Artane
Artane, sometimes spelled Artaine (Ard Aidhin in Irish), historically Tartaine is a Northside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Neighbouring districts include Coolock, Beaumont, Killester, Raheny and Clontarf; to the south is a small locality, Harmonstown, straddling the Raheny-Artane border.
History
North eastern Dublin city, including Artaine, 1901
Artaine, now usually Artane, has a recorded history spanning over 900 years, but for much of that time was a quiet rural area.
Artane, as described from Thom’s Almanac and Official Directory: County Dublin Directory, in 1862: A village and parish in Coolock barony, Dublin county, three miles (5 km) N. from the General Post Office, Dublin, comprising an area of 954 acres (3.86 km2). Population, 457. The village is on the road to Malahide. The parish, anciently called “Tartaine,” for centuries formed part of the estate of the Hollywood family, and the castle of Artane likewise belonged to that of the Donnellans. The ruins were taken down in 1825, and on its site Artane House was erected.
Silken Thomas and Artane Castle
In 1532, when Silken Thomas appeared in Dublin, the citizens, feeling themselves unable to defend the city, allowed his troops to enter and lay siege to the Castle. Among those who had taken refuge in the Castle was John Alen, Archbishop of Dublin. He had incurred the enmity of the FitzGeralds (also known as the Geraldines) by zeal in promoting Wolsey’s plans, and now dreaded their vengeance. He tried to escape by sea, but his ship was driven ashore at Clontarf and he was captured. When brought before Silken Thomas he implored the Earl to spare his life, but the young lord turned away with contempt, saying “Beir uaim an bodach” - (take the fellow away). These words were interpreted as an order to put him to death and he was murdered in cold blood. For this crime Silken Thomas was excommunicated by the Pope and thus lost many of his adherents. A slab bearing his name is still to be seen in the Archbishop’s cemetery. In this old cemetery we also have the tomb of the Hollywood family and the ruined church.
Artane Industrial School
The Artane Industrial school was set up in 1871 in Artane House by the Congregation of Christian Brothers. Industrial Schools were established to take in orphaned or abandoned boys or those who were involved in petty crime. Even such a minor offense as skipping school could be enough for a boy to be sent there. It has been said that about 5% of the children in Artane, indeed in all Industrial Schools, were actually orphans. Most of the incarcerated children were from families that had broken down and as separation was not allowed either, the children of these broken marriages were incarcerated and the religious institution in whose charge the children were put were paid one-third of a labourer’s wage to feed, educate and clothe each child. In today’s money this would be equal to about €120 per child per week. It has come to light in recent years that many of the boys that were taken in were mis-treated and sexually abused by the Christian Brothers.
The school housed around 900 boys at any one time and they stayed there until they were 16 years of age. More than 15,000 youngsters passed through the gates of the school from 1871 to its closure in 1966. Subsequently, many allegations of abuse of boys at the school emerged.
St. Davids CBS primary school began life in the lower floors of the old industrial school in 1969. The secondary school moved into the upper floors of the industrial school building in 1974 from the pre-fabs on Kilmore Road it had occupied since 1966.
Much of the land was later sold and the St. David’s and St. David’s Wood housing developments built there. The school itself remains, with playing fields surrounded by a double fence.
On the 7th of September 2008, a large fire which broke out at the industrial school complex, caused extensive damage to the building which is understood to have been used as a store room by the Artane Boys’ Band and to house memorabilia.
Artane Band
The Artane Boys’ Band | was founded in 1872 in what was then the Artane industrial school. The first public performance was given in 1874, for the Prince of Wales, on the school lawn. On the 14th of June, 1886, the band gave its first Gaelic Athletic Association performance and since then has become synonynous with big match days in Croke Park. One of the most famous Band Masters of the Artane Band was Professor Alexander Burke, whose death obituary and photograph was in the Irish Press in 1933. He was given a State Funeral. In 1969 the Band was moved to the old refectory, with its previous building becoming a primary school.
Many followers of the GAA have abiding memories of the Artane Boys’ Band parading the teams | around the ground in their distinctive blue and scarlet uniforms. The band, also known as “the biggest little band in the world”, now permits girls to participate and as a result the band changed its name to the Artane Band.
In 1988, former Band members got together to form the Artane Senior Band. For the first 12 years of its existence the band consisted entirely of past members of the Artane Boys’ Band.
The Stardust
Artane today
The district today has a dispersed character, lying either side of the Malahide Road, with focal points around the churches, main shopping centre and Artane Roundabout.
There are shopping precincts on Malahide Road and opposite one of the churches (St. John Vianney), a main shopping centre, Artaine Castle (anchored by Tesco Ireland), a small industrial estate (Butterly Business Park, site of the Stardust and also location of the HQ of Astronomy Ireland) and a leisure centre. One of the churches, the Dublin 5 An Post sorting office, and more shops and businesses, are located in Harmonstown.
There are two Roman Catholic churches and a chapel-of-ease, a considerable distance apart.
Artane is also the site of the large Artane-Coolock Credit Union main office (the other, older, office is in Northside Shopping Centre), and the smaller Donnycarney-Beaumont Credit Union, located in Artaine Castle Shopping Centre.
Schools in Artane include St. David’s CBS mentioned above, St. David’s Boys National School and St. John of God National School on Kilmore Road.
Public Transport
Dublin Bus
20B, 27, 27B, 27X, 42, 42A, 42B, 43, 104, 128,
DART
Notable People
- Birthplace of Thomas Kettle (1880 - 1916), writer, barrister, Nationalist politician and economist.
- Artane is the birth place of Larry Mullen, drummer with the Irish band U2, and perhaps the most famous former member of the Artane Boy’s Band.
- Ex-Westlife singer Brian McFadden grew up in Artane.
- Ex-Big Brother star, now TV/radio presenter, Ray Shah grew up and went to school to St. David’s N.B.S & C.B.S in Artane
- Ex-Dead radio bassist Tony Kane currently resides in Artane.
- Ex-Artane-Beaumont striker Keith Brady currently resides in Artane.
- International Techno DJ Andrew O’Connor currently resides in Artane.
(Thanks to Wikipediafor much of this information.)
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:24 am
[...] on the Northside. It lies within the postal district Dublin 9 and is adjacent to Whitehall and Artane. The name derives from the French for “beautiful [...]
December 8th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
I have reason to believe that professor alexander burke the bandmaster of the artane boys band was my great grandfather.
His obituary was published in the Irish press in 1933 but I am unable to find this.
Any information about Alexander Burke would be very gratefully received
December 14th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
We in the area should make more known about the great history of Artane Castle, now gone. Does anyone have any information on Beaumont and the Many great Houses that was once there. Noreen Doyle
June 17th, 2010 at 11:18 am
In response to Eddie Haggar’s reply on December 8th 2009, Prof. Alexander Burke is also my great grandfather. My dad is the older grandson still alive. Please contact me Eddie Haggar at lctmcevoy@yahoo.com. I have picture of him from the paper and visit his grave with my dad regularly. It’s great to meet more of his relatives. I know that a few years ago relatives from Canada came over and tried to find Prof. Alexander Burke’s relatives from the local RC church in Artane. Would love to hear from you. I have the family tree and you are not on it, so would like to fill in.
Lorna McEvoy