Lost Great Houses Of Dublin

Degsy

Anybody remember a "big house" or building that used to be there when they were kids?Up the road from me were two great mansions: Clare Hall(first a stately house,then a hotel,then burnt down and now its a shopping centre,and Newgrove House(no idea who lived in it,its now underneath Grattan Hall development).I also remember Santry Demense in ruins before they built over it.Anybody got pics etc?

dubtom

There used to be an old farm where liffey valley sc is now,I knew it as smelly farm:rolleyes:the house on it was quite big but in ruins and some of the old out buildings were still standing. Ironically,the farm itself was still producing crops,where the m50 runs under the clondalkin overpass,was at the time fields of some crop or other. That would have been in the 70's. Mill lane in palmerstown still has some impressive old buildings,what is now a steel yard was a mill of some kind,a huge building,looks like it was made from old stone and some of the workers cottages are still there.

Collie D

There's a couple more out that way Degsy. One big white one on left hand side as you drive along n32 towards M50, I remember it being intact when I was younger. Another big one at the roundabout at tp of that road, now demolished and the one in Priorswood Park. Never knew anythng about these. You seem to know your local history. Any links or info?

Degsy

Collie D wrote: »

There's a couple more out that way Degsy. One big white one on left hand side as you drive along n32 towards M50, I remember it being intact when I was younger. Another big one at the roundabout at tp of that road, now demolished and the one in Priorswood Park. Never knew anythng about these. You seem to know your local history. Any links or info?

Ah yeah,we used to call that one the Chalk Mansion,i've no idea if its still standing.I think it was part of Scott's fruit farm back in the 60's but it might be a different place entirely.From memory there was also Stapolin House in baldoyle which stood in the land just behind the humbacked bridge in baldoyle,there was also The Grange on the same side of the road but nearer Donaghmede.A lot of infop about excavations on these sites is available on www.excavations.ie but it tends to be mostly archelogical with very little background info.

Rashers

Degsy wrote: »

I also remember Santry Demense in ruins before they built over it.Anybody got pics etc?

Like this?

highdef

Excellent pics there. I'm living in Santry Demesne now. I have a very good view of the walled gardens and the site of the house from my balcony window. Amazing to see what stood there in the past!!!

RossKavanagh18

Does anyone on here know 'Coolevin House' in Clondalkin??? it was built in 1882 for the daughter of the man who owned Irish Rail. My family own the 'Coolevin Estate' now and we live in the house. Its one of the last few 'Great Houses' left. I will upload Pictures soon.

dubtom

Is coolevin the one at the hump back bridge on the right coming from the village. If so someone had a little pitch and putt course on it about 30 years ago

RossKavanagh18

Thats the one!

Degsy

highdef wrote: »

Excellent pics there. I'm living in Santry Demesne now. I have a very good view of the walled gardens and the site of the house from my balcony window. Amazing to see what stood there in the past!!!

The orchard walls were mostly rebuilt but some of them are original.I have part of one of the gaslight standards that i found in the woods.I also have a few clay pipes i found in the grounds,one of them says "Parnell MP".I doubt if Compton Domville himself smoked it but maybe one of the gardeners.:)

Degsy

RossKavanagh18 wrote: »

Thats the one!

Pics please.M'Lud!

RossKavanagh18

okie doke, it may take a little while but i will get them up.

RossKavanagh18

heres one, it aint very good but until I upload more on my comp.

Rashers

highdef wrote: »

Excellent pics there. I'm living in Santry Demesne now. I have a very good view of the walled gardens and the site of the house from my balcony window. Amazing to see what stood there in the past!!!

I suppose they demolished this bridge over the Santry River? I used to walk around there when my kids were small... it was a lovely place.

raheny red

Would Edenmore House (St Joseph's Hospital now) fit under this category? Anyone know anything else about the building.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Joseph's_Hospital,_Dublin

http://www.beaumont.ie/sjhr/index.htm

Rashers

raheny red wrote: »

Would Edenmore House (St Joseph's Hospital now) fit under this category? Anyone know anything else about the building.

Used to be Violet Hill, then St Josephs Nursing Home. I should have some old pics of it at the time I used to play in the fields around it. If I can find them I'll post one or two. The Santry River that passes it used to be my favourite playing area... way back when.

There used to be a Tumulus (is that what it's called?) just where the grounds now meet the junction of Harmonstown Rd/Edenmore Rd, but at the time they were joining those two roads the tumulus was bulldozed flat. Shame.

Ste.phen

Rashers wrote: »

I suppose they demolished this bridge over the Santry River? I used to walk around there when my kids were small... it was a lovely place.

I believe that bridge (or one that looks very similar) is still there.
If you enter the park from the pedestrian entrance near the Crowne Plaza hotel, there's a stone bridge over the river/stream. Can't be sure it's the same one, mind.

raheny red

Rashers wrote: »

Used to be Violet Hill, then St Josephs Nursing Home. I should have some old pics of it at the time I used to play in the fields around it. If I can find them I'll post one or two. The Santry River that passes it used to be my favourite playing area... way back when.

There used to be a Tumulus (is that what it's called?) just where the grounds now meet the junction of Harmonstown Rd/Edenmore Rd, but at the time they were joining those two roads the tumulus was bulldozed flat. Shame.

That would be great, cheers. Afaik there is archaeological work to be carried out on the grounds.

damnyanks

Classic cinema is now gone

Rashers

raheny red wrote: »

That would be great, cheers. Afaik there is archaeological work to be carried out on the grounds.

Also, (across the Harmonstown Rd with St Josephs behind you) there used to be a walled orchard. A few yards beyond that there was a hole in the ground surrounded by old flat slabs of stone. Steps led down inside but we (as kids) never reached the bottom because of the thick wet algae covering the walls of what may have been an old well.

They buldozed over that too to lay out football pitches for the new (back then) estate of Edenmore.

I'd love to accompany that archaeological dig.

Rashers

raheny red wrote: »

That would be great, cheers. Afaik there is archaeological work to be carried out on the grounds.

This is a pic of my sister (now a grandmother) sitting on a fallen tree. St Joseph's would be to the right, out of picture. The Tumulus I mentioned can be seen to the left of the picture, under that darker tree.



The wall in the background stretched from St Josephs, along the old road... now Springdale Rd. The Santry River is just behind my sister, lower than the picture.

And this an exact replica of the entrance to the 'hole in the ground' that I mentioned. (Cant find the original pic, but that entrance and surrounding stones were identical)



This aerial view shows.... the red arrow the approximate spot where the hole was, the green arrow approximate site of the Tumulus that was bulldozed. Harmonstown Road and the other roads in Edenmore did not exist at the time.

Signature

RossKavanagh18 wrote: »

Does anyone on here know 'Coolevin House' in Clondalkin??? it was built in 1882 for the daughter of the man who owned Irish Rail. My family own the 'Coolevin Estate' now and we live in the house. Its one of the last few 'Great Houses' left. I will upload Pictures soon.

RossKavanagh18 wrote: »

heres one, it aint very good but until I upload more on my comp.

Indeed I have heard of it. Who hasn't?! Nice house and interesting history. Is it worth much?

lostexpectation

so these houses were working farms and the workers lived in the tenements in the city and then the gov moved people out to suburbs to clear the slums so bought the farmland to house the farmworkers thus the houses didn't have enough land to fund their upkeep....

Gaspode

I've a picture of Hector Greys house before it burned down, I can scan it in if anyones intersted.
There was also another old house near Edenmore, that backed onto Tonlegee Road, facing out onto what is now Woodbine Road. It was turned into a youth club when I was young, but I remember it being disused before that, and as a nipper myself and my mates were terrified of it! No idea what its real name is though, anyone know?

Rashers

Des, I grew up close by and played around there as a kid, and as a teenager. I remember that tragedy in Newtown Cottages, and my late father's buddy was a man named Paddy Cooney who lived in that area. I'd love to see any of the old photos you have.

I remember Edenmore as part of Garnett's and Keegans Shooting Grounds. Often made a few bob on a Sunday collecting the empty shells after the shooters.

Used to fish in the 'lakes' (as we called them) there too.

Degsy

deswalsh wrote: »

I've a picture of Hector Greys house before it burned down, I can scan it in if anyones intersted.

The Beeches was the name of his house.Its still there,the local scumbags set fire to his storerooms and then the house,probably around 1982.
Everybody had playing cards that were stuck together and white marbles that had been fire damaged.
To my mind the biggest pity was the the stretch of the Donough Water that flowed past hector's house was culverted around 1990 because people were worried thier kids would drown in it.
Some people will never be happy till everywhere is a concrete jungle.
Anybody got any info on St Donagh's Well..which would've been nearby?

Dord

Another one is Tonlegee House, I believe it may be gone now. Can't remember... I know there was some development going on over there in recent years.

I'll have a look tomorrow, only live about 5 minutes away from it.


Degsy, I remember when they filled in the stretch of river in the Beeches. Can't believe it's that long ago...

Gaspode

Here's that picture of Hectors house I mentioned. not sure of the year, early 70s I'd say. One of my school mates had the photo and I ended up with it so I'm not too certain of the details of it. The photo shows the ground being prepared for the new housing estate - Millbrook I think it's called. The car is on the Tonlegee Road heading up toward Coolock.

Rashers

Degsy wrote: »

To my mind the biggest pity was the the stretch of the Donough Water that flowed past hector's house was culverted around 1990 because people were worried thier kids would drown in it.

A child actually did drown there. It happened after some really bad weather -- Hurricane Charlie, if memory serves. He was the son of a friend.

But then again if every river and lake that a child or anyone was drowned in were to be covered in there wouldn't be one stretch of water left open in Ireland.

They wanted to culvert 'my' local stretch of water, the Santry River where it passes what's now St Joseph's Hospital, but local objections put a stop to that.

Rashers

Thanks for the photo Des. Brings back memories. Sad to see the beginning of the end of that whole area being changed from a lovely rural setting to urban sprawl. I remember those roads... hedges and trees on either side... and cycling between them on the way to Portmarnock in the summer.

Didn't the Kennedy family of Kennedy's Bakery (and the wife being my doc) live in a big house up along there too?

lostexpectation

so what was the biggest of big houses way back when coolock? that's what the barony was called wasn't it