Rathfarnham ( , meaning
Fearnán's Ringfort), is a Southside suburb of Dublin
, Ireland
. It is located to the south of Terenure
, and to the
east of Templeogue
, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16.
It is within the administrative areas of both
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and
South Dublin County Councils.
The area
of Rathfarnham includes Whitechurch
, Nutgrove, Ballyboden
and Ballyroan. Historical sites in
the Rathfarnham townlands include: Kilmashogue
, Mount
Venus
, Tibradden
and Taylor's
Grange.
Features
Rathfarnham is home to several notable
historic buildings, including Rathfarnham Castle
and Loreto
Abbey, three parks: Marlay Park
, St. Enda's and
Bushy
Park
, and several pubs including The Eden, Revels and the landmark Yellow
House. Padraig Pearse
established
St Enda's School for
Boys, which is now a museum in his honour situated in
St. Enda's Park.
History
Early history of Rathfarnham
The name Rathfarnham (
Fearnain's Ringfort) suggests an earlier habitation but
no remains of
prehistoric
fortifications, burial places, early churches or old records have
been found.
From Norman times
The written history of Rathfarnham begins after the
Norman invasion of Ireland.
Terenurr and Kimmage (Cheming), both described as being in
Rathfranham (sic) parish Dublin, are mentioned in an 1175 grant by
Henry II to Walter the goldsmith ('Aurifaber') held at Canterbury
Cathedral Archives..
In
1199 these lands were granted to
Milo le Bret. In 1199 he adapted an
existing ridge to build a
motte and
bailey fort at what is now the start of the Braemor Road. It
was apparently still in evidence up to the early 20th
century.
In the following century no events of great importance are recorded
as Rathfarnham, perhaps as it was protected on its south side by
the
Royal Forest of Glencree.
Rathfarnham became more exposed to attack
when this deer park was overrun by the Clan
O'Toole from the Wicklow
Mountains
in the 14th century. Rathfarnham
Castle was erected in part to protect the area from such
attacks.
Rathfarnham Castle
addition, part of
the Pale's defences ran
through the townland of Rathfarnham. Some traces of this are still
extant.
From the 1500s
The castle
and much of the land around Rathfarnham belonged to the Eustace
family of Baltinglass
. However, their property was confiscated for
their part in the
Second
Desmond Rebellion of
1579-
83. The
castle and its lands were then granted to the Loftus family.
In the 1640s, the Loftus family was at the centre of the
Irish Confederate Wars arising out of
the
Irish Rebellion of 1641.
In
1649, the castle was seized by
the Earl of Ormonde's Catholic and Royalist forces before the
battle of Rathmines. However
they were granted it back by the English parliamentarians after
their victory in that battle. Reputedly,
Oliver Cromwell stayed in Rathfarnham Castle
on his way south to the
Siege of
Wexford.
Economic activity in Rathfarnham was stepped up in the 17th century
and in the early 18th century many gentlemen's residences were
erected. Two key examples were Rathfarnham Castle and
Ashfield.
Rathfarnham Castle
Rathfarnham
Castle itself was re-modelled from a defensive stronghold
into a stately home. Lower Dodder Road is
still marked by a triumphal
arch
, from this era, which originally led to the
castle.
Ely's Arch
The erection of this gateway is attributed to
Henry Loftus,
Earl of
Ely from
1769 to
1783 who was also responsible for the
classical work on the castle itself. The arch is named the
new
gate on
Frizell's map of
1779. After the division of the estate in
1913 the arch became the entrance to the
Castle Golf Club but was later abandoned in
favour of the more direct
Woodside Drive entrance.
The area
around the Arch is a haven for wildlife, with the nearby River Dodder
home to Brown Trout,
Otter and many water-birds & Woodside
Estate home to Red Fox, Rabbits and Grey
Squirrels.
Ashfield
Ashfield, the next house on the same side, was occupied during the
18th century by Protestant clergy. In the early part of the 19th
century it became the home of
Sir William Cusac Smith,
Baron of the Exchequer and from 1841
of the Tottenham family who continued in residence until 1913.
After this the Brooks of Brooks Thomas Ltd. occupied it until about
twenty years ago when the estate was divided up and houses built
along the main road. A new road was later built along the side of
the house and named Brookvale after the last occupants.
Industrial revolution
An industrial revolution, especially in the production of paper,
began on the
Owendoher and
Dodder rivers and many mills were erected. In the
beginning of the 19th century most of them switched to cotton and
wool and later were converted to flour mills. The introduction of
steam engines marked the end of this era and replaced the need for
mills. Many of the old buildings fell into disrepair and were
demolished, and their millraces filled in.
A millpond and extensive mill buildings formerly occupied the
low-lying fields on the west side of the main Rathfarnham road,
just beside the bridge. On a map by
Frizell
dated 1779 it is called the
Widow Clifford's mill and mill
holding and in 1843 it is named the
Ely Cloth
Factory. A Mr. Murray then owned it but in 1850, it passed
into the hands of Mr. Nickson who converted it into a flour mill.
His family continued in occupation until 1875 when John Lennox took
over. In 1880 this mill closed down, the buildings were demolished
and not a trace now remains.
Historical Features
Military Road
See main article: R115
road
The Military Road at the Sally
Gap
Rathfarnham is the start of the
Military
Road.
This road through the Wicklow
Mountains (still in use mainly for tourist traffic) was built
at the beginning of the 19th century to open up the Wicklow
Mountains to the British Army to assist
them in putting down the insurgents who were hiding there following
the Irish Rebellion of
1798. Rathfarnham itself was the scene of some
skirmishes in the early days of the Rising.
Construction commenced on
12 August
1800 and was completed in October 1809.
The road
starts outside the Yellow House, passes the head of Glencree, with a spur down that valley to Enniskerry
, rises to the Sally Gap and then dips down to
Laragh
, over the hills into Glenmalure, and finishes at Aghavannagh
. Well known sections also include the
Featherbed Mountain, the section
below
Kippure Mountain.
The total distance
was 34 Irish Miles, of which the spur to Enniskerry was 5 Irish Miles.The engineer in charge was
Alexander Taylor (born in 1746), who was responsible for many other
roads in the country, including some "
Turnpike
Roads", which are
Toll Roads.
Rathfarnham Road
According
to many writers the road to Rathfarnham follows the same route as
the Slighe chualann, the ancient
highway, which in the time of Saint
Patrick was used by travellers between Dublin, Wicklow
and Wexford
. This road is believed to have crossed the
Dodder at the Big
Bridge, now Pearse Bridge, and
re-crossed it again near Oldbawn
, an unnecessarily inconvenient route, considering
that a road through Templeogue to Oldbawn would not necessitate any crossing. The
first record of a bridge being built here was in
1381 and in
1652 it was described by
Gerard Boate in his
A Natural History of
Ireland as a wooden bridge which 'though it be high and
strong nevertheless hath several times been quite broke and carried
away through the violence of sudden floods.' After three bridges
had been demolished by the river, between
1728 and
1765, the present structure of a single
stone arch was erected in the latter year. This was widened on the
west side in 1953 when it was renamed in commemoration of
Patrick and
William
Pearse.
In 1912 during the construction of a main drainage scheme to
Rathfarnham, a stone causeway was uncovered below the road level.
It was wide and built of great blocks crossing the course of the
river. Cut into the surface of the stone were a number of deep
parallel grooves, as from the action of wheeled traffic over a long
period. This was evidence for the existence here of a busy
thoroughfare even before the construction of the earliest
bridge.
The Old Graveyard
Next to Ashfield is the old graveyard containing the ruins of a
church that was dedicated to
Saints Peter and
Paul.
This was a medieval church used for
Protestant worship until
1795 when it was found to be too small for
the congregation and a new one was erected a short way off. The end
walls of the old church still stand, the west gable containing a
bell turret and the east pierced by a chancel arch, the chancel
itself having disappeared. The north wall is gone and all that
remains of the south wall is an arched opening.
Near the entrance to the burial ground is the grave of
Captain
James Kelly, an old
Fenian who was
associated with the
Fenian Rising of
1867. He was organiser for the
Rathfarnham district and was known in the area as
The
Knight of Glendoo.
On one occasion when he was on the run he
was hiding in the cellar of his business premises in Wicklow
Street
when police raided it. An employee named
James Fitzpatrick who strongly
resembled Capt. Kelly in appearance was arrested in error and was
tried and sentenced to six months imprisonment, which he served
without betraying his identity. Capt. Kelly died on
8 March 1915, aged 70.
On the
opposite side of the road is Crannagh Park
and Road, Rathfarnham Park and
Ballytore
Road, all built on part of the old Rathfarnham
Estate. In the garden of a house formerly named
Tower
Court in Crannagh Road is an ancient circular pigeon house, a
relic of
Lord Ely's occupation of
Rathfarnham Castle. The entrance to this curious structure is by a
low door on level with the ground and the inside is lined from
floor to roof with holes for the pigeons. A floor of more recent
date has been inserted half way up, so as to make two rooms, and a
second door broken through the wall at that level.
Rathfarnham Village
In the
castle grounds were several fish ponds which were supplied by a
mill race taken from the stream which rises up at Kilmashogue and flows down through Grange Golf Links and St. Enda's
Park. This served several mills before entering the fish
ponds, whence it ran through the golf links while a smaller branch
was conducted under the road to the flour mills which stood at the
corner of Butterfield Lane, on the site later occupied by Borgward
Hansa Motors Ltd.Described in 1836 as Sweetman's Flour Mills, it
frequently changed hands before closing down in 1887. It was later
operated as a saw mill. The dry mill race can still be seen here on
the north side of Butterfield Avenue.
Rathfarnham
Protestant Parish Church on the
Main St. was built in 1795 to replace the church in the old
graveyard. Beside the church is the old school house that dates
from early in the nineteenth century.Immediately adjoining is
Church Lane at the corner of which is a bank built on the site of
an
Royal Irish Constabulary
barracks that was burned down by
Anti-Treaty IRA forces in September 1922
during the
Irish Civil War. In the
lane is an old blocked up doorway of an early eighteenth century
type. Church Lane leads to Woodview cottages, which are built
partly on the site of an old paper mill. The mill race previously
mentioned passed under Butterfield Lane to the paper mill and
continued on below Ashfield to turn the wheel of the Ely Cloth
Factory. It was later turned into the Owen Doher River at Woodview
Cottages. Until recently, when the new road was made to Templeogue,
the old mill race could still be traced through the grounds of
Ashfield where its dry bed was still spanned by several stone
bridges.
The paper mill, of which some old walls and brick arches still
survive, has been described as the oldest in Ireland but there does
not appear to be any evidence to support this. The earliest
reference to a paper mill here is
1719 when William Lake of Rathfarnham
presented a petition for financial aid but we hear of one at
Milltown as far back as
1694. In
1751 William and Thomas Slater whose
works were destroyed by fire in
1775
made paper here. Archer's survey of
1801 mentions two paper mills here, Freemans
and Teelings, and both Dalton in
1836 and Lewis in
1837 state that one paper mill was still
working and from 1836 to 1839 the name Henry Hayes, Rathfarnham
Mill appears in the directories. If this can be identified with the
mill at Woodview cottages it must have become idle soon afterwards
as it is designated “Old Mill” on the 1843 edition of the O.S. map.
In 1854 when this mill had neither water wheel nor machinery an
attempt was made to re-open it for the manufacture of paper but it
came to nothing. The mill race has now been completely removed to
make way for a housing development.
At the end of the main street, on the right, the road to Lower
Rathfarnham passes the site of the earliest Constabulary barracks.
This closed down in 1890 when the establishment was transferred to
a house named Leighton Lodge near Loreto Abbey.
Rathfarnham Lower
The
Catholic Church of the
Annunciation was erected in 1878 to replace the
old chapel in Willbrook Road. Outside the church door is a
primitive type of font on a pedestal bearing the inscription
FONT USED IN MASS HOUSE OF PENAL TIMES IN PARISH OF RATHFARNHAM
FROM 1732. The appearance of
this font would suggest that it was originally a stone
bullaun dating back to a period much earlier than
the penal times.
On the opposite corner is the well-known Yellow House, a licensed
premises built near the site of an inn of the same name which is
marked on
Taylor's map of
1816. (The Catholic Church of the
Annunciation (see above) is on the site of the original Yellow
House). A tradition has been recorded by Mr. Hammond that in
1798 a Michael Eades, who sheltered
wanted men in his house, owned it. It was also frequented by the
soldiers of the Rathfarnham Guard whose careless talk was carefully
noted by the
United Irishmen hiding
on the premises. In
1804 when the
truth came to be known, the same military wrecked the place.
Following Wilbrook road down between the Yellow House and the
Annunciation, a large set of wrought iron gates can be observed.
These gates, which now act as the pedestrian entrance to the
Beaufort Downs housing estate, were originally the entrance to the
Beaufort estate of the 1700s.
Nutgrove Avenue
A short
distance past the church is Nutgrove Avenue, widened and extended
about 20 years ago to link up with Churchtown
. The old quiet tree shaded avenue has been
completely swept away, along with the
narrow lanes a
cramped passage bounded on both sides by towering walls and full of
right angled bends, which wended its crooked course between Loreto
Convent cemetery and the garden of Nutgrove House. A massive
gateway stood at the entrance to this avenue until about 1911,
which bore the inscription
Nutgrove School Established 1802. In 1839 the school was under the
supervision of Mr. Philip Jones, who continued to hold the post of
principal until 1866 when the position was held by Mrs. Anne Jones.
In 1876 the school closed down and the house was occupied as a
private residence by various tenants down to recent years becoming
the parish councilheadquarters. The new avenue was laid through the
former school grounds and the house, shorn of its ornamental
gardens, stood with its front against the footpath. At some time
the house had been disfigured with a rather unsightly concrete
porch and the old brickwork covered with cement plaster, concealing
the fact that this was a very interesting eighteenth century
building containing a fine stairs and coved ceilings with good
plaster decoration. Unfortunately the house fell into very bad
repair and eventually was demolished.
Joyce in his Neighbourhood of
Dublin states that this house was at one time the dower house of Rathfarnham Castle but in this he is almost certainly mistaken, as
Frizell's map of 1779 shows that it was
outside the estate. It is possible that he confused it with
the other old house on the opposite side of the avenue which was
formerly named
Ely Cottage, later
altered to
Ely Lodge, and which was shown
to be within the boundary of the estate. This house was in very bad
repair but has recently been restored in a very tasteful
manner.
Whitehall
The Bottle Tower
The first avenue on the left, beyond
Nutgrove House, is Whitehall Road where
stands that curious structure known as the
Bottle Tower or
Hall's Barn.
This was built by Major Hall in 1742 in imitation of the better constructed
Wonderful
Barn
erected about the same period near Leixlip
. The floors and other timber work have long
disappeared and the winding stone steps are not considered safe to
ascend. While the ground floor may have been used as a barn, the
first and second floors appear to have been residential as they are
both fitted with fireplaces. A smaller structure behind the barn,
built on somewhat similar lines was a pigeon house.
The old house named Whitehall, which was demolished some years ago,
stood adjacent to the barn. It was also built by Major Hall around
the same time. In 1778 it became the residence of Rev.
Jeremy Walsh, curate of
Dundrum, and in 1795 it was converted into a
boarding house by Mr. Ml. Kelly. A newspaper advertisement in 1816
invites enquiries from prospective visitors. In a description
written in the last century the old fashioned kitchen and panelled
staircase are specially noted.
Berwick House
Berwick House
The tall house at the bend in the road, recently occupied by the
De La Salle Brothers, seems to
be identical to a house named
Waxfield
where the death is recorded in
1766
of Mr.
John Lamprey. In 1836 it was
known as Hazelbrook, a name which was later transferred to the
nearby, now defunct,
Hughes Brothers
milk bottling plant.
The Hughes Brothers original house, built
1898, and called Hazelbrook House, was rebuilt in the Bunratty
Folk Park
in
2001. From 1844 to 1899 it was known as
Bachelor's Hall, after which it became the
headquarters of a Charitable Institution under the name of Berwick
Home. In 1944 it again became a private residence and the name was
changed to
Berwick House.
Loreto Abbey
The imposing buildings of
Loreto Abbey
in Lower Rathfarnham form a landmark visible for many miles south
of the city. It served as the headquarters of the
Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Rathfarnham House
The mansion which now forms the centrepiece of the group was built
by Mr.
William Palliser about
1725. No expense was spared in its
construction and decoration, as can still be judged by the
beautifully preserved interior, the polished mahogany and, in one
room, embossed leather wallpaper.
William Palliser died in
1768 without issue and
Rathfarnham House passed to his cousin the
Rev.
John Palliser, who was rector of
the parish. After his death in
1795
the house was purchased by George Grierson, the
Kings Printer, who resided here for a few
years. When Grierson removed to his new abode in Woodtown the house
remained unoccupied for some years until in
1821 it was purchased by the Most Rev. Dr.
Murray for the newly founded
Loreto
Order.
The foundress Rev. Mother
Mary Frances Teresa Ball
made many improvements to the place.She is said to have added a
storey to the old house although there is no evidence from the
exterior to support this. Many additions have been made over the
years, the church was built in 1840, the novitiate in 1863 and six
years later St. Joseph's wing which contains the concert hall and
refectory. St. Anthony's wing was erected in 1896, St. Francis
Xavier's in 1903 and the Lisieux building in 1932 for the
accommodation of visiting prelates to the
Eucharistic Congress.
Beaufort House
Directly across the road from the Abbey is
Beaufort
House, which is now the headquarters of the Loreto Order
in Ireland. This house was occupied by Robert Hodgens J.P.
(1793-1860) and then by his sons, John Conlan Hodgens and Henry
Hodgens. On the grounds is Loreto High School Beaufort which was
founded in 1925.
The Ponds
Loreto Terrace on the north side of the Abbey was formerly known as
The Ponds, a name originating apparently from the
large pond which two hundred years ago occupied the low lying field
between Loreto Terrace and Nutgrove Avenue. This area was described
in
James Joyce's
Neighbourhood of
Dublin in 1912 as
the dilapidated locality known as the
Ponds but it has since been largely rebuilt. An old photograph
from Larry O'Connor's collection shows what it looked like at that
time. The last of the old houses was demolished in the mid 1980s.
It was a
very early 18th century gabled residence named Grove Cottage and was probably the oldest
occupied house in Dublin.This
place was the scene of a skirmish at the outbreak of the
rising of 1798. The insurgents of
the south county assembled at the Ponds on
24
May 1798 under the leadership of David
Keely, James Byrne, Edward Keogh and Ledwich. The latter two had
been members of Lord Ely's yeomanry but had taken to the field with
the
United Irishmen. The insurgents
were attacked by the local
yeomanry corps
but were able to defend themselves and the yeomanry was forced to
retreat. A party of regular troops was then sent against them and a
stiff encounter took place. A number of the insurgents were killed
or wounded and some prisoners taken including Keogh and Ledwich.
The
survivors retreated, joining up with a party from Clondalkin
, and a further engagement took place at the
turnpike on the Rathcoole road where the
enemy was successfully repulsed.
Grange Road to Harold's Grange and Taylors Grange
The road to
Harold's Grange
continues southward from
Loreto Abbey,
past some very old houses, which have been restored in recent
years. The first is
Snugborough, which
has its gable end to the road. The next is
Washington Lodge, its attractive 18th
century facade hidden by a shrubbery. In recent years new avenues
have been laid out here on both sides of the road. Barton Drive, on
the left, occupies the site of a house named Barton Lodge (occupied
by William Conlan, a brewer in Dublin, until his death in 1829 -
his daughter married into the local Hodgens family, who in the
1870s donated the lands for the Church of the Annunciation).
On the
other side is Silveracre, once the home
of Dr. Henthorn Todd, Professor
of Hebrew in T.C.D.
, who was connected by marriage to the Hudson family
of the adjoining Hermitage estate. He was a well known Irish
scholar and was the editor and translator of a number of Irish
documents as well as the author of a life of St. Patrick. He died
here in 1869. About the middle of the last century the name of the
house was changed to Silverton but it was later reverted to the
original Silveracre. Most of the land is now built on. It was also
the home in the early part of twentieth century of Surgeon Croly,
who founded Baggot St. Hospital.
St Enda's
The Hermitage, site of St.
Enda's
The next estate on the same side is Hermitage or
Saint Enda's, the former home of
Patrick Pearse and later of his sister
Margaret Mary Pearse. The
house, which is entirely faced with cut granite and has an imposing
stone portico, was occupied in the eighteenth century by
Edward Hudson, an eminent dentist. He had a
passion for Irish antiquities, which he demonstrated in an unusual
way by the erection of a number of romantic ruins around the
estate. He built a small watch tower inside the boundary wall near
the entrance gate and further along, a hermit's cave, a dolmen, a
ruined abbey and beside a deep well, a tiny chamber with a stone
bench and a narrow fireplace. At the corner of the road to
Whitechurch the loopholed and crenulated structure known as the
Fortification, or
Emmet's Fort was another of his
creations. South of the house he built a grotto surmounted by a
tall stone pillar, a
Brehon's Chair
and a fanciful construction consisting of two great boulders, one
balanced on top of the other, which has since been demolished. Just
inside the boundary wall he cut an inscription in
Ogham on the two faces of a large rock. Translated
they read:
RIDENT VICINI GLEBASETS A KH A MOVENTEM EDUARDUM
HUDSON. In the pretty glen adjoining the
Whitechurch road he erected a sort of
temple with several small chambers and flights of steps. The estate
was at that time known as the “Fields of Oden” and is so called on
maps of the period.
Within the grounds also, at the corner
nearest to Whitechurch is an obelisk, stated
to have been erected by a former owner, Major Doyne, over the grave of a horse that
carried him through the Battle of Waterloo
. The date however of Major Doyne's
occupation does not support this. Unlike the constructions of
Edward Hudson, which were purposely of
the roughest material, this monument was of cut stone with small
moulded pillars. Unfortunately the heavy hand of the vandal
descended on it, toppled it from its base and smashed the
supporting pillars. It has since been re-erected, without the
pillars.
Edward Hudson was succeeded by his son
William Elliot Hudson, who was born
here in 1796. A distinguished scholar, he was a friend of
Thomas Davis and
Gavin Duffy and was a patron of Irish
literature and art. Shortly before his death in 1857 he endowed the
R.I.A. with a fund for the publication of its
Irish Dictionary and he also left the Academy Library a valuable
collection of books.
From 1840
to 1858 Hermitage was the home of Richard Moore, Attorney General, and in 1859 it came into
the possession of Major Richard
Doyne, stated to be a veteran of the Waterloo. From 1872 to 1885 it was occupied by
George Campbell, merchant of 58
Sackville St., and after lying vacant for a few years it was
tenanted by
Major Philip Doyne of
the
4th Dragoon Guards. In 1891
Colonel
Frederick le Mesurier,
barrister is returned as occupier and in 1899 Mr.
William Woodburn.
St. Enda's School was founded by Padraig Pearse in 1909 and was at first
housed in Cullenswood House,
Ranelagh
. Pearse felt that the confined surroundings
of this house gave no scope for the outdoor life that should play
so large a part in the education of youth, so in 1910 he leased
Hermitage from Mr. Woodburn and moved his college here. A long
billiard room was converted into a study hall and chapel, the
drawing room became a dormitory and the stables opening off an
enclosed square became class rooms. In “The Story of a Success”
Pearse tells of the realisation of one of his life's ambitions and
it was from here that he set off for the city on his bicycle for
the last time on Easter Sunday 1916. After the rising the college
continued to function under the care of Margaret Pearse until it
finally closed down in 1935. After the death of Margaret Pearse in
1968 St. Enda's passed into the hands of the state and has since
been opened as a public park and home of the
Pearse Museum.
Priory
Directly opposite to St. Enda's was Priory, the home of
John Philpot Curran, at the time of
Emmet's rising. The house was formerly named
Holly Park but when Curran bought it in 1790 he
changed the name to Priory. He lived here for 27 years at the peak
of his fame and here he was to endure the tragic events, which cast
a shadow on his private life. First the untimely death of his
daughter Gertrude, followed by the loss of his wife, who left him
for another man, and lastly the discovery of the association of his
daughter
Sarah Curran with
Robert Emmet.
Gertrude Curran died in
1792 at the age of 12 as the result of a
fall from a window. Curran had her buried in the grounds of the
Priory and over the grave he placed a recumbent slab, on which was
fixed a metal plate bearing the inscription:
- Here lies the body of Gertrude Curran
- fourth daughter of John Philpot Curran
- who departed this life October 6, 1792
- Age twelve years.
The position of the grave was clearly marked on the early editions
of the O.S. maps. It was about midway along the northern boundary
of the corner field facing the fortification, on the north side of
the boundary bank and a few yards from it. It was formerly enclosed
by a grove of trees, which can be seen in J. J. Reynold's
photograph of 1903 but these were cut down about 1928. Some time
later the stumps were dug out and the stone slab broken up and
thrown on the adjoining bank. The metal plate had already been
taken by souvenir hunters. It was
Sarah
Curran's desire to be buried here also but to this her father
would not agree as he had come in for criticism on the previous
occasion for burying his daughter in unconsecrated ground.
In this district nearly every ancient site is associated in
tradition with either
Sarah Curran or
Robert Emmet and it is not surprising
therefore to find that this burial place has been suggested as the
last resting place of
Robert Emmet.
This tradition goes back for well over a century and it is rather
surprising that this site was not investigated when the search for
Emmet's remains was being made at places a great deal less
accessible and no less improbable.
In October 1979 the opportunity offered itself to carry out this
investigation. The Priory estate was being developed and heavy
machinery moved in to lay the roads and sewers. A Mrs. Bernadette
Foley of nearby
Barton Drive drew attention to the need to
carry out this work before the site was buried for ever under a
concrete jungle. With the co-operation of Messrs Gallaghers, the
developers, a small group undertook to investigate the site. First
the exact location was checked on the original large scale
manuscript map in the O.S., next the field was carefully chained
and the site marked to within a few feet and then a narrow trench
deep was dug through where the burial should have been. The result
was a complete blank. A second and a third trench were cut at
intervals until a large area had been investigated without finding
any burial, timber, brick or stone.
The developers then offered to investigate further with the
excavator and carefully cleared an area of long and wide to a depth
of without finding any sign of disturbance. They then deepened this
area by another two feet with no better result. All the accounts of
the burial state that it was made in a vault and it is therefore
surprising and disappointing that no evidence whatever was found
and there does not seem to be any obvious explanation for it. The
builders, Messrs Gallaghers Ltd. were commended for their interest
in this aspect of the site and their painstaking excavation work
under the supervision of Mr. Leslie Black was expertly carried
out.
Priory was occupied by the Curran family until 1875 and
subsequently by the Taylors until 1923. At the beginning of the
century the house and gardens were still in good repair but after
the Taylor's time the place was neglected. Twenty years ago the
walls were still standing but little now remains but some heaps of
rubble.
Rathfarnham today
Amenities
Rathfarnham has a wide range of shops and businesses, including two
bank branches, notably in the
Nutgrove Shopping Centre,
which also hosts one of Dublin's Motor Tax offices. The area's
other shopping centre is the small
Rathfarnham Shopping
Centre. The area also has a Garda Station and two post
offices, and is home to the city's main
animal
shelter.
Marlay Park is a large open parkland, with a craft centre near the
old "big house"; the park sometimes hosts major concerts. Aside
from St. Enda's and Bushy Park (see above) and small green spaces,
the area also hosts two golf clubs.
Both fine buildings of Loreto Abbey and Rathfarnham Castle also
provide amenity value.
There are a number of schools.
Rathfarnham is served by a range of buses.
Organisations and Sport
- Rathfarnham is home to the 13th Dublin, the 14th
Dublin, the 31st Dublin (which was founded in 1917) and the 68th
Dublin Scout troops and the
Rathfarnham Girl Guides
- The area is also home to the Rathfarnham Concert Band()
- For
Gaelic sports, there is the Ballyboden St. Enda's
GAA
Club
- Rathfarnham has a number of soccer teams including Rathfarnham
Punters, Rathfarnham Rovers, Leicester Celtic, Broadford Rovers,
and Whitechurch United.
Falling population
According to the 2006 Census, Rathfarnham has a population of
17,333 – a drop of 2.1% since 2002. The population has gradually
decreased over the years from 17,760 in 1996 to 17,717 in
2002.
The number of people living around the neighbourhoods of Ballyroan
and St. Endas fell notably by 8% and 7% respectively. On the other
hand, there were minimal increases in the Butterfield and Hermitage
areas.
One thing that is clear from the statistics is Rathfarnham is
aging, with young couples that moved into the area in the 1960s
entering retirement.
There is a lack of suitable and affordable
homes for young people within Rathfarnham and consequently they are
flocking out to neighbouring suburbs such as Templeogue, Tallaght
and Firhouse
.
Over the last 4 years, there haven't been many apartment block
developments in the Rathfarnham area. The figures reflect this
reality. Due to the fact that there aren't many suitable sites in
the area for apartment building, many analysts including the
Rathfarnham Community Website, predict that Census 2010 will
publish further decreases.
Culture and entertainment
Music
Rathfarnham has become the focal point of the summer music festival
scene in Ireland.
Between May and August every year, high
profile acts put on concerts for thousands of people at Marlay Park. Acts in 2007 have included
Damien Rice,
Foo
Fighters,
Kaiser Chiefs,
Crowded House,
Aerosmith,
Damien Rice,
The Who and
Peter
Gabriel.
Muse,
The Killers,
Lenny
Kravitz/
Alanis Morissette and
Metallica are due to play there on August
1, 2009 after a successful show with
Tenacious D in 2008
Film location
Over the last decade, a number of films have shot some of their
scenes in Rathfarnham. The opening scene in
Intermission was recorded at Rathfarnham
Shopping Centre. In one scene in the movie
Ordinary Decent Criminal, a car is
blown up in front of the Pearse Museum in St. Enda's Park.
Pubs
Buglers pub is situated in
Ballyboden House on the Ballyboden Road in Ballyboden. John Blake was the first known publican to
be granted the licence in 1799.
Situated on Main Street,
The Castle Inn is, as its name
implies, near Rathfarnham Castle. The interior is made of stone and
light wood and is one of the newer pubs in Rathfarnham.
The Yellow House, Rathfarnham
The
Eden House pub is situated on Grange Road near Marlay Park and is one of the highest pubs in the town.
The beer
garden was a favourite attraction because of the wide open spaces
and the elevated view of Dublin. The
building was formerly
Eden House, one of the 18th century
stately houses on Grange Road, before being converted to its
present use by Patsy Kiernan who died in recent years.
The pub was then sold
in 2006 for €5.5m and is now run by owners of The Morgue Pub in
Templeogue Village. The pub was completely renovated by
the new owners, who now are awaiting the completion of road works
on the Grange Road before opening a new Beer Garden.
The Old Orchard is on Butterfield Avenue near Rathfarnham
Shopping Centre. The interior has a very contemporary "European"
styling. The 'island' bar is an unusual feature and provides
service around the full 360°, earning it its local
nickname of the ""
thripp'ny bit".
The Tuning Fork is situated at the junction of Willbrook
Road and Whitechurch Road near the
Yellow House pub. It is
an old-style Irish pub.
The Blue Haven is a popular meeting spot among young and
business people alike, situated on the junction of Ballyroan Road
and Butterfield Avenue.
The Yellow House pub is situated at the corner of
Willbrook Road and Grange Road, a short distance from Rathfarnham
Castle. It is believed that the first pub bearing the name was a
thatched cottage standing on the site of the present
Roman Catholic church, and that the licence
went back as far as the early eighteenth century. Certainly, it was
in business at the time of the
Irish Rebellion of 1798. Some say it
was used during the rebellion as a meeting room for the
rebellion-leaders. The present Yellow House was built in
1825 by Mary Murphy and opened for business
in 1827. It was extensively refurbished and extended in 1979.
According
to local folklore, the poet Francis
Ledwidge worked there for two days as an apprentice before
homesickness for his home town of Slane
, County Meath
, caused him to leave.
Notable people
People born in Rathfarnham
People associated with Rathfarnham
Landmarks
See also
References
- Grant CCA-DCc-ChAnt/C/1206 nd [MayxNov 1175]
- Brooks
Thomas
- Hazelbrook House
- Lewis's Topographical Dictionary, 1837
- Rathfarnham Girl Guides
- http://www.rcbs.ie
- GAA club
- Leicester Celtic Club Information
- Whitechurch United Club Information
- Census 2006 Populations of Electoral Divisions,
2002 - 2006
- Rathfarnham Community Website
- YouTube – Rathfarnham in the Movies
- Archeology, Early Christian Remains and Local
Histories by Patrick Healy
External links
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