It was a tree-lined country road.

In fact, the scene in the image pictured above is so bucolic and rural that it’s hard to believe it’s now one of the busiest suburban areas in the city.

Look closely and you’ll spot the familiar little cottage to the left that remains to this day on Maryborough Hill in Douglas, even though everything has changed around it.

The colourised image, unearthed by Fiona Forde’s fascinating Twitter account @IrishFamilyDetective, offers a glimpse at what Maryborough Hill looked like for locals in 1939.

Colorised photo of a very quiet @TheMaryborough Hill #Cork 1939 #LoveCork #PureCork #CorkLike pic.twitter.com/kOsIaNZiwp

— IrishFamilyDetective (@Fiona_Forde_Irl) February 14, 2020

Just 82 years ago, farmers would trundle up and down the road by horse and cart but the hedges they passed alongside have long since been replaced by roads, walls and footpaths.

It’s fascinating to see just how much the thoroughfare has changed in eight decades.