Rows of flimsy houses with gaping doors. In the Census, the occupation of two Dublin women is entered as prostitute. At the time of the Census, it was a street running parallel to, and north of, Foley St.
The Monto came to prominence in the late nineteenth century, and lasted well into the twentieth century, until the new State, prompted by the Legion of Mary, effectively shut it down. This map ca. The red cross marks Montgomery St. They write that there is little surviving of the Monto today, with streets, houses, and street names cleared away. They have used the Ordnance Survey maps of the city to trace the growth and decline of prostitution in this small area.
Why did the Monto come about? Firstly, the area was far enough from respectable eyes to enable the containment of prostitution away from upper and middle-class residential districts. From the s, there was no shortage of powers available to the police to shut down brothels and arrest their occupants. Luddy reports the Dublin Metropolitan Police records: 2, arrests in , 4, in ; and running at about 1, per year from the s. A low of was recorded in Secondly, the area was a slum, meaning rents were low.
And thirdly, and most likely crucially, the area was perfectly positioned next to Amiens St station, Dublin port, and Aldborough House. Amiens St likely provided plenty of young women from the country looking for work. Keeping track of street names in the area is no mean feat. But just two years later, the residents in the Lower part had their street name changed to Lower Tyrone St. Are you keeping up? This area of the city was the inverse of its surroundings; coming to life when Dublin slept, being run by women rather than men; public expressions in the most intimate of places.
While the growth of the Monto may have been due to the turning of the cheek by the law, religious groups were not so unobservant. Bizarrely, the neighbours of brothel owners and prostitutes in the Monto were the nuns: the Sisters of Charity, who took over the Magdalen Asylum established on Mecklinburgh St in But it was the Association of Our Lady of Mercy Legion of Mary , founded by Frank Duff in which had the greatest impact on shutting down prostitution in the Monto.
