Product Code Database
Rathfarnham () is a southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland in County Dublin. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is between the local government areas of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown and South Dublin.
Located within the historical baronies of Rathdown and Uppercross, Rathfarnham village originally developed around a fortification overlooking a ford on the River Dodder. From the medieval period, Rathfarnham was on the perimeter of the Pale (the area of Anglo-Norman influence in Ireland, centred on Dublin), and a number of defensive structures were built in the area. Rathfarnham Castle, a fortified house, was built in the late 16th century. Developed around these structures, by the 19th century there were a number of mills operating in the area, and Rathfarnham was still somewhat rural by the early 20th century. During the 20th century, with the expansion of metropolitan Dublin, Rathfarnham became a largely residential suburban area.
The population of all electoral divisions labelled as Rathfarnham was 23,276 as of the 2022 census.
The written history of Rathfarnham begins after the Norman invasion of Ireland. Terenure and Kimmage (Cheming), both described as being in parish Dublin, are mentioned in an 1175 grant by Henry II to Walter the goldsmith ('Aurifaber') held at Canterbury Cathedral Archives.Grant CCA-DCc-ChAnt/C/1206 nd MayxNov
In 1199, these lands were granted to Milo le Bret, and he adapted an existing ridge to build a motte and bailey fort at what is now the start of the Braemor Road. Le Bret later established a more permanent fortified settlement on the site of the (later) Rathfarnham Castle and a village grew up around it on a site overlooking a ford over the River Dodder.
In the 13th 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 an attack when this deer park was overrun by the Clan O'Toole from the Wicklow Mountains in the 14th century.
Located on the perimeter of the Pale (the area around Dublin under greater English control), when the English presence began to shrink after the 14th century, Rathfarnham "came to be on the front lines" and a number of defensive structures were built to protect the area from incursions by Gaelic Irish families.
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 the village was granted a patent in 1618 to hold horse and cattle fairs. From the early 18th century a number of gentlemen's residences were developed, including the remodelling of Rathfarnham Castle and the construction of Ashfield.
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.
Construction of the road 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. 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 "Toll road", which are .
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 of the existence here of a busy thoroughfare even before the construction of the earliest bridge.
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 the 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 are 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 a level with the ground and the inside is lined from floor to roof with holes for the pigeons. A later floor was inserted halfway up, so as to make two rooms, and a second door was broken through the wall at that level.
Rathfarnham's Protestant parish church, on the Main Street, was built in 1795 to replace the church in the old graveyard. Beside the church is the old schoolhouse 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 a 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 a 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.
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 18th century.
The foundress Rev. Mother Mary Teresa Ball made a number of 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. In the 1920s, novice Agnes Bojaxhiu (later to become Mother Teresa) came to Loreto Abbey to learn English language. This was the language the Sisters of Loreto used to teach school children in India.
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.Lewis's Topographical Dictionary, 1837 On the grounds is Loreto High School Beaufort which was founded in 1925.
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 were 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.
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 Charles Gavan Duffy and was a patron of Irish literature and art. Shortly before his death in 1857, he endowed the Royal Irish Academy 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, a barrister 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 classrooms. 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.
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. Sometime 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 has been suggested as the last resting place of Robert Emmet. In October 1979 The Hermitage 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 forever 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 was 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 trenches 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.
The 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 Taylor's time, the place was neglected. Twenty years ago the walls were still standing but little now remains but some heaps of rubble.
Marlay Park is a large open parkland, with a craft centre near the old "big house"; the park hosts concerts every year. Aside from St Enda's, Dodder Park and Bushy Park (see above), Loreto park and small green spaces, the area also hosts two golf clubs.
For Gaelic games, there is the Ballinteer St John's GAA Club, and also Ballyboden St. Enda's GAA which is one of the largest GAA clubs in Ireland. Rathfarnham has a number of soccer teams including Nutgrove Celtic, Rathfarnham Punters, Rathfarnham Rovers, Leicester Celtic, Broadford Rovers and Whitechurch United.
Rathfarnham is also home to a number of boxing clubs and to Rathfarnham WSAF Athletic Club.
The number of people living around the neighbourhoods of Ballyroan and St Endas fell by 8% and 7% respectively. On the other hand, there were minimal increases in the Butterfield and Hermitage areas.
"The Eden House" pub is on Grange Road near Marlay Park. The building was formerly "Eden House", one of the 18th century stately houses on Grange Road, before being converted to its present use.
"The Yellow House", is 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 Catholic church and that the licence went back as far as the early eighteenth century. A new Yellow House was built in 1825 and opened for business in 1827. The current building dates from 1885. It was 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.
The Dublin, Dundrum and Rathfarnham Railway planned to build the Harcourt Street railway line as far as Dundrum, with a branch line from Ranelagh to Rathfarnham. However they failed to complete the railway and the Dublin and Wicklow Railway took over the line works. They never built the line to Rathfarnham, but Dundrum did serve as the nearest station until the line's closure in 1959.
Rathfarnham used to serve as the terminus for the Dublin tramways 16 and 17 routes from the 22 June 1879 until they both closed on 1 May 1939.
In 2007, it was proposed that a Luas tram line (mentioned in a feasibility study as 'Line E') would be routed through Rathfarnham. However, it was found that the proposal would not be feasible, as road widening would be required, necessitating the compulsory purchase of a significant number of homes and gardens on the route. Because of this, the project was not progressed.
|
|
