Sandymount Dumhach Thrá | |
|---|---|
Suburb | |
 Clockwise from top: Sandymount Strand; a residential street in Sandymount; Ryan's Sandymount House pub | |
  Sandymount Location in Dublin Show map of Dublin Sandymount Location in Ireland Show map of Ireland | |
| Coordinates:53°19′50″N6°12′54″W / 53.33056°N 6.21500°W /53.33056; -6.21500 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| Local authority | Dublin City Council |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (IST (WEST)) |
| Eircode (Routing Key) | D04 |
| Area code | 01 (+3531) |
| Irish Grid Reference | O190325 |
Sandymount (Irish:Dumhach Thrá) is a coastal suburb in theDublin 4 district on theSouthside ofDublin in Ireland.
An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.[1] During the 18th century, there was a village called Brickfield Town on the site of Sandymount Green;[1] this took its name from Lord Merrion's brickfields, which stretched from here to Merrion at the time.[1] The Irish nameDumhach Thrá is more recent than the one in English and approximately translates as sandy ground or sand dune of a beach.[2][3]
Sandymount is located between 3 and 4 km south-east of Dublin's city centre. At the northern end, it begins where Newbridge Avenue meets Herbert Road, running to Church Avenue at the coast, west along the DART rail line, and south toMerrion Gates. Sandymount Promenade runs along the coast road (Strand Road) fromSandymount Strand, down to Merrion Gates. It lies a little south of the Great South Wall inDublin Bay.
TheRiver Dodder passes nearby to the west, and three streams, the Elm Park, Nutley and Trimleston, come to the coast to the south, but any pollution of these affects Sandymount Strand. In the past, the Nutley Stream came to the coast in what is now Sandymount and severe flooding occurred on the old course in 1963.[4]
Neighbouring suburbs areBallsbridge,Merrion, andIrishtown.
Sandymount is in thelocal electoral area for elections toDublin City Council and in theDáil constituency ofDublin Bay South.
Sandymount was once part of thePembroke Township, which took its name from the fact that this area was part of the estate of theEarl of Pembroke.
About halfway along Sandymount strand is the SandymountMartello tower, part of a system of defences built to warn of an invasion byNapoleon. The tower housed a café in the 1960s. An attempt to turn the tower into a restaurant led to the installation of a large window with roller blinds on the seaward side of the tower. The restaurant never opened, leaving the tower with the modified window, and landscaped exterior abandoned on the strand. It is one of approximately 29Martello Towers in the Greater Dublin Area and the closest to Dublin City and port.[citation needed]
The Merrion Promenade Pier and Baths Company built Sandymount swimming baths in 1883. The baths measured approximately 40 by 40 metres, with a 75-metre pier added in 1884. The pier featured a bandstand halfway along it and summer concerts were regularly held there for many years. By 1920, the pier had deteriorated so much that it had to be demolished. The concrete baths section, which resembles a small harbour out on the sands, remains; the baths still remain in Sandymount but have fallen into disrepair mainly by storm damage.[citation needed]
A popular tavern existed close to Sandymount Green in the eighteenth century named The Conniving House.[5] Opened in 1725, it became famous for its fish and ale and became a popular venue for music in the locality and wider city.[6] Although the verb 'connive' has negative connotations in modern English, at the time of the tavern's establishment it was used to indicate "a subversive indulgence of that which one ought to oppose"[6] as the venue allowed an opportunity for interaction between the 'high' (or elite) musical culture in the city and what was perceived as 'lower' vernacular musical culture.[6] Such was its renown in the mid-eighteenth century, that it was depicted inJohn Rocque's 1757 map entitledA Survey of the City, Harbour, Bay and Environs of Dublin on the same Scale as those of London, Paris & Rome.[7][6] The only verbal account of the venue comes from the book theLife of John Buncle, Esq. from 1766 byThomas Amory, who heard the famous Larry Grogan playing the pipes there while Jack Lattin, "the most agreeable of companions", played "matchlessly" on the fiddle. Other writers of the period, such as Laurence Whyte and Charles Coffey, recorded an energetic native musical culture in the venue.[6][8][9]
Sandymount Green is a triangular park located next to the village.[10] The houses along the south side of the green are part of what once was Sandymount Castle and the roads behind this bear the name. There are shops, restaurants and cafés around the green.
The extensive Sandymount Strand, which is part of the South Bull, (a mirror to the North Bull sandbank, which grew intoNorth Bull Island), is a major component of the south side ofDublin Bay. The strand runs from the curve of the bay at Ringsend to Merrion Gates. Sandymount Strand is a popular place for locals to take a walk. People and cars have been occasionally trapped by the incoming tide.
The promenade is a 2.5 km walkway along the coast from Gilford Avenue to Saint Alban's Park, however, there are plans to lengthen the promenade to connect with the S2S Sandycove to Sutton Cycleway.[11]
The area of Sandymount has three cricket clubs - YMCA (the 2020 All-Ireland champions), Pembroke and Railway Union, and a number of internationals line out for these clubs. For example, when Ireland beat England in an ODI in Southampton in August 2020, six of the 11 players were members of these three clubs, including captainAndy Balbirnie andKevin O'Brien.[citation needed] The three clubs have 14 men's teams and a large (more variable) number of youth and women's teams.Kim Garth, the Irish-Australian cricketer, was a member of Pembroke before leaving for a contract in Australia.[citation needed]
TheGaelic Athletic Association clubClanna Gael Fontenoy operates in the area, with grounds between Sandymount, Irishtown and Ringsend.[citation needed] In 2019 and 2021, the club's U16 football teams became champions of Dublin, and several players on both those teams are from Sandymount.[citation needed]
The sport of rugby is also prominent in the area, with local clubs including Monkstown F.C. and Railway Union. There are also two gymnasia/fitness clubs.
Hockey is also represented by Pembroke Wanderers H.C. on Serpentine Avenue (founded in 1922). Epworth Badminton Club is also based in Sandymount.[citation needed]
Poolbeg'sparkrun takes place on Saturdays at Sean Moore Park.[12]
The area is served by theDublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) commuter rail system and two stops are located in the area,Sandymount andSydney Parade. It is served by bus routesC1 and C2,S2 and47. It was once served by route numbers 2, 3, which ceased operation and were replaced with routes 1 on 12 May 2012 and 52 which ceased operation in 1998. Bus routes 2 and 3 were brought in as replacements for theDublin tramways routes of the same numbers, which were closed on 26 March 1940. Route number 4 also ran to Sandymount until 1932.[citation needed]
Both railway stations on the electrified DART suburbanrailway system were originally opened in January 1835 by theDublin and Kingstown Railway[13] and continue to this day.
TheChurch of Ireland church ofSaint John of the Evangelist is located at the top of St John's Road. TheCatholic church in Sandymount is dedicated to Our Lady Star of the Sea and is near the north end of Sandymount Road. Christ Church, on Sandymount Green, is aMethodist church; Mount Tabor nursing home shares the grounds of the church.[citation needed] The area is also home to a house of theFranciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa.[citation needed]
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The following people were born in Sandymount:
The following live or have lived in Sandymount:
Sandymount Strand is one of the most famous beaches in Irish fiction.[citation needed]James Joyce based two episodes of his epic novelUlysses here. For example, on the morning ofBloomsday, in theProteus episode,Stephen Dedalus wanders "into eternity" on the strand. Later the same day,Leopold Bloom sits on a rock and watches while young Gertie lifts her skirt as Bloom pleasures himself. It was this incident in theNausicaa episode which led to thebanning of the book in theUSA for allegedobscenity.
"In long lassoes from the Cock lake the water flowed full, covering greengoldenly lagoons of sand, rising, flowing." –Ulysses, James Joyce.
