Sandymount
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Sandymount
Dumhach Thrá | |
---|---|
Suburb | |
Coordinates: 53°19′31″N 6°12′25″W / 53.3252°N 6.2069°W | |
Country | Ireland |
Province | Leinster |
County | Dublin city |
Time zone | UTC+0 (WET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-1 (IST (WEST)) |
Eircode (Routing Key) | D04 |
Area code | 01 (+3531) |
Irish Grid Reference | O190325 |
Sandymount (Irish: Dumhach Thrá) is an affluent coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the south side of Dublin in Ireland.
Etymology
An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.[1] During the 18th century, there was a village called Brickfield Town on the site of Sandymount Green;[1] this took its name from Lord Merrion's brickfields, which stretched from here to Merrion at the time.[1]
Geography
Sandymount is located between 3 and 4 km south-east of Dublin City, In the north end it begins where Newbridge Avenue meets Herbert Road to Church Avenue at the coast and west along the DART rail line and south to Merrion Gates. Sandymount Promenade runs along the coast road (Strand Road) from Sandymount Strand down to Merrion Gates. It lies a little south of the Great South Wall in Dublin Bay. Neighbouring suburbs are Ballsbridge, Merrion and Irishtown.
It is in the Dublin Bay South constituency and the Pembroke Ward. It was once part of Pembroke Township, which took its name from the fact that this area was part of the estate of the Earl of Pembroke.
Transport
The area is served by the (DART) commuter rail system and two stops are located in the area, Sandymount and Sydney Parade. It is served by bus routes 1, 18 and 47. It was once served by routes 2, 3 which ceased operation and were replaced with the route 1 on 12 May 2012 and 52 which ceased operation in 1998.
Both railway stations on the electrified (DART) suburban railway system were originally opened in January 1835 by the Dublin and Kingstown Railway[2] and continue to this day.
Amenities
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Took_10_months_to_solve%21_Sandymount_Castle%2C_Dublin..jpg/220px-Took_10_months_to_solve%21_Sandymount_Castle%2C_Dublin..jpg)
Sandymount Green is a triangular park located next to the village. The houses along the south side of the green are part of what once was Sandymount Castle and the roads behind this bear the name. There are shops, restaurants and cafés around the green.
The promenade is a 2.5 km walkway along the coast from Gilford Avenue to Saint Alban's Park, however, there are plans to lengthen the promenade to connect with the S2S Sandycove to Sutton Cycleway.[3]
Strand
Sandymount Strand is situated next to the village and suburb of Sandymount in Dublin. The large strand, which is part of the South Bull, (a mirror to the North Bull sandbank, which grew into North Bull Island) is a major component of the south side of Dublin Bay. The strand runs from this point to Merrion Gates.
Sandymount Strand is a popular place for locals to take a walk. People and cars have been occasionally trapped by the incoming tide.
Martello Tower
About halfway along the strand is the Sandymount Martello tower, part of a system of defences built to warn of an invasion by Napoleon. The Tower was a popular cafe in the 1960s. An attempt to turn the tower into a restaurant led to the installation of a large window with roller blinds on the seaward side of the tower. The restaurant never opened, leaving the tower with the modified window, and landscaped exterior abandoned on the strand.
Sport and leisure
The sports of cricket and rugby are very prominent in the area, and there are two gymnasia/fitness clubs. Sandymount's cricket and rugby clubs include Monkstown and Railway Union.
The Gaelic Athletic Association club Clanna Gael Fontenoy operate in the area and attract many players from Sandymount.
Epworth badminton club has club nights twice a week in the village and also run a summer club.
Baths
The Merrion Promenade Pier and Baths Co. built Sandymount swimming baths in 1883. The baths measured approximately 40 by 40 metres, with a 75-metre pier added in 1884. The pier featured a bandstand halfway along it and summer concerts were regularly held there for many years. By 1920, the pier had deteriorated so much that it had to be demolished. The concrete baths section, which resembles a small harbour out on the sands, remains; the baths still remain in Sandymount but they have fallen into disrepair mainly by storm damage.
Parkrun
Poolbeg parkrun takes place every Saturday at 9:30[4] at Sean Moore Park.
Religion
The Church of Ireland Church of St John of the Evangelist is located at the top of St John's Road. The Catholic church in Sandymount is dedicated to Our Lady Star of the Sea and is near the north end of Sandymount Road. Christ Church, on Sandymount Green, is a united Methodist and Presbyterian church, which appoints a minister from either denomination alternately and Mount Tabor nursing home shares the grounds of the church.
The area is also home to a house of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa.
People
The following people were born in Sandymount:
- John S. Beckett (1927–2007), musician, composer and conductor
- Bryan Dobson (born 1960), newscaster
- Shay Healy (born 1943), writer & broadcaster
- Valentin Iremonger (1918–1991), poet and diplomat
- Freda Kelly (born 1944), Secretary and manager of The Beatles fan club
- Ruairi Quinn (born 1946), former TD, (Teachta Dála) and former Cabinet Minister
- Annie P. Smithson (1873–1948), novelist
- W. B. Yeats (1865–1939), poet
- Aengus Ó Snodaigh (born 1964), TD, (Teachta Dála)
- Kevin O'Brien (born 1984), Irish international cricketer
- Hilary Weston (born 1942), model and entrepreneur
The following live or have lived in Sandymount:
- Donagh MacDonagh, (1912-1968) Poet, playwright, broadcaster, folklorist, district justice.
- Fionnbar Callanan, sports photographer & journalist
- Christopher Casson (1912-1996), actor
- Risteárd Cooper, actor & comedian
- Pat Cox, Former MEP and broadcaster
- Lucinda Creighton (born 1980), former TD, (Teachta Dála) and former Leader of Renua Ireland
- Declan Darcy, Former Leitrim and Dublin Gaelic Footballer
- Ron Delany (born 1935), Olympic 1500m Gold medal winner
- Elizabeth Dunne (born 1956), Supreme Court Judge
- Mary Harney (born 1953), former TD, (Teachta Dála), former Cabinet Minister and member of the Progressive Democrats
- Seamus Heaney (1939–2013), poet
- Kevin Humphreys (born 1958), former TD, (Teachta Dála)
- Enda Kenny (born 1951), Taoiseach lived here (1994-1997)
- Charles Lysaght, author & journalist
- Brinsley MacNamara (1890-1963), author
- T. P. McKenna (1929–2011), actor
- Peter Murphy (1923–2011), radio and television broadcaster
- Sinead O'Connor (born 1966), musician & actress
- Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer (1882–1957), composer
- Noel Purcell (1900–1985), actor
- Eoin Ryan Snr (1920–2001), member of Seanad Éireann
- Brendan Kennelly (born 1936), poet, novelist, playwright and Professor Emeritus of Trinity College Dublin
- Ivan Yates (born 1959), broadcaster, former TD, (Teachta Dála) and former Cabinet Minister
- Dermot Morgan (born 1952), Irish comedian, actor
Popular culture
Literary references
Sandymount Strand is the most famous beach in Irish fiction, James Joyce based two episodes of his epic novel Ulysses here:
On the morning of Bloomsday, in the Proteus episode, Stephen Dedalus wanders "into eternity" on the strand; later the same day, Leopold Bloom sits on a rock and watches while young Gertie lifts her skirt as Bloom pleasures himself. It was this incident in the Nausicaa episode which led to the banning of the book in the USA for alleged obscenity.
In long lassoes from the Cock lake the water flowed full, covering greengoldenly lagoons of sand, rising, flowing - Ulysses, James Joyce.
See also
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- History of Sandymount baths' pier
- Sandymount railway station
- Official page on Christ Church, Sandymount
- http://sandymountpost.com
- http://www.news4.ie/
References
- ^ a b c The Poolbeg Lighthouse and the South Wall Extension, Irishtown, Sandymount, Beggardbush and Baggotrath, Chapter II from Weston St. John Joyce's' 1920 work The Neighbourhood of Dublin
- ^ "Sandymount Halt" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
- ^ http://www.dublincity.ie/main-menu-services-water-waste-and-environment-water-projects/sutton-sandycove-promenade-and
- ^ "Poolbeg parkrun | Poolbeg parkrun". www.parkrun.ie. Retrieved 2018-07-21.