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Darndale Darndál | |
|---|---|
Residential area | |
 Our Lady Immaculate Church, located in Darndale | |
 Interactive map of Darndale | |
| Coordinates:53°24′04″N6°11′38″W / 53.401005°N 6.193959°W /53.401005; -6.193959 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County (traditional) | County Dublin |
| Local authority | Dublin City Council |
Darndale (Irish:Darndál) is a working-class area on theNorthside ofDublin, inIreland, featuring a high concentration ofsocial housing. It is located in the north of the sprawling suburb ofCoolock. Darndale lies within theDublin 17 postal district.
The area originally comprised farmlands in the northern part of the civil parish of Coolock, and took its name from either a large house situated to the west of Malahide Road or from the townland of the same name. It was intensively developed byDublin Corporation as a "low rise, high density" housing development.[1]
Located to the northeast of Dublin city, Darndale is bordered to the east by the Malahide Road (theR107), to the north by the R139 (previously theN32), continuing the line of theM50 orbital motorway, to the west byPriorswood, and to the south by the Riverside housing estate in Coolock. It comprises the Buttercup and Marigold groups of roads, Primrose Grove, Snowdrop Walk and Tulip Court.
Darndale is accessible by a roundabout exit from Malahide Road and the old Clonshaugh Road from the R139, and also via Greencastle Road. It is within 3 km ofDublin Airport.[2]
It is served byDublin Bus, routes 27, 27X, 27c.[citation needed]
Darndale has a planned village centre that contains a newsagent's shop and off-licence, pharmacy and takeaway restaurant. Within the village centre is Darndale Belcamp Integrated Childcare Services (known locally as the Jigsaw Centre), one of the largest community childcare centres in Ireland, and an HSE Primary Care Unit, which provides a doctors surgery, baby nurse and community welfare support to the local community.[citation needed] No planning permission is applied or approved.
The main building in the Darndale Belcamp Village Centre is the Bell Building, designed by Michael O'Shea, which is a unique and collective combination of integrated community services operating in and around a multipurpose building. The Bell Building provides many services to the local community, including adult education, youth training, information and support, older people support services, environmental programmes and administration and job-seeking services to the local community.[3]
There is a large traveller community located close to Darndale, by the R139, and in a separate compound, Traveller school facilities. This site is mentioned in the song "Go, Move, Shift", written byEwan MacColl andChristy Moore.
Immediately adjacent is the large Clare Hall Shopping Centre (anchored byTesco Ireland), aCerta petrol station and a Hilton Hotel (the "Dublin Airport Hilton"). The area also has several other amenities, including an Odeon Cinema, Leisure Plex, several fast food restaurants, a community sports hall, a community gym and an industrial estate directly across from the main road into Darndale.
Since around 2004, Darndale has also had a substantial fishing pond located in the local park, built in cooperation with the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board.[citation needed] In 2011 this underwent a cleanup operation to remove a large amount of weed which had grown in the pond.[citation needed]
Darndale, along with the neighbouring Belcamp housing development, forms a parish in theRoman Catholic church.[4] Theparish is in theFingal South East deanery of theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
Darndale was built as a social housing experiment consisting of low-rise, courtyard-based houses to encourage stronger community links in large, and largely resettled, communities. The idea of the "courts" was to create neighbourly bonds among the new residents. This idea of a communal space fostering community spirit was based on a large housing scheme called Cricketer's Way, located inAndover, Hampshire,England. This housing plan has not been repeated inIreland since the construction of the Darndale estates.
Problems involving the courts began to surface and some became centres of anti-social behaviour, with residents, spearheaded by Michael O'Shea, complaining to the local authority.[5] Changes were made to the housing plan: laneways were closed and back gardens extended,[6] and CCTV was installed in the estates.[7]
In 1993,Martine Franck, a Magnum photographer andHenri Cartier-Bresson's second wife, did a project on Darndale, showing deprived children in their environment.[8]
In September 2014, a documentary series about the housing estate, namedDarndale: The Edge of Town aired onTV3 and also in March 2015 it featured on 'The Benefits Estate' a reality documentary-series onChannel 5 in the UK.
The Irish crime filmCardboard Gangsters, 2017, was based in Darndale.
Darndale was also featured in an episode of the Dutch documentary series namedDanny in de buitenwijken (airing onNPO 3 in 2018), whereDanny Ghosen visits "deprived areas" of several big European cities. In the Dublin episode, he visits several northern suburbs of Dublin, including Darndale.