Santry River

The Santry River in Kilmore

The Santry River is a small river running its whole course in County Dublin, which threads through the suburbs on the north side of the city. It reaches the sea in Dublin Bay.

The Santry River rises at an elevation of about 260 feet, in the semi-rural areas of Harristown and Dubber in the north of County Dublin, near the village of St Margaret's and Dublin Airport. The lead branch can be found at the end of a small lane in the former Harristown Demesne, now cut off by new road development.

The Santry River, by J M Kavanagh, c. 1895

Thence the river flows along to the south of Dublin Airport, from which some tributary streams enter it. With the Dubber branch, it passes for most of its upper course out in the open, flowing through Sillogue Public Golf Course and then more of Ballymun; up to this point, the main channel is called Quinn's River.

The river traverses Santry, where it forms a major feature of the Santry Demesne, forming small lakes within what is now the public park. In Coolock, the river forms a central feature in the valley which cuts through the district, and features a pond, sometimes Coolock Lake, and a small cascade, running past the Stardust Memorial Park (and through the grounds of Cadbury's Ireland, where there are an EPA monitoring station and a tumulus on its banks).

The Santry River then enters Raheny near the beginning of Tonlegee Road, flowing alongside the Edenmore lands, past St Joseph's Hospital, through the village centre, alongside the grounds of Manor House School, and then, with two areas of culverting, at the beginning and end of the former Bettyglen Estate, reaches the sea, where its mouth forms part of the eastern "lagoon" behind Bull Island, and the flow enters Sutton Creek. The lower stretch of the river is occasionally noted as "Raheny River."

Drainage link from Naniken River

An artificial link was cut made by Dublin Corporation between the Santry River and the Naniken River, to reduce the flow of the latter and to allow handling of any flooding in either watercourse. It runs at the western end of Kilmore West in Coolock.

Incidents

The Santry river has been noted for pollution incidents over the years, with industrial effluent and building material the most common causes (some of the latter once caused the main pond by the Stardust Memorial to be drained and reformed). There is a motorbike in the river in Stardust Memorial Park.

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Santry River)

References

• Doyle, Joseph W. (2012). Ten Dozen Waters: The Rivers and Streams of County Dublin (5th edition). Dublin, Ireland: Rath Eanna Research. pp. i-iv, 1–50 + photos and map. ISBN 978-0-9566363-4-8. 
• Sweeney, Clair L. (1991). The Rivers of Dublin. Dublin, Ireland: Dublin Corporation. pp. 1–115, inc. many maps. ISBN 0-9505301-4-X.