Booterstown
| Booterstown Irish: Baile an Bhóthair | |
| County Dublin | |
|---|---|
 The Punch Bowl in Booterstown | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | O201304 |
| Location: | 53°18’31"N, 6°11’47"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 2,975 (2006) |
| Postcode: | A94 |
| Dialling code: | 01 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown |
| Dáil constituency: |
Dún Laoghaire |
Booterstown is a coastal suburb of the city of Dublin, and also a townland. It is found about four and a half miles south of Dublin city centre.
The name in Irish is given as Baile an Bhóthair meaning 'Town of the road'.
History
Historically known in English as "Ballyboother"[1][2] the name "Booterstown" is an anglicised form of the original Irish name Baile an Bhóthair, meaning "The Town of the Road". In its original Irish form it shares the same name as Batterstown in Meath, as well as Ballinvoher in Kilkenny, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Longford and Mayo.
Booterstown lies along an ancient route once known as Slíghe Chualann, which connected the residence of the High King of Ireland at Tara with his outlying lands in Cualann, the ancient name for the area of land stretching towards Bray (Brí Chualann).[3]
The Congregation of the Irish Christian Brothers had their headquarters at St Helen's, Booterstown from 1925 to 1988. St Helen's was built in 1760 for Thomas Cooley, MP and was known originally as Seamount. It was extensively refurbished a century later while in the ownership of Viscount Gough, Field Marshal of the British Army, whose wife Marie Frances opened the gardens to the public. The house is now a hotel of The Radisson Group.
Booterstown still retains its link with the name Tara, as the Tara Towers hotel was built there in the 1970s on the Merrion Road, next to the historical Bellevue Merrion Cemetery. The Tara Towers hotel was demolished in 2019.
About the village
Near the village is Booterstown Marsh, a bird sanctuary which has been leased for many years by An Taisce, who have worked to protect it. Species seen regularly include mallard, teal, common moorhen, water rail, grey heron, little egret, common redshank, greenshank, curlew, common snipe, oystercatcher, bar-tailed godwit, common kingfisher, sedge warbler and dunlin.
The Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption is a focal point of the area along Booterstown Avenue.
Booterstown has a dedicated Circus Field located along the Rock Road, where both Tom Duffy's Circus (June/July) and Fossett's Circus (October) set up once a year.
The Old Punch Bowl pub, which stands at the bottom of Booterstown Avenue, was established in 1779.
Booterstown was recorded in 1488 as one of the locations for the boundary of The Pale.[4]
Churches
Christian churches in the area include:
- Church of Ireland: St Philip and St James Church, Cross Avenue
- Evangelical: South Hill Evangelical Church
- Presbyterian: St. Andrew's, Mount Merrion Avenue
- Roman Catholic: Church of the Assumption
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Booterstown) |
References
- ↑ Google Books, The History of the county of Dublin
- ↑ "Bunachar Logainmneacha na hÉireann". http://www.logainm.ie/?text=booterstown&placeID=17491.
- ↑ Pearson, P (2001). "Between the Mountains and the Sea" Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County, The O'Brien Press ISBN 978-0-86278-977-0
- ↑ D'Alton, John: 'The History of the County of Dublin' (1838), p 34