Ballybough
Ballybough is a district of north Dublin, Ireland situated northeast of Summerhill, between the Royal Canal and the River Tolka. Adjacent areas are North Strand, Fairview and Drumcondra /Â Clonliffe. The name derives from the Irish baile “town” and bocht “poor”. The area was synomymous with being a leper colony in the 18th Century when it was then known as Mud Island, an extension of the mud flats that now form Fairview and environs.
In olden days, it was a district that attracted characters of ill-repute, drunks, prostitutes and pirates and it was here that the authorities designated an area of burial known colloquially as ‘the suicide plot’ from which Bram Stoker derived the idea of the cross for his novel ‘Dracula,’ the cross being the junction of Clonliffe Road and Ballybough Road. The unconsecrated cemetery grounds in that area was used to bury suicide victims, highwaymen and robbers. Given their nefarious nature, it was a tradition for a wooden stake to be driven through their hearts to keep their spirits pinned to their final resting place and not free to trouble the locals. It was also believed that those that took their own lives and/or committed heinous acts while alive would in fact become vampires in death. In this case, the stake served a double purpose of keeping the spirit in their casket, as well as destroying the vampire before it could take form.
During the land reclamation project of the 19th century, Mud Island was known, interchangeably, as Friend’s Field or French Field, before it became known by its current name. The village of Ballybough traces its origins to a series of small dwellings known as Ballybough Cottages, which were later demolished to make way for the Dublin Corporation housing project known as Ballybough House.
The area was, and still is, a predominantly working-class district of the North Inner City, but is not without its famous people such as the Luke Kelly of The Dubliners folk group for whom Ballybough Bridge over the River Tolka is named. The film director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, The Field) is also from the area.
Close by at Jones’ Road is Croke Park, the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association. This sports stadium is among the most modern in Europe with a capacity of 83,000. In addition to hurling and gaelic football it is also used as a rock concert venue. It is here that U2 has played to some of its largest audiences. The stadium was also the venue where world boxing champion Muhammad Ali defeated ‘Al Blue’ Lewis in a non-title fight in 1972.
The North East Inner City Youth Arts Project organises the Ballybough Youth Project.
The construction of Ballybough Community Centre has recently been completed.
(Thanks to Wikipedia for much of this information.
September 26th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
[...] Strand was under water, and a rough bridle track extended along the shore some distance eastward of Ballybough Road, which was, until the building of Annesley Bridge in the highway to Malahide, Howth, and [...]
September 26th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
[...] Park is Baile Bocht, rather than Fionn Radharc - which tells that this area was originally part of Ballybough. In fact, most of Ballybough was where Fairview lies now, and it was only later it moved across the [...]
December 15th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
[...] Do Porto, and David Machado Do Sequeira, on behalf of the Ashkennazim leased a plot of land in Ballybough from Chichester Phillips of Drumcondra Castle. Jewish Cemetery, Fairview [...]
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
[...] crypts under the church St. John the Baptist where Stoker was baptised. The Suicide’s Plot in Ballybough may well have inspired the “stake through the heart” method of vampire [...]
April 17th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I am looking for photographs of murphy’s cottages in Ballybough as a present to my father who grew up there in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Any relevant information would be greatly appreciated
June 29th, 2009 at 2:50 am
[...] and author Pat Liddy, will likely take place in September or October, covering Fairview, Ballybough and [...]
July 4th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
my grandparents lived in ballybough and my mother and her brother and sisters were born and brought up there i am trying to find any info or photographs that anyone may have or where i can get any help in trying to find out more about them the surname was McAleer please contact me direct at walker.brenda3@googlemail.com many thanks Brenda
July 9th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
[...] contains now the townlands of Ballybough (i.e. the poor town), Clonturk, Donnycarney (i.e. Caemach’s Church), Drishoge (i.e. the [...]
July 11th, 2009 at 1:57 am
[...] that time Drumcondra, Drishoge, and Ballybough were the property of John Bathe’s eldest son by his first marriage, James Bathe, who married [...]
July 12th, 2009 at 3:04 am
[...] that time Drumcondra, Drishoge, and Ballybough were the property of John Bathe’s eldest son by his first marriage, James Bathe, who married [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
[...] of the thin population of the district may be gathered from the fact that in the winter of 1735 Ballybough Bridge was the scene of a conflict between smugglers and revenue officers, and 10 years later [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
[...] of the thin population of the district may be gathered from the fact that in the winter of 1735 Ballybough Bridge was the scene of a conflict between smugglers and revenue officers, and 10 years later [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
[...] contains now the townlands of Ballybough (i.e. the poor town), Clonturk, Donnycarney (i.e. Caemach’s Church), Drishoge (i.e. the [...]
April 12th, 2010 at 3:53 am
the two stones at the main gates of fairvew church was the entrance in to dublin the old north wall
May 3rd, 2010 at 4:09 pm
[...] are inviting everyone from the surrounding areas of Fairview, Marino, East Wall, Ballybough and North Strand along to see how things are progressing and to hear feedback on things to date, [...]
July 21st, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Does anybody know anything more about the Suicide Plot at the crossroads of Ballybough and Clonliffe Rds? When did they stop burying people there? Have any bodies ever been found there?