The Dubliner Magazine

The Dubliner’s Dublin: Inchicore

Not To Be Confused With
Boston-based tradsters Inchicore, who did in fact borrow the name of the Dublin district from which lead singer Derrick Keane hails. Our Inchicore is a well-established suburb with an edgy reputation, lying south of the Liffey in Dublin 8.

Distant Origins
Like many Dublin suburbs, this one traces its origins to a tiny hamlet that, in this case, once bordered the Camac River marsh at Inse Chaoire (Sheep Island). This ovine nomenclature was apt as Inchicore was traditionally the district where sheep were herded and watered prior to entering Dublin city on their way to market. Eschewing its rural origins, Inchicore later became a predominantly industrial and residential suburb. In the late-19th Century, a major engineering works and the West City Tramway Terminus were located there.

Getting There
The rather evocatively named Luas stop, Black Horse, lies in Inchicore. The Black Horse Inn was built in 1764 in anticipation of the opening of the Grand Canal, as a refreshment stop for the barges. The canal attracted considerable traffic in response to the great boom of the 18th Century, but it is mainly a recreational waterway now. Inchicore is served by a range of Dublin Bus routes including the 51, 51B, 68, 69 and 78a.

Dubliners Dublin: Skerries

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH the extremely chilly Minina Skerries, an archipelago located in the Kara Sea off the northwestern shores of Siberia. Winters there are long and bitter, and the islands typically become fused to the mainland as one icy whole for ten months of the year. The more temperate one we’re dealing with here is a picturesque and historic seaside town on the east coast of Dublin, within easy reach of the city.

HISTORY The name Skerries (Na Sceirí) comes from the Norse word for a group of small coastal islands. Saint Patrick, when expelled from Wicklow by the pagan natives, was said to have sailed to his titular island located just off the coast of Skerries. Allegedly some natives stole the great man’s goat. The angry saint confronted the perpetrators and cast a spell on them, causing them to bleat; to this day Skerries natives are commonly referred to as ‘goats’. Incidentally, Saint Patrick did later forgive the Skerries people and lifted the spell on the promise that they would welcome strangers and not steal in future.

PROPERTY This outlying suburb has been subject to rapid but, refreshingly, rather thoughtful expansion in recent years. Barnageeragh Cove in the popular Kelly’s Bay development was launched last year and promises stunning sea views starting from around €215,000. The Maltings, located next to Skerries Mills, offers four-beds for under €500,000. A Treasury Holdings plan involving a hotel, two golf courses, 43 houses, a tennis academy and stables at a 437-acre site spanning Milverton Demesne and Home Farm is – you’ve guessed it – on hold.

Best Christmas House Ever...

 ... on Bath Avenue

Was it the singing rocking electro-Santas? Or the deers marked John and Edward?  Or the pipes collecting money for Our Lady's Hospice in Harold's Cross? Or simply the gigantic winter wonderland visible from space spread across every inch of the modest garden?

Whatever it was... BEST CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS EVER.

 

 

Dubliners Dublin: Palmerstown

Not To Be Confused With
The 1980s TV show Palmerstown USA. Set in 1935, it presents “a view of life in a small town, as seen through the eyes of a white boy, David Hall, and a black boy, Booker T Freeman, friends who struggle to remain that way in a town where races must co-exist for economic survival,” according to the blurb. The series was based on the real life experiences of Roots author Alex Haley, who did not in fact grow up in suburban Dublin.

History
This area has been known as Palmerstown (Baile Phámar) since the 12th Century when the lands here were held by the Hospital of St John the Baptist Without Newgate, otherwise known as the Palmer’s (an archaic word for pilgrim) Hospital. The name derives from its founder, Ailred the Palmer. In 1539, when the religious houses were being suppressed, the lands and castle were granted by the crown to the family of Sir John Allen the Chancellor.

Property
A number of new housing estates sprang up here during the 1970s. These include the unadventurous Oakcourt Estate and Woodfarm Acres. You’ll pick up a three-bed family residence in Oakcourt Lawn for less than €300k and a one-bed apartment can be had for about half that. The houses in this suburb are on the modest end of the scale; there really isn’t a single dwelling that will set you back more than half a million euro at this stage.

Dubliner's Dublin: Ringsend

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH The tiny hamlet of Ringsend near Coleraine in Northern Ireland or the Cambridgeshire village of Ring’s End. Our Ringsend is an inner suburb of Dublin located just 3km east of the city centre. Ever teetering on the cusp of renewal, the area, and particularly the vast, asbestos-choked Irish Glass Bottle site contained within, has long attracted the attention of developers but has as yet failed to deliver on its apparent promise.

HISTORY Once colloquially known as Raytown, a name that hints at its previous incarnation as a fishing village. Ringsend comes from the Irish Roinn Aun, meaning Sea Point. In the 17th Century, it replaced Dalkey as Dublin’s main port, and it was here that Oliver Cromwell landed with 10,000 soldiers in 1649. Irishtown was founded when the Irish inhabitants of Dublin were expelled from the city by the English authorities in 1454.

PROPERTY A mixed bag. The area has experienced significant rejuvenation under the Dublin Docklands Development Plan with the resulting emergence of apartment complexes including the striking Gasworks. However, the majority of properties in Ringsend are still artisan cottages and red-brick terraces with a small number of more substantial properties on the outskirts.

Dubliner's Dublin - Blanchardstown

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH The Shopping Centre, an ever-expanding collection of retail outlets on the other side of the N3. The vast suburb is located 10km north-west of Dublin city and covers most of the An Post postal district, Dublin 15. It’s the largest urban area to be administered by Fingal County Council, itself the fastest growing ‘county’ in Ireland. Until the 1980s Blanchardstown was a quiet village surrounded by farmland. Today, it has a population of over 100,000 and is home to eBay, Google and other household names.

HISTORY Named after the local estate belonging to the Anglo-Norman Blanchard family, who were granted these lands around 1250. In 1385 the name of the district was recorded in contemporaneous records as Villa de Blanchard. Much of present-day Blanchardstown was once covered by a dense forest stretching from the River Tolka to beyond Coolmine and known locally as the Great Scaldwood. The wolves and wild boar that roamed there were enthusiastically hunted by local landowners.

PROPERTY Yes, you’ve guessed it – prices are falling. Quaint cottages in the centre of the lovely old village are still being snapped up for €600,000, and three and four-bedroom semis are commanding around €500,000 each. However, new apartments are losing value rapidly.

My Dublin Brian O’Driscoll

Outdoors St Anne’s Park in Clontarf. I have memories from an early age of playing football on Pitch 21 with my mates, playing pitch and putt and basically getting up to mischief. When I was very young, maybe six or seven, I used to ask my granny if she wanted to go for a walk, which meant passing a sweet shop –worked every time.

Restaurants Wagamama has good, healthy food and even when the queue is long it tends to move quickly. I love Sunday brunch in the Canal Bank Café, with the chicken wings as a treat.

Bars The DJ at Bruxelles, Mark, plays the best music in Dublin, and Kehoes on South Anne Street is great – guaranteed no pretentiousness and what you see is what you get.

How to Live Like a Princess (on a Pauper’s Salary)

So the credit crunch has you in a headlock? But you don’t want to go back to Scrumpy Jack now that Dom Pérignon is your VBF? What to do? Here’s a survival guide for princesses still bravely clinging to their tiaras. By Amanda Spencer

Castle Refurb Keep an eye online – you never know when some benevolent prince will be downsizing. You’ll spend most of your time sifting through fridge magnets and old RTÉ Guides, but tenacity is key. If questioned, claim eco-chic-centricity. dublinwaste.ie, gumtree.ie, jumbletown.ie, freecycle.net 

Wardrobe These days, ‘vintage’ means anything older than last season, so it pays to stock up on cast-offs. Plunder Bodytonic’s car-boot sales, taking advantage of the pissed and privileged vendors. Next sale: September 27th from 1pm. www.bodytonicmusic.com

The Dubliner’s Dublin – Kilmainham

Not to be confused with Kilmaine, a village in Mayo with a population of 150. Kilmainham (population c. 9,000) is in newly-fashionable Dublin 8, a mile or two from the city centre. It contains several buildings of significance including the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham Gaol, St Patrick’s Hospital and Dr Steeven’s Hospital.

Dubliner's Dublin – Mount Merrion

Not to be confused with Mount Morian in Texas. This Mount Merrion (Cnoc Mhuirfean) is a middle-class suburb about seven kilometres south of the city centre. The suburb is situated on and around the first foothill of the Dublin Mountains from which it takes its name. Once a wooded hill rising imposingly above the surrounding countryside and overlooking the tiny hamlet of Dundrum, Mount Merrion has changed in recent years as the city has marched southward.