For there was a time when the most notorious, feared, and renowned red-light district, not only in Ireland but all over Europe, could be found on the streets of inner-city Dublin. The area was notorious for the audacity of unregulated but not illegal prostitution. And it was a rough place where ‘dog ate dog’ and where the police dared not enter.
The area was known as Monto, a stone’s throw from the city centre, the railway station, the docks, and was replete with brothels, shebeens, pubs and brawny Madams. On the steps of every Georgian house, women and girls displayed their wares in everything from an evening dress to a nightdress.
Monto was the den of Madams such as Bella Cohen, May Oblong and Mrs Mack. Its bustling brothels (with well-known prostitutes such as Piano Mary and Lily of the Lamplight), catered for royalty, judges, politicians, every class in fact, and students such as Joyce, Beckett, Gogarty and more.
Monto welcomed the thousands of soldiers based in Dublin, and was a cheerful sailor’s stroll from the teeming quaysides where ships unloaded their commercial cargoes and their lustful crews. For these soldiers and sailors knew, by experience and reputation, that Monto was justifiably regarded as Europe’s biggest and boldest red-light district.
Such was the area’s infamy, that the name of Monto, even after its demise, has endured in folk memory, in song and story.
MAURICE CURTIS has written many books on Ireland and on Dublin in particular. These include: THE HELLFIRE CLUB – Dublin’s Dance with the Devil; THE LIBERTIES IN DUBLIN – Steps, Stones, and Stories; TEMPLE BAR – A History and THE LITTLE BOOK OF RATHMINES.
