Drumcondra Droim Conrach | |
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Inner suburb | |
 Drumcondra Road Lower | |
  Drumcondra Location in Ireland | |
| Coordinates:53°22′05″N6°15′22″W / 53.368°N 6.256°W /53.368; -6.256 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | Dublin |
| Local authority | Dublin City Council |
| Elevation | 25 m (82 ft) |
| Population (2006)[1] | |
| • Urban | 8,637 |
| Irish Grid Reference | O158368 |
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Drumcondra (Irish:Droim Conrach, meaning 'Conra's Ridge') is a residential area andinner suburb on theNorthside ofDublin,Ireland. It is administered byDublin City Council. TheRiver Tolka and theRoyal Canal flow through the area.
The village of Drumcondra was the central area of the civil parish ofClonturk, and the two names were used equally for the religious and civil parishes, but the modern suburban district of Drumcondra also encompasses the old Parish of St. Mary. Clonturk had been an alternative name for Drumcondra and the wider area for some time.[2]
The Cat and Cage Pub, on the corner of Drumcondra Road and Church Avenue,[3] was the site of an old postal stop and the point at which rebels, during the1798 rebellion, seized a postal cart in order to signal to others in North County Dublin to revolt.
The southern stretch of theSlige Midluachra passed through Drumcondra and on into the City where it crossed the Liffey at a location known as the "ford of the hurdles". The present-day Drumcondra main road is built on top of the exact route the ancient highway took, the road was one offive ancient roads to meet atTara, albeit in myth only; in reality, the five roads may have met at a point on the River Liffey in Dublin.
The Richmond Road connectsFairview with Drumcondra on the northern side of the River Tolka and was laid out to provide access to Drumcondra Castle. The thoroughfare was a laneway until reputedly a jeweller and merchant called Francis Jacob Grose built a house called Richmond House in the mid-1700s,[4] from which the road is thought to take its name. His house was on the site now occupied bySt. Vincent's Hospital, Fairview. Kingston suggests that he named his house forRichmond, London. Grose's son was the antiquarian,Francis Grose, who is buried atDrumcondra Church.[3] Richmond House was bought by the Daughters of Charity and incorporated into St Vincent's.[4]
Ireland as a whole yet specifically Dublin, was experiencing a large housing crisis during the 19th century. As the city expanded private development was built beyond theRoyal Canal betweenPhibsboro and theNorth Strand, towards what becameSaint Mobhi road; including muchAlexander Strain built houses. However, it was only in the late 19th and early 20th century that local authorities began to take action to actively plan housing development.
Dublin Corporation purchased what was former farming land west ofSt Patrick's teacher training College. The bulk of the purchased land serviced byDublin Corporation was developed as a tenant purchase project in c. 1928; mirroring a nearby, larger project inMarino and 'The Tenters' in Dublin City.[5] Roads in the new triangle shaped estate were named after a popular Archbishop of DublinWilliam Walsh, but mostly Irish language scholars and historians such asJames Hardiman,Samuel Ferguson,John Windele,David Comyn andPatrick Joyce. The area north of here was sold to private developers,Building Societies andTrusts including theIrish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust who built housing development onHome Farm Road andGriffith Avenue in the early 1930s.[6]
The Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust (ISSLT) was created originally in order to generate housing for ex-servicemen however due toWWI and war veterans now a factor, its priorities changed. The ISSLT was established in 1923 after the Land Trust Act was passed and was set up as an imperial trust working across Ireland. After a statement made by the Minister for Finance at the timeErnest Blythe, it was declared that there would be no contribution to the trust from the Free State and that the entire cost must be covered by the British government. Although this led to issues with the trust obtaining land, the ISSLT continued to construct houses across the Free State. They surpassed their targets and went on to build 2,720 cottages by 1930 across Dublin. They focused on creating housing for war veterans and focused on moving outside of Dublin's city centre. Once the Trust completed its main building there were 20 separate housing schemes across the county of Dublin. Drumcondra was one of the top 3 major schemes they took on with 66 dwellings as part of the scheme. Although the size does not compare to that ofKillester, its housing scheme was better integrated into the neighbouring development projects.[7]
The housing built by the ISSLT in Drumcondra was constructed on land provided and serviced byDublin Corporation, forming part of a 'Reserved Area' north of Dublin Corporation's housing scheme. The ISSLT purchased four and a half acres of the Drumcondra Reserved Area for its housing scheme. These houses built along what is now known as Lambay Road are conventional in design and built in blocks of four with some semi-detached cottages. These houses have extensive gardens in the front and back of each and look similar and therefore blend in with those of the Reserved Area scheme already set out by the Corporation. The ISSLT's identity is clearly marked in Drumcondra by plaques displayed on houses through Lambay Road.[7]
The Drumcondra, Clonliffe, and Glasnevin Township Act 1878 was alocal act of theWestminster Parliament, sponsored by businessmen in Drumcondra, and created a township calledDrumcondra, Clonliffe and Glasnevin, encompassing Drumcondra and the neighbouring districts ofClonliffe andGlasnevin, governed by a body oftown commissioners.[8] The portion of thedistrict electoral division of Drumcondra outside the township was renamed Drumcondra Rural. TheDublin Corporation Act 1900 (63 & 64 Vict. c. cclxiv) absorbed the township into thecounty borough ofDublin as thewards of Drumcondra and Glasnevin.[9][10] Part of Drumcondra Rural district electoral division was transferred to the city in 1931.[11] The remainder was split into Drumcondra Rural Number One and Drumcondra Rural Number Two in 1971.[12]
One of the main sights of Dublin isCroke Park, where Ireland's national games ofGaelic football andhurling may be seen. It has a capacity of 82,300 people, it is one of the largest sports stadiums in Europe.[14] 'Croker' (as it is colloquially known) is the headquarters of theGaelic Athletic Association and also houses the official GAA Museum (on St Josephs Avenue, which is off Clonliffe Road).[15] The stadium hosts the finals of theAll-Ireland Senior Football Championship andAll-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. The stadium is a 20-minute walk from Dublin city centre or a 5-minute bus ride.
Fagan's Public House, Drumcondra Road Lower, whereBertie Ahern took U.S. PresidentBill Clinton in September 1998. Kennedys Pub on Lower Drumcondra Road is one of the oldest pubs in Drumcondra, predating Fagans by a number of years. Formerly called McPhillips, it has been named Kennedys since 1961.[citation needed]
Tolka Park, the home ofLeague of Ireland sideShelbourne since 1989, is situated on Richmond Road. The site has been used as a soccer pitch since the 1920s, initially byDrumcondra Football Club (Drums) and from 1972 byHome Farm Football Club.[16]
TheNational Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) at Whitworth Road was previouslyDrumcondra Hospital and is located adjoining the cemetery ofSt. George's, whose former parish church is located at Temple Street.[16]
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Belvidere House, formerly the home of the Coghill family, this late 17th-century building became the residence of the Superior General of theIrish Christian Brothers, and a training centre for the order, in 1874. The house was bought by the Coghills in the early 1700s when it was known as Drishogue.[3] In 1881, the Congregation bought and moved toMarino House, and sold Belvidere House to Cardinal Cullen.St Patrick's College, Dublin which had been founded in 1875 at 2 Drumcondra Road Lower, relocated to Belvidere House in 1883. New college buildings were constructed, while the house became the residence of theVincentian Fathers who ran the college. It now provides offices and meeting rooms for the St Patrick's Campus ofDublin City University, into which the former college was incorporated in 2016.[17]
Clonturk House on Ormond Road was built prior to 1820, although its current appearance owes much to its renovation in 1880, at which time the stone balustrades from JamesGandon'sCarlisle Bridge (O'Connell Bridge) were moved to Clonturk by its owner.[3][18] In the early twentieth century it moved from private residential to institutional use, initially as the Ormond Commercial School for Boys and subsequently as a female orphanage run by the Presbyterian Church. In 1959 it was purchased by theRosminian Fathers as a home for blind men. Well-known Dublin characterThomas Dudley ("Bang Bang") was a resident until his death in 1980.[16]
Originally the site of an Elizabethan castle built circa 1560, the castle was built by Meath manJames Bathe on ecclesiastical land (belonging to the Priory of the Holy Trinity), granted to him. It was owned for many years by the Bathe family. In 1591, when the Castle was the residence ofSir William Warren, who had married the widow ofJohn Bathe, thus acquiring the lands in Drumcondra for his lifetime.Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone married his third wifeMabel Bagenal here after he had eloped with her.[19]
In 1677, James II granted the Drumcondra property to a Giles Martin and in 1703 it was purchased by Captain Chichester Philips. In 1870 it became St. Joseph's Asylum for the Male Blind when the Carmelites bought the lands of Drumcondra Castle.[20][21] The Rosminians were appointed by the Archbishop of Dublin to run services for the Blind in St. Joseph's, Drumcondra, Dublin in 1955, the School, and since 2012, it is known as ChildVision, in 2014 the Rosminian order sold the lands in St. Joseph's, but took out a 25-year lease on the houses and buildings which it will use for ChildVision.[22] The Grace Park Woods housing estate was built on the former St. Joseph's lands.
Drumcondra House was purchased by Rev. John Hand and in 1842All Hallows College was established.[21] Daniel O'Connell played a part in the purchase of Drumcondra House for All Hallows, from Dublin Corporation. Designed by the architect SirEdward Lovett Pearce and was built in 1726 for SirMarmaduke Coghill, from the nearby Belvedere House. The Coghills rented out the house for a time.[3] All Hallows was sold toDublin City University by the Vincentian Order in 2016.
For 150 years Hampton House and its lands held the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation on Grace Park Road, housing members of this enclosed order of nuns. The order, which had been based in Blanchardstown, purchased Hampton House and moved in during 1858.[23] Prior to it being a convent, Hampton Lodge was the residence of Thomas Williams, the first secretary of the Bank of Ireland, and his wife Mary Ann Williams; their son Richard Williams lived in Drumcondra Castle. The land and buildings were sold by the order in 2016 and were redeveloped as houses and a nursing home.[citation needed]
A distillery, the Dublin Whiskey Distillers (D.W.D.), was founded in the 1870s on the banks of the River Tolka, and known as theJones Road Distillery (Distillery Road is a continuation of Jones Road). The distillery closed in 1946 and the property was sold. A number of buildings were built and are still standing and a number of buildings although redeveloped retain the names connected with the distillery such as The Corn Mill, The Granary, The Grainstore and Distillery Lofts.
Two campuses ofDublin City University are located in Drumcondra:
The oldest church in the district isDrumcondra Church (Church of Ireland), located at the end of Church Avenue, abutting All Hallows College. Several notable people including Georgian-period architectJames Gandon are buried in the adjoining graveyard.
The"Old Church of St. George" was built about 1668 in Lower Temple Street (changed to Hill Street in the 1800s), then a part of Drumcondra. The Tower of the Old Church of St. George can still be seen on Hill Street and its gravestones are around the walls of what is now a playground.[25][26][27][28][29]
The"New Church of St. George" was built on the square further up the road at the end of Temple Street in the early 1800s. The original site acquired for the new church was on Whitworth Road, but then the present site was selected, which at the time was open fields. A temporary chapel was built on the Whitworth Road site and its churchyard was retained when St. George's was completed – this site was later taken over by the Whitworth Hospital (later namedDrumcondra Hospital). The gravestones can be seen behind the hospital.[30][31]
Drumcondra is aparish in theFingal South West deanery of theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, served by the Church of Corpus Christi atHome Farm Road. The palace of theRoman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin is situated alongsideClonliffe College (the former diocesan seminary). Together they occupy an extensive site bounded by Clonliffe Road and Drumcondra Road (to the South and West) with the River Tolka at the northern extremity; long proposed for housing development.
TheRespond! Housing Association has its Dublin office located in High Park, Drumcondra, a former'Mother and Baby Home', where it also runs training courses in Housing and Social care provision.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (Ukrainian Church in Ireland of Bishop Nicholas the Miracle Worker) holds services inHoly Cross College, Clonliffe.[32]
There are a number of small burial places in the Drumcondra area
Drumcondra is home toCroke Park andTolka Park soccer stadium, the permanent home ofShelbourne F.C. since 1989, 'The Reds' have hosted major European clubs such asPanathinaikos andSteaua Bucharest in the Drumcondra venue. The club has won the league six times and theFAI Cup four times since moving to Tolka Park. The park was also the base forDrumcondra F.C. (Drums) which was a League of Ireland club from 1928 to 1972 before it was merged with fellow Dublin clubHome Farm, now based in nearby Whitehall. Drumcondra FC, who played their home games atTolka Park stadium, was a successful side in the postWorld War II years, winning five Irish league titles between 1948 and 1965 as well as competing in theEuropean Cup andInter-Cities Fairs Cup on several occasions.[33]
The name lives on today in the shape of Drumcondra FC.[33]
The Ierne Sports and Social Club is situated off Grace Park Road. Rosmini Gaels (GAA) is based in Drumcondra; but area would also fall under the large catchment area ofNa Fianna GAA club.
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