Killester

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Killester
Irish: Cill Easra
County Dublin

Killester
Location
Grid reference: O196372
Location: 53°22’18"N, 6°12’15"W
Data
Postcode: D3, D5
Local Government
Council: Dublin
Dáil
constituency:
Dublin Bay North

Killester is a small village of County Dublin which has been subsumed in the main conurbation of that county, to the north of Dublin city centre.

It is within the Barony of Coolock,[1] sitting between Clontarf, Donnycarney, Raheny and Artane. St Anne's Park lies just beyond Killester on the Raheny/Clontarf side.

History

Killester has been noted in city and church records going back many centuries, with variant spellings such as "killtrsta" (St. Laurence O'Toole) and "Kylestre", and was the site of both an early church and a convent or monastery. The name probably means "Church of (St.) Stra". The ruins of a religious building can still be seen, and nearby there is a modern convent, with a school.

The manor of Killester was given to one Adrian le Brun in the twelfth century. In the seventeenth century it was owned by the White family, from whom it passed by inheritance to the St Lawrence family, Barons and later Earls of Howth. In the seventeenth century it went to the Cootes, a branch of the family of the Earls of Mountrath.

Killester is perhaps best known for its association with First World War veterans who were settled there in planned development from late 1922 onwards.

Churches

The Church of Ireland Parish of St Brigid was merged with that of Clontarf in 1686 and the parish church stands on Seafield Road. A new parish centre was built beside the parish church in the 2000s.

The Roman Catholic church stands on the Howth Road, opposite St Brigid's National School and was built from 1924 to 1926. A new Resource Centre was built alongside in the 2000s. The church once held a reputed relic of St Brigid, one of Ireland's three Patron Saints, namely to be a fragment of her skull brought from Portugal in 1928; however the relic was stolen.

About the village

Killester has a shopping plaza with a range of shops including a SuperValu supermarket, pharmacies, a service station, cafés and a pub.

Outside links

References

  1. Placenames Database of Ireland - Killester civil parish
  • Garrett, Arthur; 2006 (new edition), Killester, Dublin: History of Killester Parish