of ours.
Another benefit of working on these historical photos, especially the finer detail of the photo, such as the people and the furniture, is you begin to discover new objects that you wouldn’t have recognised in the original black and white photo. This uncovering of new elements from those visual stories of the past is one of my favourite aspects of colourising photos.
One of my Twitter followers commented once that my work is like turning the light switch on our history, but it’s worth remembering that our history occurred in colour and not black and white.
Deciding to sign with my publisher, Black and White Publishing, allowed me the freedom to put my stamp on the book, such as making sure that the originals as well as the colour versions are included in the book. And also including the 32 counties, making my book an All-Ireland history book, making sure that women and children and ethnic minorities groups such as the Irish Travellers were well represented in the book. I was also pleased to invite established historians such as Diarmaid Ferriter and Donal Fallon to write the introductory essays to debate the pros and cons of colourisation of black and white films and photographs - which other similar books hadn't covered. Publishing this book also gave me an opportunity to write an essay on altering historical digital images that can distort our understanding of history – and, as such, needs to be recognised.
Hopefully, my book will instil a sense of engagement with the past and encourage people of all ages, especially the young, to explore Ireland’s amazing and rich history.