Blanchardstown Baile Bhlainséir (Irish) | |
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Suburb (village core) | |
 Clockwise from top:Fingal County Council's Civic Offices; Millennium Park; businesses in Blanchardstown during theCOVID-19 pandemic | |
  Blanchardstown Location in Dublin Show map of Dublin Blanchardstown Blanchardstown (Ireland) Show map of Ireland | |
| Coordinates:53°23′13″N6°22′48″W / 53.387°N 6.380°W /53.387; -6.380 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| Traditional county | County Dublin |
| County | Fingal |
| Government | |
| • Dáil Éireann | Dublin West |
| Elevation | 56 m (184 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC±0 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (IST) |
| Eircode routing key | D15 |
| Telephone area code | +353(0)1 |
| Irish Grid Reference | O055383 |
Blanchardstown (Irish:Baile Bhlainséir)[1] is a large outersuburb ofDublin in the moderncounty ofFingal, Ireland. Located ten kilometres (6 mi) northwest of Dublin city centre, it has developed since the 1960s from a small village to a point where Greater Blanchardstown is the largest urban area in Fingal.[citation needed]
It is within the historicalbarony ofCastleknock in the traditionalCounty Dublin, as well as theDublin 15 postal area and theDublin West electoral constituency.
One of Ireland's largest shopping and leisure complexes — theBlanchardstown Centre and adjacent facilities — is located in the area.
The name Blanchardstown comes from the Blanchard family,[1] who were granted their estate sometime between 1250 and 1260. The name 'Blanchard' is thought to come from the old French word 'blanch' meaning white, in turn potentially referring to white or fair hair.[2]
Blanchardstown is just outside Dublin'sM50 motorway semi-ring road, slightly to the north of the tolled crossing of theRiver Liffey. The core of the suburb is thetownland of the same name, containing the village and the Roselawn housing area.[3] It is bordered to the east by the suburb ofCastleknock, to the west by Coolmine, which includes some areas, including theBlanchardstown Centre and surrounding retail parks, central to the district, andClonsilla/Ongar, to the north byTyrellstown and Hollystown, and to the south and south-east by Porterstown and Diswellstown. The stretch of suburban housing from Castleknock Way north to the Old Navan Road and Talbot Court, including Laurel Lodge, has an ambiguous status - all of it is in the townland of Blanchardstown.[4] Thetownland has an area of over 454 acres and is within the historicalBarony of Castleknock.[5]
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TheRiver Tolka, the second river of Fingal, and Dublin, runs through the centre of the area, meandering to run just north of the village core, and then further north to pass the Connolly Memorial Hospital and thenAbbotstown.
TheRoyal Canal and theDublin-Sligo railway line pass along the southern edge of Blanchardstown proper from east to west.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1821 | 302 | — |
| 1831 | 342 | +13.2% |
| 1841 | 182 | −46.8% |
| 1851 | 273 | +50.0% |
| 1861 | 253 | −7.3% |
| 1871 | 239 | −5.5% |
| 1881 | 239 | +0.0% |
| 1891 | 236 | −1.3% |
| 1901 | 235 | −0.4% |
| 1911 | 315 | +34.0% |
| 1926 | 317 | +0.6% |
| 1936 | 269 | −15.1% |
| 1946 | 419 | +55.8% |
| 1951 | 574 | +37.0% |
| 1956 | 990 | +72.5% |
| 1961 | 1,328 | +34.1% |
| 1966 | 1,782 | +34.2% |
| 1971 | 3,279 | +84.0% |
| 1981 | 21,921 | +568.5% |
| 1986 | 31,637 | +44.3% |
| 1991 | 34,853 | +10.2% |
| 1996 | 37,346 | +7.2% |
| 2002 | 50,193 | +34.4% |
| 2006 | 63,120 | +25.8% |
| 2011 | 68,156 | +8.0% |
| 2016 | 73,150 | +7.3% |
Blanchardstown was a predominantly rural area, with a small village, in western County Dublin, alongside the neighbouring district of Castleknock. Both areas shared a common history until well into the 19th century, when their development diverged. InA Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, published in 1837, Blanchardstown is described as "a village [..] on the road to Navan, containing 57 houses and 342 inhabitants".[6]
In the late 1960s, the first housing estates began to be developed. During the 1970s and 1980s, the village and surrounding housing developments became subsumed into the suburban fabric of Dublin.
TheInstitute of Technology, Blanchardstown (ITB) was established in 1999 and, since amalgamation in 2019, is one of the three campuses of the newTechnological University Dublin along with Grangegorman and Tallaght campuses.
During the late 1990s a criminal gang from Blanchardstown, known as "The Westies”, controlled the heroin trade in west Dublin. One of its leaders was shot in a pub in Blanchardstown in 2003,[7] while others were killed in Spain in 2004.[8]
There are threeIrish Rail railway stations in the wider Blanchardstown area:Castleknock,Coolmine andClonsilla. Trains on the Maynooth/Longford line connect the city centre, atDublin Connolly,Tara Street andDublin Pearse stations, toMaynooth,Longford andSligo. At Clonsilla station, theDublin–Navan railway line connectsDocklands railway station toHansfield andDunboyne.[9]
Dublin Bus andGo-Ahead Ireland routes include 37, 38, 38A, 38B, 38D, 39, 39A, 40D,[10] 70,[11] 76A, 220, 236, 236A, 238, 270, L52, N4 and W4.[12] Route 39A operates 24 hours a day 7 days a week.[13]
Nitelink bus route 70N also operates on Friday and Saturday nights to Dunboyne.[14]Express bus routes include service from Aston Quay and from Coolmine Railway Station to Ballycoolin Industrial Estate.[15][16]
Ballycoolin Industrial Estate is served by a private bus company called AMC Ballycoolin, also known as Express Bus.[citation needed]
Bus Éireann services pass through Blanchardstown on routes 105, 109 and 111.[17][18][19]
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Connolly Hospital, one of Dublin's main hospitals, and a public university teaching hospital, is located in the area, as is the Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown.
Local retail outlets includeBlanchardstown Centre (a large retail shopping centre with over 180 stores), andWestEnd Shopping Park (a retail park located beside the Blanchardstown Centre). The Crowne Plaza Hotel, northwest of the village, is located by the Blanchardstown Centre complex. There is aSuperValu outlet on Main Street.
Blanchardstown has a large public library and is also home to the Draíocht Arts Centre.[20]
There is a largeGarda station on Blanchardstown's main street.[21]
There are a number of primary schools (national schools) in Blanchardstown, including Scoil Bhríde (Cailiní) and Scoil Bhríde (Buacaillí) on Church Avenue,[22][23] Sacred Heart of Jesus Primary School (Huntstown),[24] Scoile Olilibheir (Coolmine), St Ciaran's Primary School (Hartstown), Mary Mother of Hope Primary School (Clonee), and St Phillip the Apostle Primary School (Mountview).
Second-level schools (secondary schools) serving the area include Blakestown Community School, Rath Dara Community College,Hartstown Community School, and Coolmine Community School.
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TheInstitute of Technology, Blanchardstown (part ofTU Dublin) is a third-level institution with a campus on Blanchardstown Road.
TheNational Sports Campus is located in Blanchardstown and includes theNational Aquatic Centre, a major indoor aquatics facility with a 50m swimming pool, diving pool, leisure pool and aquapark, and fitness centre.[25] The centre hosted the2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games and a number of international swimming events since then.[citation needed]
There are severalGAA clubs in the Blanchardstown area, includingSt. Brigids, Castleknock andSt. Peregrines, Clonsilla. There are also a number ofassociation football (soccer) clubs in the area, includingSt. Mochta's.
St Brigid's Roman Catholic Church is situated behind Main Street at Church Avenue. The foundation stone for the church was laid on 13 October 1835 and the first Mass was celebrated there on 29 October 1837. The construction of the Church and its unusual Flemish spire was finally completed in 1863.[26]
In the 19th century, theRoman Catholicparish of Blanchardstown encompassed much of the area now within theDublin 15 postal district; some of the component areas were quite distinct from Blanchardstown but Catholic parishes had been merged duringPenal Laws times. Following the relaxation of the Penal Laws, it became possible for Catholic adherents to consider the construction of additional churches and to repair the existing stock of religious buildings. Church authorities used the opportunity to implement the Tridentine reform which saw the parish as the basic unit of ecclesiastical organisation and the parish priest as the central figure within the parish.[27]
The new parish priest of Blanchardstown in 1839, Fr Michael Dungan, oversaw the construction of a number of new churches, which today serve independent parishes, and invited a number of religious communities to provide for the education of Catholic children. St Brigid's Church, Blanchardstown – not to be confused with a church of theChurch of Ireland in nearby Castleknock – was constructed in 1837 upon the foundation of a church that had been built prior to 1731. It is themother church of 12 other churches constituted out of the parish over the following 156 years.[28]
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For the purposes of elections toDáil Éireann, Blanchardstown is part of theDublin West constituency, which returns fourTDs.
For elections toFingal County Council, the suburb is split between the twolocal electoral areas (LEAs) of Castleknock (which returns 4 councillors),[37] and Mulhuddart (which returns 5 councillors).[38]
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