Drumcondra
| Drumcondra Irish: Droim Conrach | |
| County Dublin | |
|---|---|
 The Royal Canal in Drumcondra | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | O158368 |
| Location: | 53°22’5"N, 6°15’22"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 8,637 (2006) |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dublin |
Drumcondra is a residential area and inner suburb on the Northside of the city of Dublin in County Dublin. The River Tolka and the Royal Canal pass through the area.
The name of the place is from the Irish Droim Conrach, meaning 'Conra's Ridge'.
History
The Cat and Cage Pub, on the corner of Drumcondra Road and Church Avenue, was the site of an old postal stop and the point at which rebels, during the 1798 rebellion, seized a postal cart in order to signal to others in the north of County Dublin to revolt.
The southern stretch of the 'Slige Midluachra' passed through Drumcondra and on into the City where it crossed the Liffey at a location known as the 'ford of the hurdles'. The present-day Drumcondra main road is built on top of the exact route the ancient highway took, the road was one of five ancient roads to meet at Tara, albeit in myth only: in reality the five roads may have meet at a point on the River Liffey in Dublin.
About the village
One of the main sights of Dublin is Croke Park, the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletics Association and where Ireland's national matches, in Gaelic football and hurling, are played. It is one of the largest sports stadiums in Europe.[1] 'Croker' (as it colloquially known) is the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association and also houses the official GAA Museum (on St Josephs Avenue, which is off Clonliffe Road).[2]
Fagan's Public House, Drumcondra Road Lower, where Bertie Ahern took U.S. President Bill Clinton in September 1998. Kennedys Pub on Lower Drumcondra Road is one of the oldest pubs in Drumcondra, predating Fagans by a number of years. Formerly called McPhilips, it has been named Kennedys since 1961.
Tolka Park, the home of League of Ireland side Shelbourne F.C., is situated on Richmond Road.
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Belvedere House
Formerly the home of the Coghill family, this Georgian building became the residence of the Superior General of the Irish Christian Brothers, and a training centre for the order, in 1874. In 1881, the Congregation bought and moved to Marino House, and sold Belvedere House to Cardinal Cullen, and St Patrick's College, Dublin was established shortly afterwards, with the house become the college president's residence, until St Patrick's incorporation into Dublin City University in 2016.
Clonturk House
Clonturk House was built in 1830, on Ormond Road, by the City Architect. Renovated in 1880, the stone balustrades from James Gandons Carlisle Bridge (O'Connell Bridge) were moved to Clonturk by its owner. It was run by the Presbyterian Church as accommodation for girls attending school until 1960, when it became part of St. Josephs School for the Blind, when it was used as a home for blind men.
Drumcondra Castle
Originally the site of an Elizabethan castle built around 1560, the castle built by Meath man James Bathe on ecclesiastical land (belonging to the Priory of the Holy Trinity), granted to him. It was owned for many years by the Bathe family. In 1591, when the Castle was the residence of Sir William Warren, who had married the widow of John Bathe, thus acquiring the lands in Drumcondra for his lifetime, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone married his third wife, Mabel Bagenal, here after he had eloped with her.[3]
In 1677, James II granted the Drumcondra property to a Giles Martin and in 1703 it was purchased by Captain Chichester Philips.
In 1870 the castle became St Joseph's Asylum for the Male Blind when the Carmelites purchased the lands of Drumcondra Castle.[4][5] and in 2012 it became known as ChildVision.[6] The Grace Park Woods housing estate is being built on the former St. Joseph's lands.
Drumcondra House
Drumcondra House was purchased by Rev. John Hand and in 1842 All Hallows College was established.[5] Daniel O'Connell played a part in the purchase of Drumcondra House for All Hallows, from Dublin Corporation. Designed by the architect Sir Edward Lovett Pearce and was built in 1726 for Sir Marmaduke Coghill, from the nearby Belvedere House. The Cogills rented out the House for a time. All Hallows was sold to Dublin City University by the Vincentian Order in 2016.
Hampton Lodge/Carmelite Convent
For 150 years Hampton House and its lands held the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation on Grace Park Road, housing members of this enclosed order of nuns. The order, which had been based in Blanchardstown, purchased Hampton House and moved in here in 1858.[7] Before the nuns took over, Hampton Lodge was the residence of Thomas Williams, the first secretary of the Bank of Ireland, and his wife Mary Ann Williams; their son Richard Williams lived in Drumcondra Castle.
The land and buildings were sold by the order in 2016 and were redeveloped as houses and a nursing home.
Distillery
A distillery, the Dublin Whiskey Distillers (D.W.D.), was founded in the 1870s on the banks of the River Tolka, and known as the Jones Road Distillery (Distillery Road being a continuation of Jones Road). The distillery closed in 1946 and the property was sold. A number of buildings were built and are still standing and a number of buildings although redeveloped retain the names connected with the distillery such as The Corn Mill, The Granary, The Grainstore and Distillery Lofts.
Churches
The oldest church in the district is Drumcondra Church (Church of Ireland), located at the bend of Church Avenue, abutting All Hallows College. Several notable people including Georgian-period architect James Gandon are buried in the adjoining graveyard.
The "Old Church of St. George" was built about 1668 in Lower Temple Street (changed to Hill Street in the 1800s), then a part of Drumcondra. The Tower of the Old Church of St. George can still be seen in Hill Street and its gravestones are around the walls of what is now a playground.[8][9][10][11][12]
The "New Church of St. George" was built on the square further up the road at the end of Temple Street in the early 1800s. The original site acquired for the new church was on Whitworth Road, but then the present site was selected, which at the time was open fields. A temporary chapel was built on the Whitworth Road site and its churchyard was retained when St. George's was completed - this site was later taken over by the Whitworth Hospital (later named Drumcondra Hospital). The gravestones can be seen behind the Hospital.[13][14]
Tthe Roman Catholic church for the area is the Church of Corpus Christi at Home Farm Road. The palace of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin is situated alongside Clonliffe College (the diocesan seminary). Together they occupy an extensive site bounded by Clonliffe Road and the Drumcondra Road.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: the church holds services in Holy Cross College, Clonliffe.[15]
Sport
- Gaelic sports:
- Croke Park
- Rosmini Gaels
- Football: Tolka Park soccer stadium, the permanent home of Shelbourne F.C. since 1989,
The Ierne Sports and Social Club is on Grace Park Road.
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Drumcondra) |
References
- ↑ Capacity Croke Park web site
- ↑ Croke park web site
- ↑ O'Faolain, Sean The Great O'Neill Mercer Press Cork 1942 p.118
- ↑ Lets Walk and Talk - Historical Gems in Drumcondra Dublin City Council, www.dublincity.ie
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Missionary College of All Hallows (1842-1891) by Kevin Condon CM, All Hallows College, Dublin.
- ↑ Religious Order to sell 17 acre campus in Drumcondra by Jack Fagan, Commercial Property, Irish Times, 17 September 2014.
- ↑ Brief History of the Monastery of the Incarnation - Blanchardstown - Hampton, Drumcondra www.malahidecarmelites.ie
- ↑ Dictionary of Dublin and its neighbourhood
- ↑ The Irish Times, 26 Nov 1894, p.3, and 28 Dec 1898 p.6
- ↑ Dublin Corporation Reports 1892 Vol.I, 370 & Vol.II, 421-2 & 505
- ↑ Minutes of the Municipal Council of the City of Dublin 1891, 302.
- ↑ 25i map of 1906-9, Ordnance Survey of Ireland. St. George's Chapel & remains of Grave Yd (Disused) Hill Street
- ↑ "St. George's church re-opened". The Irish Times: p. 9. 14 December 1961.
- ↑ Dictionary of Dublin and its neighbourhood, (1908) by E. MacDowell Cosgrave, M.D. Member of Council, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland and Leonard R. Strangways, M.A., Senior Moderator, Dublin University : M.R.I.A.. p. 109 Little St. Georges Chapel in Hill St. p. 110 Church of St George in George's Place at the junction of Eccles, Temple and Hardwick Streets.
- ↑ Ukrainians in Ireland: the church