The Little Book of Ranelagh

by Maurice Curtis

Overview

The Little Book of Ranelagh is a compendium of fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts about this Dublin suburb. Here you will find out about Ranelagh's rural past, its sporting heritage, its arts and culture, its schools and churches, shops and industries, and its famous (and occasionally infamous) men and women. Through main thoroughfares and twisting back streets, this book takes the reader on a journey through Ranelagh and its vibrant past. A reliable reference book and a quirky guide, this can be dipped into time and time again to reveal something new about the people, the heritage and the secrets of this south Dublin suburb.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780750985123
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	08/01/2017
Sold by:	INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP - EPUB - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

MAURICE CURTIS holds a Ph.D in Modern Irish History andlecturse on History. He spent ten years as Assistant Manager/Book Buyer for the Veritas chain of bookshops in Ireland. He is involved with the Dublin Book Festival and works part-time as a tour guide in Dublin. His numerous books have been reviewed in Irish national and local press.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

EARLY HISTORY – THE MASSACRE OF CULLENSWOOD AND THE BLOODY FIELDS

VILLAGES, TOWNLANDS AND BARONIES

The district originally consisted of two tiny villages – Ranelagh and Cullenswood – and in ancient times was part of a Gaelic district called Cuala. An important road ran from the old medieval city of Dublin through Cuala to Wicklow and was known as the Dublin Way or Bealach Dubhlinne. The land in the area was part of the demesne of St Kevin's Parish owned by the Archbishop of Dublin.

The townlands of Ranelagh North and Ranelagh South were in the civil Parish of St Peter's and in the barony of Uppercross. They were bounded on the north by Harcourt Road and Adelaide Road, on the east by Sussex Road and an old irregular boundary from there to Chelmsford Road, on the south by Chelmsford Road, Ranelagh Village, Charleston Road, Oakley Road and Dunville Avenue, and on the west by Beechwood Park, Belgrave Square East, Mountpleasant Avenue Upper, Bessborough Parade, Rathmines Road Lower and Richmond Street South.

Ranelagh is in the local government electoral area of Pembroke/Rathmines, which was reconfigured as Rathgar-Rathmines Local Electoral Area with effect from May 2014. For many years, it was located in the Dáil constituency of Dublin South-East, which was renamed Dublin Bay South with effect from the 2016 General Election. Interestingly, in the important 1918 General Election, Ranelagh/Rathmines broke the nationalist trend in evidence nearly everywhere else and returned the unionist MP, Sir Maurice Dockrell.

FAMOUS BATTLES

1209 – The Massacre of Cullenswood

It has been suggested that were it not for the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains the history of Ireland might have been different! For it was there that the Irish clans lived, in an area completely inaccessible to marauders and protected from the new invaders. These mountains had for centuries stymied the full extension of English rule beyond the Pale. The Pale or paling, an ad hoc fortification around mainly Dublin, was designed to prevent attacks but did little to improve matters. Consequently, following the Norman invasion of the late twelfth century, Cullenswood, situated between the seat of English power in Ireland, Dublin Castle, and the Dublin Mountains, was a dangerous no man's land where many a battle was fought between the native Irish who had been banished to the mountains and the settlers who had usurped their lands.

On Easter Monday, c. 1209, the infamous Massacre of Cullenswood took place. The site of the massacre was between Cuala or Cualann woods, and not too far from present-day Mount Pleasant Square and the Grand Canal. The new settlers had been enjoying an open-air celebration which involved playing 'hurling the ball' when they were set upon by the O'Tooles and the O'Byrnes and hundreds of them were killed. The settlers commemorated the massacre annually for many years as 'Black Monday'. Every year the citizens of Dublin would march with the members of the various trade guilds, dressed in battle array and carrying black flags warning the Irish tribes that they were not for turning.

In 1316 the O'Tooles attempted a repeat attack but were repelled. It was not until nearly 300 years later that the power base of the Irish clans began to succumb. In 1599 the head of Phelim O'Toole was presented to Queen Elizabeth. His rule and sphere of influence in the Wicklow area had also included what is today the Powerscourt Demesne. The queen bestowed this forfeited property on Richard Wingfield, O'Toole's nemesis. Despite that, the O'Tooles, the O'Byrnes and other Wicklow clans, under the leadership of one infamous Michael Dwyer, never gave up the battle and as late as the 1798 Rebellion continued to harass and maraud the lands of the invaders.

The Bloody Fields and Cromwell

Parts of Ranelagh, such as Sandford Road, Edenvale Road and Mountpleasant Avenue, which were just fields and lanes of Cullenswood in the mid-seventeenth century, were on the outskirts of the infamous Bloody Fields, which stretched from what later became Edenvale Road to Baggot Street and Palmerston Park. Some of these roads were pivotal for the strategic movement of soldiers and cavalry during the Battle of Rathmines in August 1649, a battle that changed the course of Irish history.

It was in that vicinity also, on ground stretching roughly from Belgrave Square to the Beechwood Avenue Church site, that the Marquis of Ormond had established his main camp overlooking Dublin prior to the disastrously significant Battle of Rathmines, when his summary defeat by Colonel Michael Jones secured for Oliver Cromwell the vital 'beach head' he needed to invade Ireland. The battle saw the combined Irish confederate and royalist forces of Ormond defeated by parliamentarians under the command of Jones. This facilitated the landing in Dublin (at Ringsend) of Oliver Cromwell and precipitated his subsequent reconquest of parts of the country. This reconquest involved the 'to Hell or to Connaught' policy and was devised with the help of one William Petty, who had come to Ireland with Cromwell, and was based in the Crow's Nest in Temple Bar, Dublin. Within a decade, this ruthless dispossession and transplantation policy saw the ownership of the land of Ireland by the Irish fall quickly and dramatically from 60 per cent to 20 per cent by the late 1650s. The implementation of that draconian policy was undertaken in an attempt to destroy the Irish once and for all.

The Norse, Wicklow and London Connections

The name 'Ranelagh' derives from the Irish 'Gabhal Raghnaill' (with a possible Norse influence and pronounced 'Gaval Rannal'), an area in the Wicklow Mountains stretching south to Shillelagh and north to Carlow and centred around Ballinacor/Glenmalure. Until the early seventeenth century, this region was under the control of the O'Byrne family. Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne (d. 1597), a military genius and strategist, and one of the last great defenders of Gaeldom, was known in the sixteenth century as O'Byrne of Gabhal Raghnaill or Lord of Ranelagh, which reflected the clan's control of that part of Leinster. However, following the defeat of the O'Byrnes and the seizure of their lands, that title went to Sir Roger Jones, who in 1628 was ennobled as Viscount Ranelagh. His son Richard was created Earl of Ranelagh in 1677 and his London residence was called Ranelagh House. When that was sold, the site was converted into a fashionable spot called Ranelagh Gardens, the same site upon which the Chelsea Flower Show is hosted today.

WILLBROOK HOUSE

The Importance of Willbrook House

Meanwhile, back in Dublin, in the area now known as Ranelagh, a fine dwelling called Willbrook House, on the site of today's park, Ranelagh Gardens, was playing its part in the growth of a village. The house was in existence decades before Rocque's Map of Dublin for 1753 and 1762, both of which show this house on grounds with extensive gardens. The popular Dublin newspaper of 1753, Pue's Occurrences, described the house in a 'for sale' ad as 'held under the See of Dublin, containing 6 acres on which stands a convenient dwelling house with a view of the city, harbour, sea and Wicklow Mountains ... and a walled garden at the bottom of which is a fine canal with a considerable stock of carp and tench ... the parks are remarkably rich. A handsome avenue bounded with a canal leads to the house, the distance from Dublin is one mile on the road leading to Milltown'.

The house was previously owned by the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin and later Sir William Usher of Donnybrook was associated with it. Still later, another bishop, William Barnard, Bishop of Derry, overseer of the richest diocese in Ireland, lived there. He also held a seat in the Irish House of Lords on College Green, which is why he had a house in Dublin. It was located adjacent to the main road from Dublin to Milltown and was called Willbrook. Part of its significance lies in the fact that the village of Ranelagh subsequently grew up around it and the famous Ranelagh Gardens.

Fireworks and Dublin's 'Golden Age'

When Barnard died in 1768, a businessman, church-organ specialist and harpsichord maker, William Hollister, decided to move into Willbrook and develop its grounds as an open-air place of public entertainment in Dublin. With this in mind, he chose to emulate the premier London example by naming the 6-acre venue 'Ranelagh Gardens'. Thus, in 1769, began an exciting and action-filled twenty years centred around Willbrook and Ranelagh Gardens which saw the movers and shakers, the very upper echelons of Irish society in politics and business, attend grand and impressive balls, parties and celebrations. Huge fireworks displays rounded off the spectacle, with all the festivities taking place around the artificial lake derived from the River Swan running through the grounds. This decision to build the pleasure gardens coincided with and was part of the golden age of Dublin – the closing decades of the eighteenth century when the city was regarded as the second city of the British Empire. This was the era when the impressive buildings, wide streets, and squares of Dublin were built and laid out. This was the time which saw the building of the new Four Courts, the Irish Houses of Parliament (now Bank of Ireland) on College Green, the Royal Exchange (now City Hall) on Cork Hill, Newcomen's Bank (now the Rates Office) across from it, and many other landmark buildings. This was also the time when the building of the quays was nearing completion, when plans were afoot to transfer the Custom House further downriver to its present site and a new bridge linking Westmoreland Street and the new Drogheda Street (later Sackville and now O'Connell Street) was built. It was a period of enormous expectations and confidence shared by many of the ruling élite in Dublin. Having the lifestyle commensurate with this 'golden age' was de rigueur for those involved in the transformation of the city. Dining, wining and partying to excess were a particular feature of this era and Ranelagh played its part.

Prancer the Dancer and the Making of an Archbishop

One of those often in attendance at the 'fireworks' parties in Willbrook and Ranelagh Gardens was John Hely-Hutchinson (1724–94), politician, businessman and provost of TCD, known as 'the prancer' for his agility, style and love of dancing. His Dublin house was in Blackrock – Frascati House. Even the king, George III, was impressed by this ambitious fellow and noted (although some commentators claim it was Lord North who made the statement) that even if he gave him England, Scotland and Ireland, he would still want the Isle of Man as a cabbage garden. The Hely-Hutchinson family had an illustrious history, and one branch of the family continued in business until well into the twentieth century. James Joyce celebrated their stationery shop on Dame Street in Ulysses. One of the family, Charles Wisdom Hely, lived in Rathgar in Oakland House, which is now part of the St Luke's Hospital complex. The initials 'CWH' can still be seen carved and welded onto the entrance gates on Orwell Park.

Another famous person associated with dancing at Willbrook was the future Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Daniel Murray. While a young student in Dublin, he, like so many others, had heard of the high life associated with the gardens and took leave from his studies to experience such festivities first hand. He later confided this to the Carmelite nuns who took over Willbrook when the gardens and house had lost lustre.

Get Thee to a Nunnery or Up, Up and Away!

In 1788, a Carmelite order of nuns was established on the site and the convent remained home to the nuns for nearly 200 years until the end of the twentieth century. They were an enclosed order and, in keeping with their rules, had to ensure that their faces were never seen by the public. If you wished to talk to any of them you had to speak through a grille. They used the surrounding lands as a small farm with poultry, cows and a large kitchen garden. During the War of Independence, the convent was raided by the Black and Tans, who were so thorough in their search that in the course of looking for guns and ammunition they dug up a grave of a recently buried nun. Due to declining vocations and the modernising changes ushered in by the Second Vatican Council, the convent eventually closed in 1975. The land was subsequently sold and the house was demolished in the 1980s. A reminder of the convent's presence today is a monument, sited near the Chelmsford Avenue entrance to the park, with a granite cross which was on the original chapel attached to the convent. Today's park, on the site of such contrasting historical events and tenants, is called Ranelagh Gardens – a reminder of that interesting history. The park occupies only a section of the original estate and is located on its southern part. There you'll find an imaginative statue of the young Richard Crosbie, who made aeronautic history in the late eighteenth century.

CHAPTER 2

THE VILLAGE OF RANELAGH AND THE TRIANGLE

VILLAGES AND TOWNLANDS

Ranelagh Village developed from the late eighteenth century onwards. The actual village is not shown on John Rocque's Map of Dublin for 1760. However, it appears on Taylor's 1816 Map of Dublin. As was often the case in the vicinity of a castle or 'big house', the village of Ranelagh evolved in the vicinity of Willbrook House. Facilitating the many needs of Willbrook and the surrounding estate and gardens, village life developed slowly from the late 1760s onwards. A map of the area from 1837 shows Ranelagh divided into two areas: Ranelagh North and Ranelagh South, which corresponded with the villages around Willbrook and Cullenswood/Sallymount/Anna Villa, respectively. Fifty years later, when looking at a map of Ranelagh from the early 1870s, one can clearly see the separation of the two villages that constituted the area we know today. The map shows Ranelagh Road extending from Charlemont Bridge over the Grand Canal and to the village outside the gates of Willbrook and the junction at the Angle. From then onwards the road shown on the map is called Cullenswood Road and extends from the Angle to what is now Marlborough Road. Then the road becomes Sandford Road, extending from that junction to Belmont Avenue opposite Milltown Park. Four distinct townland names subdivide the area into Ranelagh North, Ranelagh South, Sallymount and Cullenswood.

Late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century terraces overlooking the growing village, as well as being part of the transformation, include Mander's Terrace, Selskar Terrace and Old Mount Pleasant. On the opposite side and further into the village, some of the old houses on the east side, near the present-day Luas bridge, date from the 1760s (particularly some along by Dowling's towards the Ranelagh Arts Centre, nos 2–18). These eclectic houses are perched precariously along a crazy misshapen-looking terrace. The opposite side of the road, from nos 3 to 27, is a much more uniform terrace, with two-storey houses of a later, late-nineteenth-century/early-twentieth-century vintage. Businesses occupy the ground-floor levels of these red-brick houses.

SHOPS AND BUSINESSES

Small Shops, a Bustling Village and 'Pure Air'

There was a time when there were many small shops – crafts, dairies, bakeries, hardware stores, chandleries – as well as various services and businesses in Ranelagh. The vast majority of them have disappeared in the last few decades, yet the buildings they occupied remain the same – just with different tenants.

Few will recall the old Turkish baths, near the entrance to the convent under the railway bridge, yet it was part of a long-gone but short-lived era in Dublin. There is a reminder of this era on Dublin's O'Connell Street – the Hammam Buildings, which was the site of the former Hammam Hotel and the location for Dublin's first Turkish bath. It was built in the 1860s and survived until it was destroyed in 1922 during the Civil War. There was also Turkish baths in Rathmines, known as the Rathmines Oriental Baths, towards the end of the nineteenth century. A newspaper ad at the time was addressed to: '... the inhabitants of Rathmines, Ranelagh, Rathgar and the south suburbs of Dublin': 'The Rathmines Oriental Baths enjoy the benefit (not attainable in a central position in a large city) of an unlimited supply of Pure Air, which is very essential to the renovating and invigorating effects of the Bath'. The most popular Turkish baths in Dublin at the time was the one at Lincoln Place, next door to the Café de Paris, the first French restaurant in Dublin.

Some old businesses have survived, including a barber's shop, Oakline Furniture (1958), Ranelagh Cycles, McCarthy's shoe shop and, until recently, Dowling's shoe-repair shop. Redmond's, a legendary off-licence emporium, is likewise one of the few old family businesses still trading (and thriving) in Ranelagh. Humphreys Pub is another, with the same family still running the business more than a century later! Meagher's Pharmacy, which has two branches in Ranelagh, first opened in Baggot Street in 1921 but was sold to the present owner Oonagh O'Hagan in 2001. She trained under the guidance of Pierce Meagher and so the tradition continues. The Ranelagh Road branch is also on the site of a previous pharmacy.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Little Book of Ranelagh"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Maurice Curtis.
Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements,
Introduction,
1. Early History – The Massacre of Cullenswood and the Bloody Fields,
2. The Village of Ranelagh and the Triangle,
3. The Forgotten Village of Cullenswood – Beechwood to Sandford,
4. From the Heart of the Revolution to Dunville Village,
5. Looking to the Stars – Ranelagh Road and Dartmouth,
6. Old Mount Pleasant, the Square and Hell's Kitchen,
7. 'Through the Barrier Please!' – Waterways, Tramways and Transport,
8. The Devil's Kick – Churches and Schools,
9. Parks, Pundits and Sport,
10. From the Parlour to Pinocchio – Food Glorious Food,
11. 'Drink! Drink! Drink! To eyes that are bright ...',
12. Stop the Lights! – Still More Luminaries,
Further Reading,