We are kept busy all year round with a mixture of competitions and concerts and we have a mixed repertoire going from sacred music through to modern standards. Paul Deegan is our Musical Director and as retired Head of Voice at the Royal Academy of Music, he also gives us invaluable vocal training.

We are open to singers at all levels from complete beginners upwards.

A New Interest for the Winter Months - Join Our Choir

We are open to singers at all levels from complete beginners upwards.

If you are interested, why not come along to our first rehearsal of the Autumn season on Tuesday 31st August in St Vincent’s School Hall, Griffith Avenue, Marino. 7.30pm for the gentleman, 8pm for the ladies.

If you want to know more please e-mail or call Donna for more information.  (donna.callan@gmail.com / 087 411 2537)

Come along & see the plans!

Friday 7th & Saturday 8th May

St Joseph’s CBS Primary School,

Marino Park Avenue

Presentation of plans Friday 7.30pm

All welcome!

Display on view Friday 4pm - 8.30pm, Saturday 11am-5pm

Dublin City Council are planning to display the further developed plans for Fairview Parknext weekend in St. Josephs CBS School . Also on  display will be the ‘dream playground’ drawings done by the children in St Joseph’s  CBS School  and the Howth Road National School and samples of possible finishes and images of play equipment and ideas suggested at the last meeting. They will show a presentation on the Friday evening at 7.30pm of the plans to date including the updated plan reflecting comments and ideas from the consultation so far. Plans will also be available to view next weekend on the DCC Parks Website.

DCC 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, so if you know of anyone with an interest, be sure to mention it to them . Posters will go up in the shops in the area and flyers will be available on Tuesday if anyone wants to help spread the words just let me know.

If you have any suggestions for the improvements, please leave a comment on our Fairview Park Improvements page.

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Dublin City Council Parks & Landscape Services Division is currently planning some proposed improvements to Fairview Park. These will include:

• a newly designed high quality playground,
• upgrading of the seasonal bedding areas and
• a newly designed outdoor performance area with some public seating.

The public engagement phase will take place during the month of April 2010 and the Parks Division are looking for local residents’ thoughts and ideas on the proposals. Signs will be put up in the park in the location of new improvements, and the City Council Parks website will be regularly updated as the project progresses. Keep an eye out also for the notice boards in the neighbourhood for upcoming meeting dates and for updates. Initial layouts have been drafted at this stage and background research ranging from the feasibility of the feature bandstand to current play design ideas including the promoting the value of active recreation is being carried out by the Parks and Landscape Services Division.

It is intended that these improvements will form quite a significant modification to the park, creating an interesting focal point, and an exciting addition to Fairview Park.

Parks & Landscape Services Division welcome all thoughts, suggestions and comments in relation to the proposed improvements and are planning an initial evening meeting this week to present some ideas and to welcome everyone’s ideas on the Park.

Come along to the first public meeting on Wednesday April 21 at 7pm in Marino College, opposite the Park.

This module is for beginners, or a little more advanced learners or indeed very advanced learners.

The DCU students meet with and facilitate older learners (ie older people aged sixty plus) to learn the information technology skills such as how to use the internet, how to use e-mail. The more advanced learners come to understand how to use digital photography. We also have a tea/coffee break for twenty minutes between these sessions so that the older learners can meet with and chat with the DCU students. The sessions are great fun and are very enjoyable.

The sessions will run from 6th March until the 24th April 2010.

There are places available for 30 people who are interested in attending this fun and interesting session. We meet on Saturday morning in DCU in the School of Education Studies between 10.00am and 1.00pm. We can arrange to meet our new older learners at the front entrance of the HELIX at about 9.50am and show them to the rooms where we teach and learn together. The cost for the six Saturdays is 60 euro for the full course. This however can be reduced depending on the individual circumstances of each older learner.
If you are interested please contact Trudy Corrigan at 7007865 or email trudy.corrigan@dcu.ie
For more information click here: http://www.dcu.ie/education_studies/intergenerational/

If you have any pictures that you’d like to feature on the website, please e-mail them to photos@dublinlocal.com and we will publish the best.

Happy New Year! / Ath-bhliain faoi shéan ‘is faoi shona!

If you have any pictures of your neighbourhood that you’d like to feature on the website, please e-mail them to photos@DublinLocal.com and we will publish the best.

Happy New Year! / Ath-bhliain faoi shéan ‘is faoi shona!

Dublin City Council Waste Management Services 2009 Christmas / New Year Arrangements

Wishing you a green Christmas & New Year

The Christmas & New Year period is traditionally one of the busiest of the year for our Waste Management Services. In light of this the following arrangements have been specifically organised to cater for the extra demands on our services.

Household Waste Collections - Black and Brown Bins:

There will be no waste collection service on Christmas Day. Collections scheduled for Christmas Day will take place on Saturday 26th Dec 2009.

In addition there will be no waste collection on New Year’s Day. Collections scheduled for New Year’s Day will take place on Saturday, 2nd January 2010.

Waste collections will take place as normal on all other dates.

Green Bin Collections:

Householders whose green bin is full may place additional dry recyclable material beside their green bin on collection day provided it is presented in a safe, neat and secure manner. This extended service will be available to Dublin City Council customers until 15/01/10.

Christmas Tree Collection Centres:

Christmas trees will be accepted free of charge at the following locations from 2nd January to 18th January 2009. (refer to the Bring Centre opening times)

• Windmill Road Bring Centre, Crumlin, Dublin 12
• Gulistan Terrace, Rathmines, Dublin 6
• Stanley Street Depot (off Brunswick Street), Dublin 7 (Mon - Fri 8am - 4pm)
• WEEE Retailer Recycling Centre, Kylemore Park West, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10 (Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm)
• Milltown Car Park, Milltown Road, Dublin 6
• Sandymount - Car park at Martello Tower, Strand Road, Dublin 4
• Car park on Clontarf Road - beside the former Traffic School
• Albert College Car Park
• Oscar Traynor Road, Coolock, Collins Ave., Dublin 5
• Mellowes Parks Depot - beside Dublin City Council Civic Centre on Mellowes Road, Finglas (Mon - Fri 8am - 4pm & Sat - Sun 10am - 4pm)
• Ashington, Dublin 7 - Open Space
• Dunard, Dublin 7 - Open Space
• Walkinstown Green - at Church, Bunting Park
• Poddle Park - Kimmage

Glass Banks:

In addition to our Recycling Centres there are over 115 Glass Bank Sites located across the City. Some of these sites also accept plastic bottles, textiles and cans. Please ensure you take bags and boxes home after depositing materials - littering is an offence and may result in a heavy fine.

Bring Centres - Opening Times:

The character of the area has changed in the last 100 years, from a district centred on a large demesne / estate, and later small village, to a modern, rather dispersed, mixed-use suburb. Much of the old village is gone and where there were once fields full of crops, and wild woodlands of all sorts, there are now housing estates, a park, an athletics stadium, a shopping complex, industrial parks and busy roads leading to Dublin Airport. Morton Stadium is now the home to the League of Ireland club - Sporting Fingal - until their permanent home ground is constructed in the Swords/Donabate area. The Trinity College Library has a depository at Santry which holds three million books.

History

Santry is an anglicisation of the Irish placename Sean Triabh (pronounced Shan-treev) which literally means “old tribe”. Although nobody can be quite sure, the book of Leccan refers to a tribe called the Almanii who inhabited the area, who might have been the source of the name.

During the Viking invasions a number of peaceful Norse farmers moved into the North Dublin area, which proved to be excellent farmland. These Norsemen were famous for their agricultural prowess, crafts and fishing skills. They also brought new pastimes and strange Scandinavian phrases which are thought to survive to today further away from the city. The gregarious, direct, rogueish and outgoing character of the Norsemen may be something that endures with what Dublin people understand as a “Northsider”.

After this time people began to refer to the area north of the River Tolka, including from Santry and north to Swords, Lusk, and beyond as “Fingal”, which translates as “fair-haired foreigner”. The name was confined to songs, poems, folk memory and some antiquarian titles until a re-organization of local government in the 1990s set up Fingal and Fingal County Council.

In the 12th century, the neighbourhood of Santry was plundered by Murcadh Ua Maeleachlain, King of Meath, in revenge for the death of his son at the hands of Mac Gilla Mocholmog, chief of Fingal, who then established his base in Santry.

In 1581 the lands and title of Santry were awarded to William Nugent who then lost it after falling out of favour with the Crown because of his religion. In 1620 the lands of Santry were confiscated from Nugent’s aristocratic but Catholic offspring, the Barnewalls. The Protestant Barry family (originally from Cork) took charge of the estate and tenants and became the Lords of Santry where they remained in title for three or four generations. King Charles II made Sir James Barry, then only a knight, Baron of Santry (for services rendered).

In the mid 18th century, thanks to the black sheep of the Barry family (son of Bridget, nee Domvile), the Lordship of Santry and the House passed to Sir Compton Domville, Bart., (1696-1768).

The mansion was four stories high, in the style of Queen Anne, with high narrow doors and windows like Blenheim House,

resembling on a minor scale Versailles Palace. It comprises a centre and two wings, the latter thrown forward and connected with the main body by covered passages. The square of the front of the house is enclosed with iron gates, and in its midst is a pillar recording the pedigree and death of an Arab steed belonging to the present owner … (Benjamin Adams’ ‘History of the Parish of Santry’, 1884)

One account of the monument to the horse says that ‘Sir Compton Domvile got in a rage with one of his best horses and ordered it to be shot. He rode away to Dublin, but changed his mind and got back just as his order was carried out. He erected this monument in memory of the horse.’ Another account says that for some reason his favourite horse threw him, ‘whereupon he went into the house and returned with a gun and shot it. Later, filled with remorse, he had the monument erected’.

Santry was the scene of violence in the early months of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, when a punitive expedition of Parliamentarians led by Sir Charles Coote mistakenly massacred a group of local farm labourers, who were sleeping in the fields there. Coote had assumed they were rebels preparing to attack Dublin.

During the Williamite war in Ireland, in 1690, the Catholic King James stationed his Jacobite army just to the west of Santry, near Balcurris (now within Ballymun) before setting out to oppose William of Orange at the battle of the Boyne.

In the Irish Rebellion of 1798 United Irishmen from all over Fingal marched south towards Dublin city but were met by a company of local Yeomanry (government militia) from Santry village and were massacred. The bloodshed was so bad in this action that the area at the Northern gateway to Santry Demesne (now near the Little Venice Restaurant) was known as “Bloody Hollows” for several years after. Later a Royal Irish Constabulary station was located on the site of the present-day restaurant.

Features

Santry Demesne (Santry Court)

Where the new Santry Demesne public park is situated was once a palatial old house and gardens, built in the 1700s. This was once the largest house in North County Dublin and people travelled from far and wide to be received by the owners, the Barry family. Many clues of the house still exist and the park is worth visiting to find the house foundations, front steps, tree avenue and walled garden. A small bend in the Santry River (which forms the boundary of the park today) was widened to create a small pond for the boating pleasure of Georgian ladies and gentlemen who resided at, and visited, the house.

The house fell into disrepair, initially at the turn of the century as the estate proved not to be economically viable but ultimately after the Domville family departed Ireland post-independence in 1921. It came into the possession of the state, who intended to repair it and use it as a mental asylum. This plan was shelved by the start of World War II; the need to increase security around Dublin Airport meant it was used as an army depot, and part of the gardens as a firing range. There are many theories locally about what happened next but it appears as if soldiers of the Irish army caused a fire and the house was severely damaged in 1947, followed by demolition shortly afterwards.

Swiss Cottages

The Swiss Cottages that are still associated with Santry no longer exist. The cottages were built in 1702 by Lady Domville who, after a visit to Switzerland, decided to build 11 Swiss-style cottages for the farm workers and estate staff. Unfortunately 10 of the 11 cottages were demolished due to their dilapidation. While the last remaining cottage still stands in Santry, it is not in its original conception and the building was adapted into an office block in 1984 and today houses a pharmacy. Morton Stadium now stands on the site of what was the gardens at the rear of the house. The only contemporary reminder of the Swiss Cottages is found on the name of a local pub, ‘The Swiss Cottage’.

Santry in the 70s

In 1976 E J McAuliffe, Dublin genealogist, visited the area and described what he saw in a letter of 13 May 1976 to Martin Dunville of Florida, USA. The old village of Santry had gone and all that remained was an old house, bar, shop, and the old church.

‘The wall surrounds the demesne - now grazed by cows - and many fine old trees of an exotic kind remain. The old gate lodge is there but empty, and a new small house appeared near it. After braving the notice ‘beware guard dogs’ I opened the gate, and went to the house, where I met a young lady and told her I was making enquiries for a descendant of the Domvilles. She became immediately most friendly, and told me her name is Mrs Harris, and that she had known an old lady, now deceased, who worked for the Domvilles, who were good landlords, well beloved, and who did much for Santry. Alas, only a few old walls are all that remain of the house, and the monument to the horse has fallen.

‘The old church is well kept, and the small graveyard in which it stands. Here I saw the memorials to Sir Compton, and the old tombstones …’

Transport

Public transport comprises a number of bus routes, operated by Dublin Bus:

• 16 - From Ballinteer to Santry
• 16a - From Lower Rathfarnam to Dublin Airport
• 17a - From Finglas to Kilbarrack via Santry
• 27b - From Harristown to Eden Quay - turns away from Santry at the Santry Demesne junction
• 33 - From Balbriggan to Lower Abbey Street
• 41 - From Swords Manor to Lower Abbey Street
• 41a - From Swords Manor to Lower Abbey Street (no return service)
• 41b - From Rolestown to Lower Abbey Street
• 41c - From Swords Manor to Lower Abbey Street
• 103 - From Clontarf Dart Station to Omni Shopping Centre
• 104 - From Clontarf Dart Station to Cappagh Hospital
• 746 - Dublin Airport to Dun Laoghaire

The Metro North line of the planned Dublin Metro which is predicted to begin operation in 2010 will pass through the nearby suburb of Ballymun.

(Thanks to Wikipedia and the story of Santry House for much of this information.)

Kilmore West has national schools for both boys and girls, Scoil Fhursa and Scoil Ide, respectively. It also has its own parish and Roman Catholic church, St. Luke the Evangelist, with the parish priest being (2007) Fr. Jack Lynch. The full RC parish name is Kilmore Road West, the original townland of Kilmore Big being entirely to the west of the Kilmore Road, in Artane.

Large well known families living in Kilmore consist of the Doyle, Lawless, Maples, Bell and Geraghty clans.

Notable local activities include pigeon fancying and boxing, both based in the local community centre. Soccer also commands the allegiance of a large section of the community (such as Kilmore Celtic) as does gaelic football. There is a local Tang Soo Do club. Sea angling, while not possible in this inland suburb, is also a popular local pastime. And of course Kilmore West Recreation Centre and St. Luke’s Social Centre are well-used community venues.

Other local organisations include the Kilmore West Youth Project, Youth Action Kilmore, the Kilmore West Community Playgroup, the Ana Wim Kilmore Drug Awareness Project, Kilmore West Red Cross (now defunct) and the Kilmore West Community Development Project.

(Thanks to Wikipedia for much of this information.)

In Georgian Times

At the time of the accession of George the First, Belvedere was the residence of Sir John Coghill’s eldest son, Marmaduke Coghill, who was, like his father, a civilian, and had succeeded him as judge of the prerogative court. At the same time as the fee of Drumcondra, the chief interest in Belvedere was sold amongst the forfeited estates. The premises were then described as a brick house slated, a stable with a loft, also slated, and a malt house tiled. They had a fine entrance from “the great road to Drogheda,” and an orchard and kitchen-garden. With them there were sold another slated house with a stable and garden, and a cabin.

In his day Marmaduke Coghill occupied a most prominent place in the life of Dublin, and was remarkable for his early display of ability. At the age of 14 he entered Dublin University; at the age of 18 he graduated as a bachelor of laws; at the age of 19 he was returned to parliament; and at the age of 26 he became judge of the prerogative court.

For nearly half a century he occupied a seat in the Irish parliament: from 1692 to 1713 as a representative of the borough of Armagh, and from 1713 to his death, in 1739, as a representative of Dublin University; and during the last ten years of his life he held government office, first as a commissioner of the revenue, and afterwards as chancellor of the exchequer, with a seat in the privy council.

In politics he was a Tory and a supporter of the Irish interest, but owing to his judicial mind and breadth of view he was courted by men of all shades of opinion. His own aversion to the position was the only bar to his unanimous election to the speakership, nay even to the office of a lord justice, and his peculiar qualities were shown in a still more striking way by his counting bishops of both Irish and English birth amongst his friends; indeed, Primate Lindsay, a ritualist of an extreme type, is said to have been the only member of the episcopal bench by whom he was not loved. In some lines entitled ” A Wonderful Man ” his character is thus described

I sing a subject sung by no men,
A common man, and yet uncommon;
No lawyer, advocate, or proctor,
And yet he’s all, and is a doctor
Common to landsmen, and to seamen,
Common to churchmen, and to laymen;
The common and the sure resort,
Both of the country and the court,
Common to rich and poor, nay more, he
Is common both to Whig and Tory.

From his father Marmaduke Coghill had inherited a lease from the Corporation of the Clonturk lands, and erected on or near the site of the one occupied by Peter Bathe a house which was afterwards known as Drumcondra House, and is now incorporated in the buildings of All Hallows College. For many years its gardens were Coghill’s chief pleasure. Throughout his life he appears to have been a martyr to gout, to which his pursy frame must have made him an easy victim, and at times he was completely incapacitated by it from business.

Four years before his death lie speaks of losing the use of his limbs, and soon afterwards he made his will. In it he mentions, besides more important property, many personal belongings, his pictures, his coach and chariot, his gold snuff box and diamond rings, his gold case and stand from the East Indies, and his silver basin and ewer, with wash-ball, sponge, and powder boxes.

At that time the Strand, which stretched from the mouth of the Tolka to Clontarf was, especially in winter, the great resort of the fashionable world in Dublin, and there the leading people rode, drove, and walked. While riding “with his two servants, one before and the other behind him,” Swift had an altercation on this strand with Lord Blayney, who was driving a pair of “high mettled horses” in a chaise, and in a statement which he drew up Swift represented that it was the only place near Dublin where be could ride with comfort in winter. The number on foot, who made the strand “a place of parade,” was very great, and contemporary verses on the Liffey speak of visiting

The Strand to view the conquests you have won,
Where oft those eyes supply the absent sun.

It is difficult to picture the neighbourhood of the strand, so different is it to-day, but some idea 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 Drumcondra was the place chosen for the execution of four robbers, who were brought to the gallows directly after their sentence in the court of the king’s bench.

The only indication of industry was the existence of a bleach-green near Belvedere, which probably owed its origin to Marmaduke Coghill, and, as possibly an outcome of it, a factory for printing linen by copperplate was established at Drumcondra in the middle of the century. It was then visited by Mrs. Delany, who was much impressed by the work, and purchased chintz curtains with a design of boys climbing an oak-tree, after some celebrated artist, which was so beautifully executed as to resemble etching.

As occupant of Belvedere, Marmaduke Coghill was succeeded by one of the few great advocates of that time, Henry Singleton, then prime serjeant-at-law, and afterwards successively chief justice of the common pleas and master of the rolls. Unlike that of Coghill, the career of Singleton was in no way phenomenal, and with the public he was not too popular.

There’s Prime Serjeant Grand.
Who puts all to a stand,
With his jostle and shove to arise, sir,
He lays down the law,
With as haughty a paw,
As if he were judge of assize, sir.

But for many years before his elevation to the bench his reputation in his profession, in parliament, and in private life was very high, and had it not been for the fact that he was born in Ireland he would probably have attained to the woolsack.

He belonged to a family identified with Drogheda, of which he was recorder, and for more than 35 years a representative in parliament. In addition to being an Irishman he had the impediment to promotion of being a Tory, and it was not until the arrival of Lord Carteret as lord lieutenant that government favour began to shine on Singleton, who was then a man of middle age.

By Carteret the office of prime serjeant was conferred upon him. His appointment was, no doubt, chiefly due to his helping the government by a singularly able speech in a financial debate, but also in some degree to the fact that he was a great favourite with Carteret on account of his social qualities.

Two years before his death, in 1737, Marmaduke Coghill made a formal lease of Belvedere to Henry Singleton, who was then in occupation of the house. They were close friends, and when Henry Boyle, afterwards Earl of Shannon, was elected to the speaker’s chair, Coghill was active in support of Singleton, who was Boyle’s most dangerous rival, and took pains to refute the notion that he was proud and haughty.

Together with Belvedere, Coghill conveyed to Singleton a bowling green and premises known then as “John Fitzpatrick’s house and garden.” More than 10 years later, in 1750, Singleton was busy making additions to the house and alterations in the gardens. Mrs. Delany was called in to bless the, but did the reverse in private, and speaks of the absurd style of a new room, and the folly of uprooting full-grown elms and large evergreens to make room for twigs. She threw the blame on a conceited connoisseur, to whom Singleton had given full dominion, but she condescended to come to Singleton’s aid and to adorn a cave, containing “a cold bath,” with her shell work.

At that time Singleton was chief justice of the common pleas, a position to which public opinion had forced his appointment on a vacancy in the year 1740, notwithstanding his Irish birth; but a few years later, in 1754, he exchanged it for the mastership of the rolls, then a sinecure.’

Marmaduke Coghill had never married, having, according to popular report, frightened the fair sex by expressing the alarming opinion that a man was entitled to beat his wife in moderation, and on his death in 1789 Drumcondra House passed to an unmarried sister older than himself, who had resided with him. Afterwards Miss Mary Coghill distinguished herself by erecting the present parish church of Clonturk, and by placing in it a statue of her brother. The statue was the work of Peter Scheemakers, who executed many of the monuments of that period in Westminster Abbey, and represents Coghill seated, in the robes of a chancellor of the exchequer. On his right hand there is a figure of Minerva and on the left of Religion, and underneath them are the arms of the Coghill family and a long inscription.

[Marmaduke Coghill, eldest son of Sir John Coghill, of Coghill Hall, in the county of York, Knight, was born in Dublin on the 28th day of December, 1673; in 1687 he was admitted a fellow-commoner in Trinity College, Dublin; in 1691 he took his degree of doctor of civil law; in 1692 he was elected Representative for the borough of Armagh, and in every succeeding parliament was unanimously chosen to represent the University of Dublin; in 1699 he succeeded his father as judge of His Majesty's Court of Prerogative; in 1729 he was sworn of His Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, and appointed one of the Commissioners of His Majesty's Revenue; in 1735 he was admitted to the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, and held that post till his death; in public life his great abilities and unwearied diligence, the calmness of his temper, and clearness of his judgment, his extensive knowledge of the canon and civil laws, and his inflexible regard to justice rendered him a most discerning and impartial judge; his experience of the true interest of his Prince and of his country, and his strict attention and invincible regard to both, qualified him equally to discharge his trust as a counsellor and servant of the Crown and as a representative of the subject; in private life he was a most zealous active friend, the patron of merit, the arbitrator amidst jarring interests and parties; his universal benevolence, endeared by the most engaging and affable behaviour, and associated with the greatest zeal and abilities, distinguished him in every scene and period of life as the friend of mankind, and caused his death to be justly lamented as a national loss; be died of the gout in his stomach on the 9th day of March, 1738/9, after a long and painful illness, which he supported with patience, fortitude, and resignation; Mary Coghill hath built this house for the worship of God, and erected this monument to the memory of so valuable a brother, whose body is laid in the vault belonging to his family in St. Andrew's Church, Dublin."]

As tenant of a house on Miss Coghill’s land, it is at that time interest to find one of Vanessa’s friends and legatees, William Lingen, who was an official in Dublin Castle.

The great event in connexion with the Drumcondra district in the middle of the 18th century was the erection on the south-eastern part of the Donnycarney lands of Marino House, famous as the residence of the first Earl of Charlemont, the hero of the volunteer movement in Grattan’s time. Prior to the year 1747, when his death occurred, Richard Warburton, a kinsman of the owner of Garryhinch and a member for the borough of Ballinakill, had resided in Donnycarney House, and subsequently Viscount Strangford, who has been noticed in Palmerstown, and William Netterville, who was a kinsman of Viscount Netterville and died in 1757, were living in or near it; but after the erection of Marino House and formation of its demesne, all other dwellings on the lands became insignificant.

The builder of Marino House was Lord Charlemont’s stepfather, Thomas Adderley, of Innishannon, in the valley of the Bandon, a man who in his day was constantly in the public eye as a politician and promoter of industrial enterprise. When telling of a visit which she paid in the spring of 1753 to a bachelor friend called Mount, who was living in “a little odd sort of dwelling” at Donnycarney, Mrs. Delany mentions that Adderley was building a house there, and praises the design and site. At that time it was evidently believed that the house was intended for his own occupation, but in the following year it appeared that it was to be a present to Lord Charlemont, who was then returning from abroad, where he had been for eight years.

Within three years of their marriage Adderley had lost his wife, who was one of the Bernards, his neighbours at Innishannon; but he transferred his love to his stepchildren, and devoted the best years of his life to the care of them and promotion of their interests.

At first sight Charlemont, then a young man of 26, fell in love with Marino, and formed the idea of making it a classic seat in Ireland. So far as the house was concerned, there was little to attract one accustomed to the palaces of the continent.

When built, it stood close to the high road, which was afterwards moved farther from it, and with the exception of a gallery over 70 feet in length, which had been designed for the display of great collections of articles of virtu that Charlemont had made, its apartments were of modest dimensions. But its situation overlooking Dublin Bay, then undisfigured by railways and harbour works, recalled, as Charlemont first saw it under a summer sun, Italian scenes, and seemed to him to afford a fit setting for imitations of the architectural achievements of that country.

Without a moment’s delay he wrote off to an agent in Rome to procure designs for a temple and entrance gates. The design for the temple was sought from the foremost architect, Luigi Vanvitelli, and the fees demanded by him made the agent pause.

Meantime Charlemont’s health gave way, and although expense would probably have had no deterrent effect upon him, the project had to be cast aside owing to his absence from Ireland. But notwithstanding his inability to give personal attention to its improvement, Marino was constantly in his mind, and while in London he caused large additions to be made to the demesne, and the gardens to be brought to such perfection as to provide a present of ten pine-apples for Mrs. Delany.

He had also correspondence about the house, which was apparently not completed, with his stepfather, who tried to curb his extravagance, and suggested that the original plan should be followed.

On his return to Ireland Charlemont lost no time in undertaking the erection of a temple in the grounds, but the classical style was relinquished for the gothic. This temple, which was being erected in 1762, and of which little trace remains, was an extensive and ornate building, containing a banqueting hall with a kitchen, and was remarkable for the beauty of its windows of painted glass and marble floor. In front of Rosamond’s Bower, as this temple was called, there was constructed a lake, on which in Charlemont’s time Carolina ducks were to be seen, and near which peacocks spread their tails and round it plantations, in which horticultural skill of the first order was displayed, were made.

After Henry Singleton’s death, which occurred in 1759, Belvedere became the residence of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Bowes, who has been already mentioned at Kilmainham. It is a curious coincidence that he should have succeeded Singleton at Belvedere, as he had been one of his greatest rivals at the bar, and had attained to the position to which Singleton aspired.

He was in years much younger than Singleton, and in his standing at the Irish bar even more junior to him. But he had the advantage of English birth, as well as knowledge of English practice, before he came to this country, and was rapidly raised to office as third serjeant-at-law. His promotion to that position excited much jealousy, and in “A View of the Irish Bar,” which has been already quoted, he is thus mentioned:-

There’s Bowes a great beau
That here makes a show,
And thinks all about him are fools, sir
He winks and he speaks,
His brief and fee takes,
And quotes for it English rules, sir.

Although his talents would probably not have brought him to the woolsack without English birth, Bowes proved before long that be was a man of great ability, one of the most able, if not the most able, that practised at the Irish bar in the first half of the 18th century. While holding the office of solicitor-general, a position that he filled, with a seat in parliament for the borough of Taghmon, for nearly 10 years, he is said to have shone in the debates on the question of the gold coinage; and at the trial of the last Lord Santry his speech was a most remarkable oratorical effort. Of it Bishop Rundle wrote that he had ” never heard, never read, such a piece of eloquence,” and, coming from a member of the episcopal bench, this judgment is the more convincing, as Bowes was a critic rather than a friend of the bishops, and had supported a repeal of the test.

After a few years’ service as attorney-general, Bowes was raised to the bench as chief baron of the exchequer, a place which he occupied for 16 years, and from which he was promoted to the chancellorship, which he held for 10 years.

At Belvedere, Bowes is seen in the spring of 1762 entertaining the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Halifax, and in the winter of 1765 enjoying an abnormal bloom in his gardens. In letters to the learned Dr. Birch, whose researches still assist historical students, Bowes wrote as one who looked open residence in Ireland as punishment; and even when a judge he was occupied in devising means for the protection of the English interest. Both judicially and privately he appears as a determined opponent to Roman Catholic claims, and he avows regret that the key-words Protestant and Papist should have given place to court and country.

His acumen as a statesman has led Mr. Lecky to quote from some of his letters. In one of these he says that no state in Europe was then more flourishing than Ireland. To his gift. for friendship his will hears witness, the long list of legatees including all degrees of men, from an archbishop of Canterbury to a man-cook and porter, and of his love of the fine arts the same document contains also proof.

According to Mrs. Delany, who bore him no goodwill on account of his taking a view adverse to Delany in his litigation, Bowes was soon after his elevation to the woolsack in a state of health to unfit him for his duties, with his ankles swollen larger than the calves of his legs ; hut he was in sufficiently good health a few months before his death to cause her to view with apprehension the possibility of the litigation coming before him in a judicial capacity.

After the death of Marmaduke Coghill’s sister, which occurred in 1755, at the age of 88, Drumcondra House became the residence of Charles Moore, then second Lord Tullamore, and afterwards Earl of Charleville. His occupation of it was through his wife, who was a niece of Marmaduke Coghill, the only Surviving child of Marmaduke Coghill’s younger brother, Dr. James Coghill, who was registrar of his court, and who died before him.

To Charleville has been attributed the building of Drumcondra House; and it is possible that the classical front and a temple in the grounds may have been his work. He died in 1764, and his widow married as a second husband Major John Mayne, who assumed the name of Coghill, and was created a baronet.

According to Horace Walpole, the countess was more fit to be the major’s mother than his wife, and married him in romantic circumstances by moonlight in an arbour, possibly the temple at Drumcondra House, where one of the apartments was known as the major’s room.

About the middle of the 18th century residents in the parish began to increase in number, and the suburban districts of Richmond and Fairview developed. Early in the century, in the year 1718, a Jewish burying-ground had been made at Fairview, and later on, about 1748, Joseph Dioderici, maternal grandfather of Thomas Elrington, sometime provost of Trinity College and bishop of Ferns, came to live there.

In the spring of 1762 a new house, on rising ground, between Ballybough Bridge and Marino, was advertised to be let. This house, which had been occupied by a Mrs. Donnellan, had attached to it a large garden, which contained “all necessaries for the kitchen as well as for pleasure,” including two fish-ponds well stocked with trout, and “choice fields” with running water in them.

Five years later, in 1766, the parishioners comprised many persons of distinction. In a return of those made then there appear, besides Lord Bowes and Lord Charlemont, the Earl of Wandesford, Lord Longford, the Hon. Henry Loftus, afterwards Earl of Ely, who has been noticed under Rathfarnham, the Bishop of Meath, and Sir George Tuite, the seventh baronet of his line.

But the most remarkable resident at that time was the patriot physician, Henry Lucas, then in the zenith of his strange career:-

Lucas, Hibernia’s friend, her love and pride,
Her powerful bulwark, and her skilful guide
Firm in the senate, steady to his trust,
Unmoved by fear, and obstinately just.

He occupied a house, now known as Croydon Park, and formerly as Pennyville, which it has been suggested was the one occupied by Mrs. Delany’s friend, and he had probably come there under the wing of Charlemont, who, in addition to being politically allied to him, consulted him as a physician.

At that time Charlemont revived his intention of adorning Marino with a representation of classical architecture, and carried it into effect by the erection of the Casino, the glory of Marino, which remains a monument to his lofty ideals.

It was erected some distance to the north of Marino House, in an open plain, and was raised imperceptibly above the level of the ground by means of galleries of groined brickwork, extending for a long distance under the grass.

In its design it has been described as the perfection of architectural elegance. It rests on an expansive base, with a sculptural lion at each angle. On the north and south there are wide steps leading to the entrances, and on the east and west there are areas enclosed by balustrades. The casino consists of a central building and two wings, and is said to be an imitation of Sicilian Done.

On each side there is a portico, finished to the north and south by an attic story over the central building, and to the east and west by a pediment and balustrade over the wings. In front of the attic story, over an entablature, there are to the north statues of Ceres and Bacchus, and to the south statues of Venus and Apollo; and above the attic story there is at each end a vase which conceals the opening of a chimney fine.

The casino contains, on the ground-floor, in the central part, a vestibule and saloon; in the eastern wing a room variously described as a dining-room and bedroom; and in the western wing a study and a staircase.

In the basement there are, to the north, a scullery, kitchen, and pantry; to the south, an ale-cellar, servants’ hall, and wine-cellar to the east, a butler’s pantry, and to the west, the staircase. The doors on the principal floor are mahogany and cedar; and in one of the side rooms there is a ceiling representing the sky, the paint for which was so delicate that it was feared it would not retain the proper colour while being brought to Dublin from London.

What amount Charlemont spent on the casino is unknown. In a memoir which he wrote he refers to the expenditure at Marino as being of a character to affect for all time his estates ; and when the casino was being built it is said that the workmen estimated the value of a single stone when sculptured at that of a townland.

The architect was Sir William Chambers, who says that the design had been elaborated by him in connexion with projected buildings for Lord Harewood and the Dowager Queen of Sweden, and with him there were associated Joseph Wilton, the sculptor of Wolfe’s monument in Westminster Abbey, and Giovanni Battista Cipriani, many of whose drawings have been preserved by Bartolozzi. For the actual work of erection an Italian sculptor, Simon Verpyle, whom Charlemont had brought with him from Italy, was employed.

While the casino was being built Marino House was embellished with stucco-work and costly mantel-pieces, and the entrance gates, which excited the admiration of George the Fourth when driving from Howth, were erected from a design by Cipriani. As well as renown, his activities at Marino brought to Charlemont married happiness, as he met then as a neighbour at Clontarf Miss Hickman, whom in 1768 he made his wife. Before 1772 the principal works at Marino were completed, and the author of the “Phoenix Park” was able to call the traveller to

Behold Marino elegantly graced,
With every touch of novelty and taste,
Where Charlemont, with liberal hand and heart,
Joins British majesty to art.

After the death of Lord Bowes, in 1767, Belvedere was purchased from his representatives by John Leigh, a barrister, and was occupied for a time by Lord Bowes’s successor on the woolsack, Lord Lifford, who has been noticed under Stillorgan, where he resided in the close of his life. From Leigh, Belvedere was purchased by the great Richard Robinson, Primate of Ireland and Baron Rokeby of Armagh.

In the 19th century it was the residence of more than one member of the Coghill family, and passed from them to the trustees of St. Patrick’s College.

Tourists in the closing years of the eighteenth century dwell on the rural beauty of the approaches to Marino, especially Summer Hill; and the isolation of Marino from the life of Dublin is evident from the fact that Charlemont was robbed while walking in his grounds no less than three times-in 1774, in 1787, and in 1790 - and that lead to a weight of 1500 pounds was in 1789 carried off by robbers from the roof of the casino or the temple.

Charlemont was not the only one who suffered from such outrages. In 1779 a fellow of Trinity College was knocked off his horse and robbed by “pinking dinders” near Marino; and in 1787 turnpike gates, which then stood near to it, were carried away.

To a house on the site of Drumcondra Castle there came as a resident, about the year 1780, Sir Edward Newenham, one of the members of the county of Dublin, and a most prominent public man. He succeeded there his aunt, Mrs. O’Callaghan, a lady of great wealth, who had died in the year 1779; and afterwards the house had a number of owners before it passed to the trustees of St. Joseph’s Asylum for the Blind.

About the year 1773 Drumcondra House was leased by the Countess of Charleville to Alexander Kirkpatrick, a leading Dublin citizen, and in the 19th century it had as one of its occupants Lord Edward FitzGerald’s son-in-law, Sir Guy Campbell; and afterwards passed to the trustees of All Hallows College.

Amongst other houses prominent in the close of the 18th century and opening of the 19th century there may be mentioned High Park, the residence of Thomas Ball; a master in chancery; Hartfield, and Sion Hill.

About the year 1790 Drumcondra became celebrated for its tea-houses, and their frequenters were probably very familiar with the subject of the verses entitled “The Glass of Whiskey”

At the side of the road, near the bridge of Drumcondra,
Was Murrough O’Monaghan stationed to beg
He brought from the wars as his share of the plunder,
A crack on the crown and the loss of a leg.

During the opening years of the 19th century Drumcondra continued to be a place of popular resort. In 1812 a famous aeronaut made an ascent from Belvedere; and in 1869 a dancing master called Duval tried to exploit a well for its alleged medicinal qualities, and make the grounds of a house near the church into a second Vauxhall. But the amenity of the Ballybough neighbourhood was encroached upon in the eighteenth century by the erection of iron works, which were succeeded by glass works, and it was entirely dissipated in the nineteenth century by the erection of vitriol works.

Ecclesiastical History

Drumcondra Church 2006

The church of Clonturk, which is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is a building of the 18th century, but occupies the site of an older one. In its churchyard lie the remains of Francis Grose, the author of “The Antiquities of Ireland,” and the remains of other notable persons.

The Donnycarney lands are believed to have been the site of one of the churches whose foundation is attributed to St. Patrick, known as Domhnach-aithir-Eamhna, where in the 11th century an Archbishop of Armagh was brought to be anointed before his death; but of the church of Clonturk there is no mention until Anglo-Norman times. It appears then as a possession of the Priory of All Saints, and at the close of the 13th century was returned as not sufficiently valuable to maintain a chaplain. After the dissolution of the priory, a small church dedicated to St. Margaret is mentioned and of it, in 1639, John Allen, and, in 1646, Laurence Wogan appear as incumbents.

During the Commonwealth the vicar of Santry, Henry Brereton, petitioned the Corporation of Dublin, as owners of the Clonturk lands, to nominate him to the cure, and mentioned that he was at that time, 1651, preaching at Clonturk every Lord’s day.

After the Restoration there appears to have been a church in good repair, and to it on the nomination of Sir John Coghill there was appointed in 1685 Michael Clenaghan; in 1687, Adam Nixon, and in 1697, Joseph Espin.

About the year 1721, as the control of interments was vested in Marmaduke Coghill, there would appear to have been an interregnum; but from that time we find a continuous success of incumbents, beginning with Henry Hamilton, to whom succeeded in 1733 Edward Hudson; in 1740, Robert Johnson (in whose time, on July 10, 1733, the present church was consecrated); in 1748, James Edkins; in 1781, Charles O’Neill; in 1789, Jacob Cramer; in 1816, William Barlow; in 1826, James Duncan Long; in 1864, Benjamin H. Johnson; and in 1871, Henry Charleton, who held the church until 1896, when it was united to the North Strand Church.

From “A History of the County Dublin” by Francis Elrington Ball (c. 1920).