A profile of Donnycarney

 


History
The ancient and historic Lands of Donnycarney originally stretched from the sea front at Fairview to the Donnycarney River (Sculogues Bridge the red bridge beyond Collins Avenue). It was bordered on the north by the town lands of Puckstown and Artane South and to the west by Clonturk. These lands are now divided by the Malahide Road (the ancient Slighe Cualann) and Collins Avenue (formerly Puckstown Lane), an ancient right of way to the North/Swords Road).

The oldest evidence of habitation in the area is to be found in the ground of Mount Temple near the railway line, where a cone shaped mound or tumulus exists. This burial mound is one of three in the general area, which testify to the presence here in the early Bronze Age of an ancient tribe that lived in the area. One theory suggests, that they were erected by the followers of Partholan, who perished of a plague and were buried around the plains of Dublin. The earliest recorded name for Donnycarney was Duncarnac, found in the Register of All Hallows (1172), which suggests a pre-Christian settlement in the area with fortifications protecting the Cualann, one of the ancient roadways from Tara.

Donnycarney or more precisely Domnach Cearnach, the name in Irish, is a derivative from several sources with attending variations and interpretations. Liam S. Gogan, keeper of the Art and Industrial division of the National Museum and one of the leading Celtic scholars in the early 1930s, gave one interesting interpretation of the name. He was of the opinion that a shrine to the Gaulish horned god Cernunnos (an ancient Celtic deity) was located in Donnycarney.

 



Landmarks around Donnycarney

The Casino:
In 1755, when Lord Charlemont returned from his continental travels, his stepfather Thomas Adderly presented him with a country villa, Marino House and the Lands of Donnycarney. The young fell in love with the place, which he called Marino. His famous Casino was completed in 1771 and cost £60,000. The design is Sicilian Doric and ranks very high among European examples of its kind and is the crowning glory of the area. The Casino was connected with Marino House by means of underground passages, through which food and drink was conveyed, when the earl entertained his guests. During the War of Independence, Michael Collins used the underground passages for rifle and small arms practice.
Mount Temple:
Now a comprehensive school and the Alma Mater of the U2 band, has a plaque dated 1862. Henry Colley come to live here in 1880, his grand daughter Elizabeth Bowen, the distinguished Irish writer, was a regular visitor during her childhood. The last resident was Picton Bradshaw. Hence in recent years, most persons in Donnycarney/Marino area knew the estate only as Bradshaws.
Donnycarney House: (The club house of the Clontarf Golf Club)
This was the second house of the name, and was built by Robert Carroll, the proprietor of the quarries, in 1781. Alex Thom the well-known publisher and printer came to reside here in 1853 and it is believed that Thom employed John Skipton Mulvaney, the renowned Victorian architect to remodel the house. The golf club founded in 1912, took up residence in 1921.
Dracula and Donnycarney:
It was often said that Dracula had a stake in Donnycarney. The creator of Dracula, Bram Stoker, although born in the Cresent in Fairview, spent most of his childhood in Artane Lodge, a villa residence off Collins Avenue/Collins Park. In 1888 Tim Harrington MP and three times Lord Mayor of Dublin and secretary to Parnell and the Land League came to reside in Artane Lodge.
 


Donnycarney Today
In the early 1920s, the pastoral bliss of the area finally succumbed to the burgeoning needs of the capital city, with the building of the first Corporation housing schemes at Marino in 1924 and Donnycarney in 1928. These houses were of course on land confiscated from the church almost five centuries earlier. The building programme that continued in the following decades led eventually to the formation of the parishes of Marino (1942) and Donnycarney (1952). The Parish of Donnycarney is now a community of some 3,500 houses and a population of around 16,000 persons a sizable town by any standards. From within the Parish an array of talent has flowed from artists, musicians, sportsmen, writers, historians, religious and politicians but most of all a generous and caring community of people.

Donnycarney (Irish: Domhnach Cearnach, meaning Carney's Church) is a Northside suburb in the city of Dublin, Ireland. It is bordered by Beaumont, Artane, Killester and Marino, and lies in the postal districts of Dublin 3, 9 and 5.

Donnycarney is a mostly residential area, located 5km from the centre of Dublin. It has a good range of amenities including restauants, a credit union, a community youth project in the newly built community centre, and a 3.25ha park, May Park (Donnycarney Park). The area is crossed by one of Dublin's "small rivers".

Donnycarney is most notable as the home of Parnell Park, a Gaelic Athletic Association stadium where the Dublin inter-county teams play many of their matches, including lower-profile matches which do not warrant the use of Croke Park, the national stadium. Donnycarney is also home to well known GAA clubs Craobh Chiarain and St Vincents, who have their base where the area borders Marino, as well as Parnells GAA.

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Donnycarney was the boyhood home of Charles Haughey, a former Taoiseach, who subsequently moved to Raheny, then Grange Park in what was then Baldoyle, then Kinsealy. He represented the constituency including the area in the Dail from 1957 to 1992, and it was also the location of his funeral service.
Tommy Eglington, a former Irish footballer who played for Shamrock Rovers, Everton and Tranmere Rovers was originally from Donnycarney. As an international, Eglington also played for both Ireland teams - the FAI XI and the IFA XI.
The members of the musical group U2 met and formed the band whilst attending Mount Temple Comprehensive School, which lies on the border of Donnycarney.
Frank Kearns has a long and glorious history in the music biz. He went to school with U2 and was the guitar player with Cactus World News. He was founding member and guitarist and recently producer and solo artist was born and raised in Belton Park Gardens.
42 albums and six Grammys. The Chieftains' Paddy Maloney is not only a gifted musician and leader of the most famous traditional Irish music outfit in the world The Chieftains frontman and founder Paddy Moloney was born and raised in Donnycarney.