St Catherines Park, Lucan

Murt10

This may not be specifically in the correct forum, but seeing as how this park is located right beside Dublin 15, it may be of some interest to other (dog) walkers from the area.

Anyway, the park is on the RHS of the road from Clonsilla to Lucan. It's behind Westmanstown, before the new(ish) roundabout at Laraghacon.

The gate to the park previously only opened until 4.00 pm every day and closed much earlier (1/2 day) on Friday. (I think the gate was also closed all day Saturday and Sunday). When the gate was closed, you had to park on the road, whic was dodgy enough to get across. If you parked on the avenue leading into the Park, there was a good chance that your car would be locked in when you returned.

Now the park is open until 5.00 pm every evenings in winter, extending gradually to 9.00 pm in the summer. You can also drive down the avenue, at the end of which, they have built a brand new carpark, capable of holding >100 cars.

There is a new tarmac footpath from the carpark, down through the football pitches, to the park proper, the path up the side of the hill, and down to the Liffey.

Going into the Park yesterday however, I didn't notice any barriers to keep caravans out, so perhaps we'll have new semi permanent residents/visitors unless this is addressed quickly by Fingal.

ciaran76

Went for a walk there today took about 2 hours its really a great place.

Whats the house ruins that are there? Does anyone know ?

Zaph

Moved from Dublin 15 forum

oblivious

Zaph wrote: »

Moved from Dublin 15 forum

The parks is all the green area for the whole of the Ongar area, should it not be in the Dublin 15 forum as well.

and we can thank the like of manor park and planing for put a public amenity away from public transport and on road to dangerous to walk:mad:

Mellor

Well seeing as the park isn't in D15 (afaik), its probably best in this forum, as the park is in Lucan

oblivious

Its part of Fingal County Council remit also boarding south Dublin County Council

Also it was the in part the action of Joan Burton TD that allowed the purchases of the the land a Dublin 15 TD

Jip

Is this the same park that stretches to the car park onthe left as you come off the first slip road from N4 just before McDonalds ?
If so I only discovered that myself during the winter with the dogs and it's a great spot. There was still lots of works going on at the time but the dogs loved it and slept for the rest of the day when we got home, bliss.

Can only put a link to google maps or live maps on how to get into it from the Clonsilla side that the op is talking about ? edit: nevermind, looks like someone has already added a few placemarks for it.

Black Sky

The bit south of the Liffey is called Lucan Demesne, (access at N4 slip road there at Annadale Cottage/McDonalds at the Lucan end).

Down I think by the Fire station in Leixlip (in pass the Garda Station, then take a left, not straight on) you can access the park and walk all the way to Lucan Village. You either come out where the OP specified, going one way, or fairly quickly after entering the Leixlip end, take a right and cross the Liffey to come by the Demesne.
That appears to be the only point in the park to cross the Liffey.....(Thx to my wife and her friend who found out the hard way recently )
There may be another bridge there somewhere but didn't appear too obvious.....

what2do

Think there is only one bridge over the liffey so if you come in from Lucan side you have to circle back and come over the same bridge that overlooks the treatment works in Leixlip.

You can also walk across into Confey from here - instead of walking to the grass area from the Leixlip side you continue on up the avenue and walk across the playing fields to your left into Confey. (before the locked gates)

Not sure which ruins you were looking at however there are the remains of a little church there.

Jip

Black Sky wrote: »

That appears to be the only point in the park to cross the Liffey.....(Thx to my wife and her friend who found out the hard way recently )

Same as myself ! We walked from the Lucan side down to the bridge and over it and back up along the opposite side of the Liffey. When I got to the end of the path before it cut up into the forrest I could see the car park through the trees and realised we'd have to walk all the way back again !
Was up there yesterday afternoon with the dogs and came from the Clonsilla side this time, few people around but they made a nice effort around the car park up that side.

scholes19

its a great park up there all right, confey play up there, apparently they use it for winter training! the pitches are superb,in grewat condition! thankfully it is somewhat out of the way for youths so the facility will remain and retain its evident quality! lovely place for a morning jog too!

joolsveer

ciaran76 wrote: »

Went for a walk there today took about 2 hours its really a great place.

Whats the house ruins that are there? Does anyone know ?

Here is a photo I took this week.

r3nu4l

I don't know the history behind the ruins but anytime I'm back in Ireland I try to take a walk in the park as it's quite a relaxing place

TheScript

Its a great facility up there, however it isnt going to remain unspoilt forever!

oblivious

TheScript wrote: »

Its a great facility up there, however it isnt going to remain unspoilt forever!

It was purchased by fingal COCCO, under the advice of Joan Burton to green are for the whole ongar development area, so i can see fingal splashing out on another 200+ acres in the foreseeable future.

Nick Molloy

I remember swimming in the Liffey many, many years ago when we used to pay, proabably about 6p, to enter Lucan Demesne. There used to be a derelict cottage by the river and legend was that Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan was born there. This area would now be paert of the Italian Embassy grounds and entry probibited

kabuxa

Does anyone know where can I find a map and info about it. We want to do a Treasure hunt and we would need a map for that. Thanks!

emo72

really great park, and theres an amazing amount of wildlife there. spotted kingfishers, jays and hawks this week alone. only negative point is the amount of dog poop all over the place.
great for dog owners, bad for children. need to get dog owners sorted.

are you serious

I must say as a dog walker its horrible that nobody picks up after their dogs up there, I always have a pocket full of bags when I walk with my dogs. Even though there is a set area up there for the dogs to go before you walk anywhere with them, the dogs always want to go more than once when on a walk!!
There is a serious lack of bins for the bags though, that is my only issue with the park!

turbodiesel

Hhmmmm

I wonder how the redevelopment is coming along.

http://www.stcatherinespark.ie/

http://www.gazettegroup.com/news/park-gets-e493385-for-upgrade-works/

https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_frameset.asp?PID=67353&B=&PS=1&PP=transactions.asp

http://bmxireland.ie/lucan_donate/

tomred1

The longer the better, their going to ruin the park with all the changes.

peter422

the house ruins are
1219 Warris De Peche founded a monastery at St. Catherine’s, Leixlip

brick tamland

Apologies for bumping an old thread

Anone know what the work going on in the park is? Seem to be digging in a coupé of areas ať least.

degsie

brick tamland wrote: »

Apologies for bumping an old thread

Anone know what the work going on in the park is? Seem to be digging in a coupé of areas ať least.

Looks like they are just redistributing mounds of earth from previous works.

emo72

protest march tomorrow. they want to build a road right through the heart of it. marvelous.

degsie

emo72 wrote: »

protest march tomorrow. they want to build a road right through the heart of it. marvelous.

Yeah went to support that walk only to find out the road does not go 'right through' but more like along one side. Felt duped.

unkel

We desperately need a road connecting N3 and N4 but not anywhere near the park imho. What was wrong with the plan to extend the ORR (R136) north to the N3? That seems to be the logical route seeing as it goes south all the way to Tallaght. And while we're at it, make it a dual carriage way. The disgrace of having had an empty (bus :rolleyes:) lane both ways for the past 15 years is beyond insult to the people who need that road.

degsie

unkel wrote: »

We desperately need a road connecting N3 and N4 but not anywhere near the park imho. What was wrong with the plan to extend the ORR (R136) north to the N3? That seems to be the logical route seeing as it goes south all the way to Tallaght. And while we're at it, make it a dual carriage way. The disgrace of having had an empty (bus :rolleyes:) lane both ways for the past 15 years is beyond insult to the people who need that road.

Unfortunately that was encroaching on Luttrellstown golf, and money talks :rolleyes:

jomalone14

unkel wrote: »

We desperately need a road connecting N3 and N4 but not anywhere near the park imho. What was wrong with the plan to extend the ORR (R136) north to the N3? That seems to be the logical route seeing as it goes south all the way to Tallaght. And while we're at it, make it a dual carriage way. The disgrace of having had an empty (bus :rolleyes:) lane both ways for the past 15 years is beyond insult to the people who need that road.

The reason that it's not a dual carriageway especially between Ballyowen Rd to beyond the Pennyhill is that road is going right through a high density residential area. That stretch of road was subject to strict conditions prior to its eventual opening to complete the ORR.
So, you'd be happy to open up the ORR to dual carriageway status through an existing high density area in favour of a new road which proposes to skirt round a park??? :rolleyes:

unkel

Eh yeah. And I live right beside the ORR. And many of the other people right beside it need it too for their local traffic, going to work, etc. I live at least 3km from St Catherine's park, so clearly not a case of NIMBY

Why build a dual carriageway if you're only going to use half of it? What a waste. And obviously as it goes through a residential area, it should not be used by HGV (as it can't now)

alias no.9

degsie wrote: »

Unfortunately that was encroaching on Luttrellstown golf, and money talks :rolleyes:

Messrs McManus and Magnier, owners of Luttrelstown Castle have also acquired the StEdmunsdbury lands that would be required for the southern portion of any link between the R136 and R121. The reality is that any prospect of a crossing at this location died when Dublin Corporation was split into DCC, Fingal, SDCC and DLR.

This new proposed route that skirts St Catherines Park only has about 500M in SDCC and the rest is in Co Kildare, the lack of intra Dublin Local Authority rivalry might just make it feasible. It will however dump all of the traffic onto the N4/M4 at the southern end because the Dublin Road into Celbridge remains a disaster and there is no prospect of any connectivity further south.

jomalone14

unkel wrote: »

Eh yeah. And I live right beside the ORR. And many of the other people right beside it need it too for their local traffic, going to work, etc. I live at least 3km from St Catherine's park, so clearly not a case of NIMBY

Why build a dual carriageway if you're only going to use half of it? What a waste. And obviously as it goes through a residential area, it should not be used by HGV (as it can't now)

I also live right beside the ORR and for that very reason, I would object strongly to allowing a change of use to dual carriageway status. Allowing 2 lanes to be used will bring even more traffic, not just local traffic, to the area which is already congested especially at peak times. When it was originally built and opened, the ORR was intended to service existing and proposed new residential and industrial development areas, including Adamstown and Grange Castle Business Park. The road was also to improve linkages between the towns of Lucan, Clondalkin and Tallaght, within the south County Dublin area. These days, more and more people are using the ORR to avoid the M50 carpark and notably to avoid delays/tailbacks on the M50 due to crashes etc.


I do agree with you that the bus lane is a waste. The ORR was built as a single carriageway with a bus lane either side as the plan back 15 years ago was to increase the public transport network. That didn't happen hence the empty bus lanes. And that is where the waste lies.

As a local resident, I am also one of the other people you refer to that need it for going to work etc. However, the then proposed ORR as a dual carriageway going through a residential area was refused 15 years ago and I've no doubt there would be plenty of objections if the idea was mooted again today.

alias no.9

The existing junctions of the ORR at the Lucan Road, N4, Willsbrook Road and Castle Road could not handle the extra traffic that would be generated if the ORR bus lanes were opened to all traffic, particularly in the northerly direction. It would create total gridlock on all of the adjacent residential access roads.

emo72

Would the logical place for it be further west? Out beyond Leixlip? Future proof it for the further development of the city? I always thought the ORR was too close to the M50. Also the Liffey valley park would be protected.

unkel

alias no.9 wrote: »

The existing junctions of the ORR at the Lucan Road, N4, Willsbrook Road and Castle Road could not handle the extra traffic

Willsbrook and Castle (and Griffeen) would be a matter of timing of the traffic lights. Agree with N4 though, that's why the whole vision of the OTR was not just N4 to N81 but N3 to N81 and indeed relief for the M50 (but not for HGV)

And also huge traffic relief for Lucan village and surrounding areas...

Capt'n Midnight

IIRC National Toll Roads have the right to toll ANY link road between the N3 and N4

Not sure if the govt bought out that part of that awful one-side contract.

unkel

Jesus. Any link to that, Capt'n?

I guess it's a legacy of the brown envelope corrupt politicians and councillors era. No motorways in and around capitol cities should ever be tolled.

gaiscioch

I was just here today. On the right as you drive in the long road there is a large old ruin in the field. What is its name?