Our search for Thomas Kirk's background was occupying some of the best academic minds in Dublin, but the story of his life lay at the bottom of my garden, here in Rosses Point.
Hop over the dry stone wall and you'll find yourself in Columcille Drive and the home of Eithne Carter, her husband Ciarán, and their two children, Ruairí and Aisling.
I was curious about the Metal Man myself, said Eithne, a member of the Sligo Bay Lifeboat Crew, so I wrote to the Maritime Institute of Ireland. I've found the letter I got back, but you probably know what's in it.
Foras Muiri Na H-Eireann
Haigh Terrace,
Dun Laoghaire,
County Dublin,
Ireland
August 16, 1996
Dear Miss Carter,
May I apologise for my delay in replying to your letter, posted on 26 November last? I found nothing about the Metal Man of Tramore in the Maritime Institute's library, here in Mariners' Church, and the RDS library has been closed for alterations.
Last Friday, an official let me in. After scanning several volumes, each of which mentioned that the pillars were erected to distinguish, to approaching ships, the shallow Tramore Bay from the deep Waterford Harbour and repeated the legend of the lass looking for a husband, hopping around the Metal Man, I found Des Moore's Off Beat Island - Nomad Books - 1981:
The Metal Man was fashioned by Thomas Kirk, a craftsman whose best work was doomed to
be well known but little seen.
The Tramore figure, known popularly as the Metal man, has a lofty counterpart at Sligo,
and Limerick provides a further example of glorious isolation for Kirk's statue of Thomas
Spring Rice, a former MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer, which dominates the city's
Peoples' Park. Most familiar of all until it vanished from the Dublin skyline was the
statue of Nelson's Pillar - a work which made its appearance in 1809 and for which Kirk
received 300 pounds. The sculptor was then 30 years of age and beginning to make a mark in
his profession. Dublin General Post Office carried his figures of Mercury, Fidelity and
Hibernia, and he was also responsible for numerous chimney pieces and much fine carving in
churches and institutions throughout the entire country. What is considered by many to be
his finest work. however, suffers from the same obscurity as the pillared figures too high
for examination. Few native Dubliners have ever climbed Nelson's Pillar and probably not
many more have visited Christchurch Cathedral as sightseers.
There may be seen Kirk's memorial to Nathaniel P Sneyd - wine merchant, Member of Parliament and a governor of the Bank of Ireland. In July, 1833, Sneyd's death was the talk of the capital when he was murdered by a maniac as he walked along Westmorland Street.
Kind Regards
Philip Smiley
Tales of murder, mystery and mayhem, but Eithne Carter and Philip Smiley have provided us with another couple of pieces of the jig saw which may eventually lead us to the missing Metal Men.