Stillorgan: Old and New

By Hugh Oram

Stillorgan: Old and New covers the story of a unique suburb in South Dublin. Until the 1960s, the district was largely rural, with many farms and a scattering of big houses, but few people lived there. The Stillorgan shopping center was opened in 1966—the first in Ireland—and shortly afterwards, the Stillorgan Bowl was opened. In the 1960s, large-scale housing development began; and since then, Stillorgan has become a major residential area in South Dublin with a wide variety of shopping and leisure outlets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Apr 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781490793900

Hugh Oram

Hugh Oram is an author, broadcaster and journalist with countless articles and books to his name, who has lived and worked in Dublin for many years.

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Copyright 2019 Hugh Oram.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-9387-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-9390-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019935243

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly and most importantly, I should like to thank my dearly beloved wife, Bernadette, for all her loving support for the 40 years that I’ ve been writing books.

I would also like to thank true and steadfast friends who’ ve helped during the production of this book, Thelma Byrne, Dublin; Christina Cannon, Dublin; Aisling Curley, Dublin; Miriam Doyle, Blackrock; Maria Gillen, Athlone and Mary J. Murphy, Caherlistrane, Co. Galway.

For their help in supplying many valuable old photographs, I should especially like to thank Julie Cox of the Beaufield Mews restaurant, Stillorgan; Anne O’ Connor and Denis Dowdall of Arklow, Co. Wicklow. Their photographs give especial insights into the old Stillorgan that has long since vanished.

Then, in alphabetical order, I much appreciate all the assistance given by the following people, firms and organisations:

An Óige; Baumanns; Pat Boran, Dedalus Press; brand new retro; CBRE; Veronica Bolay, Stillorgan, for the photograph of her late husband, Peter Jankowsky; Maggie Burns, parish office, St Laurence O’ Toole’ s church; Cramptons; Nigel Curtin of the Lexicon local studies department, part of the Dun Laoghaire- Rathdown county council library service; Larry Dalton, who did the photographs for Bonnie Flanagan’s books on Stillorgan; Educational Building Society; Diarmaid Ferriter; Alex Findlater, Cong, Co. Mayo; Gill Books for the photographs of the late Jimmy Magee; Glenalbyn GAA club; Guinness Archives (Arthur Lee Guinness) ; Olivia Hayes for permission to reproduce her watercolours of Stillorgan; Moya Hawthorn for her photograph of Beaufield House in the 1880s; Historical Stillorgan/ Timeline Photos; independent. i.e.; Irish Railway Records Society, Heuston station, Dublin; Kilmacud Crokes GAA Club; Kilmacud Stillorgan Local History Society; Dominic Lee, photographer; Michael Lee of RTÉ for the photographs of the old Stillorgan mansion, The Grange; John Lowe, the Money Doctor, Stillorgan; Brian Mac Aongusa, for his photographs of the site for the Stillorgan shopping centre and the old Stillorgan railway station; Kate McCallion of St John of God’ s; Mount Merrion Historical Society; New Island Books and Books Ireland; Maurice Pratt; St Benildus College, Kilmacud; Nevile Shute Norway Foundation; Nimble Fingers; Peadar Ó Riada; Peter Pearson, Co. Wexford; Peter Sobolewski; Stillorgan Village shopping centre; Sunday Business Post; The Irish Times; trip advisor; UCD digital library; Susan Waine for photographs of her father, Jarlath Hayes; Rev Gillian V. Wharton, rector, St Thomas’ s; Whytes auctioneers and valuers, Dublin.

Especial thanks are due to Dean Lochner of the Bondi Group in Ballsbridge, Dublin, for all his technical help during the production of this book, including the archiving of all the images. I’m also indebted to Hacketts in Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, for all their assistance in scanning the images for the book.

INTRODUCTION

The history of Stillorgan goes back close on 1, 500 years and it was given its Irish name, Tig Lorcáin, in 900, just over 1, 100 years ago; the present name of Stillorgan is an anglicisation of that name. The church of St Brigid, just over 300 years old and the oldest existing building in the Stillorgan area, has roots that go back just as far, to the days when a monastery became the first settlement in the area.

For many of the intervening centuries since, Stillorgan remained little more than a quiet rural village, sparsely populated, but from the 18th century onwards, the setting for many fine stately homes. The Obelisk, symbol of Stillorgan, and built in 1727, is an ever- present reminder of what Stillorgan was like in its earlier days. By the late 1830s, the Stillorgan area had just over 20 fine mansions.

Some of those stately homes were put to other uses in more recent times, such as Stillorgan Castle, which in 1882, was bought by the St John of God order. It became the basis for the present day hospital campus of the order in Stillorgan. Redesdale House, built in the early 18th century became an industrial school for much of the 20th century. Other great houses in the area were put to other uses, such as St Helen’ s, which is now a magnificent luxury hotel just off the main Stillorgan Road.

But until well after the second world war ‘Emergency’, Stillorgan remained a quiet semi- rural village, with little more than 2, 000 inhabitants. Much of the village centered around The Hill. The old Dublin Road in Stillorgan had many small businesses that today seem quaint; photographs in this book give a good indication was like in Stillorgan in those days. But by the 1960s, much of the farmland that once made up Stillorgan was being transformed into housing estates and since then, the area has become relentlessly built up.

Two new buildings signified a distinct change in Stillorgan’ s fortunes and other old photographs in this book show that transformation under way. When the Stillorgan Bowl was opened in 1963, it offered a brand new sporting opportunity, one that was readily seized by the public. It was built on what had been Tigh Lorcáin Farm, once a large farm right in the heart of Stillorgan and one of many farms in the area, now all vanished under bricks and mortar. Three years later came the development of the Stillorgan shopping centre, the first in Ireland, and revitalised in the past couple of years.

To make way for it, many cottages along the