Molly Malone Statue, Dublin

Molly Malone was a rather infamous Irish woman who lived in Dublin in the late 1600's. By day she walked the streets selling cockles and mussels and by night she was, well, a lady of the night.

A song was written about Molly which is now sung all over the world and is recognised as the unofficial anthem of Dublin City. It's called "Cockles and Mussels Alive Alive Oh".

A statue of Molly has been erected at the junction of Grafton Street and Suffolk Street, just across from the main entrance to Trinity College University. It is hardly a coincidence that the stories say the students of Trinity were some of Molly's best night customers! Molly was renowned to be very well endowed, and it's a classic pose for male tourists to pose by the statue with their hands hugging her boobs! Makes a fun holiday pic alright.

Molly is at the bottom of Grafton Street, affectionately known as "the tart with a cart"

The statue portrays Molly as a busty young woman in seventeenth-century dress, and is claimed to represent the real person on whom the song is based. Her low-cut dress and large breasts were justified on the grounds that as women breastfed publicly in Molly's time, breasts were popped out all over the place

An urban legend has grown up around the figure of the historical Molly who has been presented variously as a hawker by day and part-time prostitute by night, or, in contrast, as one of the few female street-hawkers of her day who was chaste

Thanks to Mariajoy for the photo, it was so busy around the statue it was impossible for me to take a decent one

In Dublin's fair city,
where the girls are so pretty,
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive alive oh!"

"Alive-a-live-oh,
Alive-a-live-oh",
Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive alive oh".

Now she was a fishmonger,
And sure 'twas no wonder,
For so were her mother and father before,
And they each wheeled their barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!"

(chorus)

She died of a fever,
And no one could save her,
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone.
Now her ghost wheels her barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!"

(chorus)

And there she is: on the corner of Grafton and Suffolk Street: the world famous Molly Malone. If you see the statue, you'll probably start to sing along like almost everyone else: In Dublin's fair city, ...."
As the song says, during daytime Molly was a fishmonger selling "cockles and mussles", but during nighttime, she changed her fishmonger clothes for some more reveiling things, stillettoes and fish-net tights.

This is the legend of course. I don't know if Molly Malone really existed, but she surely is a part of Dublin's history! The statue has been renamed "The tart with the cart".

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I had heard the name Molly Malone before but could not exactly say what she was famous for. Now I know that she was not a real person but is a beautiful fishmonger sang of in Dublin’s unofficial anthem, and she died because of fever.

The statue of Molly Malone is designed by Jeanne Rynhart and was erected to celebrate Dublin’s millennium in 1988. She is wearing a 17th century dress and is standing with a cart at the bottom of Grafton Street, near Trinity College.

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Something not to be missed at the top of Grafton Street is the statute designed by Jeanne Rynhart, erected to celebrate the city's first millennium in 1987. Sometimes known by locals as "The Tart with the Cart" in 17th century dress Molly was a fishmonger and some say doubled as a Lady of The Night.

Always a crowd around the statute and well worth visiting as there are often many modern day "Mollys" by the statute.

Molly Malone is another quintessential part of Dublin. It's no more than just a statue of a lady selling mussels and she features in an Irish song known in most of the world.

But let me tell you the full story. Molly Malone did indeed sell cockles and mussels on the streets of Dublin but the song never tells you that by night she sold something else on the streets of Dublin. I'll blush if I'm going to be too specific but suffice it to say that it was only men who bought it from her and they wouldn't be too keen to tell their wives of such purchases...

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Huh, in this church there is a Tourist Information Centre - this is really a first in my travels ... weird ... But anyway, the church looks great from outside and inside, apart from some good info, there is a very well-stocked souvenier shop (but no stamps for the postcards ...)

I must have missed her my first walk through the area and after I did spot her it is understandable why. Every tourist who comes to Dublin obvously wants their picture taken with the young lady of the famous song. I was lucky to snap this photo between waves of tourists jumping on base to be near her.

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The Molly Malone bronze sculpture is one of Dublin’s most popular sights. It was inspired by the song of the same name, which is also known under the name of “Cockles and Mussles” and “In Dublin’s Fair City”. It was designed by Jeanne Rynhart and place unveiled in 1988 as part of the Dublin Millenium celebrations.
Like the spire, she has earned several nicknames like “the tart with the cart” or the “the dolley with the trolley”. However, unlike the spire, she is beloved by Dublin citizen and tourists alike.

Molly Malone......known to Dublins as " the tart with the cart"

For someone who trod this Earth for so brief a period, the youngest daughter of two fishmongers named Patrick and Colleen Malone had a far greater impact on those who knew her, and many who did not, than almost anyone else who had ever lived in the seedy waterfront neighborhoods of Dublin during the early part of the 19th century.

In fact, so great was the outpouring of grief at the funeral of young Molly Malone, struck down by a fever as she blossomed into full womanhood, that the pubs for sixteen miles in every direction were obliged to stay open around the clock for three days following the sad event. Indeed, the reason for this unprecedented communal agony was summed up neatly by the epitaph engraved on the simple stone that graced her final resting place