Rathmines (Irish: Ráth Maonais, meaning "ringfort of Maonas") is an affluent[1] inner suburb[2] on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to the south, Ranelagh to the east, and Harold's Cross to the west. It is situated in the city's D06 postal district.
Rathmines is a commercial and social hub and was well known across Ireland as "Flatland"—an area where subdivided large Georgian and Victorian houses provided rented accommodation to newly arrived junior civil servants and third-level students from outside the city from the 1930s.[3] However, in more recent times, Rathmines has diversified its housing stock and many historic houses formerly divided into often tiny flats and bedsits have in a process of gentrifying been re-amalgamated into single-family homes.[4] Rathmines gained a reputation as a "Dublin Belgravia" in the 19th Century.[5]
Name
Rathmines is an Anglicisation of the IrishRáth Maonais, meaning "ringfort of Maonas"/"fort of Maonas". The name Maonas is perhaps derived from Maoghnes or the Norman name de Meones, after the de Meones family who settled in Dublin about 1280; Elrington Ball states that the earlier version of the name was Meonesrath, which supports the theory that it was named after the family.[6] Like many of the surrounding areas, it arose from a fortified structure which would have been the centre of civic and commercial activity from the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. Rathgar, Baggotrath and Rathfarnham are other areas of Dublin whose placenames derive from a similar root.
History
Origins
Rathmines c. 1911
Rathmines has a history stretching back to the 14th century. At this time, Rathmines and the surrounding hinterland were part of the ecclesiastical lands called Cuallu or Cuallan, later the vast Parish of Cullenswood, which gave its name to a nearby area. Cuallu is mentioned in local surveys from 1326 as part of the manor of St. Sepulchre (the estate, or rather liberty, of the Archbishop of Dublin, whose seat as a Canon of St. Patrick's Cathedral takes its name from this). There is some evidence of an established settlement around a rath as far back as 1350. Rathmines is part of the Barony of Uppercross, one of the many baronies surrounding the old city of Dublin, bound as it was by walls, some of which are still visible. In more recent times, Rathmines was a popular suburb of Dublin, attracting the wealthy and powerful seeking refuge from the poor living conditions of the city from the middle of the 19th century. A substantial mansion, generally called Rathmines Old Castle, was built in the seventeenth century, probably at present-day Palmerston Park, and rebuilt in the eighteenth; no trace of it survives today.
Rathmines is arguably best known historically for a bloody battle that took place there in 1649, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, leading to the death of perhaps up to 5,000 people. The Battle of Rathmines took place on 2 August 1649 and led to the routing of Royalist forces in Ireland shortly after this time. Some have compared the Battle of Rathmines – or sometimes Baggotrath – as equal in political importance to England's Battle of Naseby. The battle brought a swift end to the ongoing Royalist Siege of Dublin.
In the early 1790s, the Grand Canal was constructed on the northern edge of Rathmines, connecting Rathmines with Portobello via the La Touch Bridge (which through popular usage became better known as Portobello Bridge).
For several hundred years Rathmines was the location of a "spa" – in fact, a spring – the water of which was said to have health-giving properties. It attracted people with all manner of ailments to the area. In the 19th century, it was called the "Grattan Spa", as it was located on property once belonging to Henry Grattan, close to Portobello Bridge.[7] The "spa" gradually fell into a state of neglect as the century progressed, until disputes arose between those who wished to preserve it and those (mainly developers) who wished to get rid of it altogether. In 1872 a Dr. O'Leary, who held a high estimate of the water quality, reported that the "spa" was in "a most disgraceful state of repair", upon which the developer and alderman Frederick Stokes sent samples to the medical inspector, Dr. Cameron, for analysis. Dr. Cameron, a great lover of authority, reported: "It was, in all probability, merely the drainings of some ancient disused sewer, not a chalybeate spring." Access to the site was blocked up and the once popular "spa" faded from public memory.[8]
Dublin Rathmines was a parliamentary county constituency at Westminster from 1918 to 1922. It returned Unionist candidate Maurice Dockrell as its MP in 1918, elected on a majority. Dockrell was the only Unionist elected in a geographical constituency outside Ulster.
On 25 April 1916, during the Easter Rising, Captain John Bowen-Colthurst, an officer of the 3rd battalion Royal Irish Rifles, went on a raiding party in Rathmines holding Francis Sheehy-Skeffington as hostage. At Rathmines Road, he shot dead 19-year-old James Joseph Coade of 28 Mountpleasant Avenue. Coade had been attending a Sodality meeting at the nearby Catholic Church of Our Lady of Refuge.[9] Sheehy-Skeffington was later shot dead in Portobello Barracks.
Rathmines Church was used as a weapons store during the War of Independence. On 26 January 1920, a fire started at the electrical switchboard in the vestry. There were reports of several members of 'A' Company of the IRA Dublin Brigade entering the church during the fire to retrieve the weapons. The fire caused £30-35,000 worth of damage and completely destroyed the dome.[10]
During the Irish Civil War on 20 December 1922 Séamus Dwyer, a pro-treaty Sinn Féin politician, was shot dead in his shop at 5 Rathmines Terrace. On 23 March 1923 Thomas O'Leary, a member of the anti-Treaty IRA, was found dead and riddled with bullets outside of Tranquilla Convent (now Tranquilla Park). In 1933 a Celtic cross was erected in his memory at the location.[11]
The Rathmines Township was created by an Act of Parliament in 1847. The area was later renamed Rathmines and Rathgar and expanded to take in the areas of Rathgar, Ranelagh, Sallymount and Milltown. The township was initially responsible only for sanitation, but its powers were extended over time to cover most functions of local government. It became an urban district under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, but was still usually called a "township". Initially, the council was made up of local businessmen and other eminent figures; the franchise was extended in 1899 and the membership changed accordingly.
Rathmines Town Hall is still one of Rathmines's most prominent buildings with its clock tower (because the clock is famously inaccurate and has four large apparently unsynchronised clock faces (i.e., they sometimes show different times), it is known locally as the "Four Faced Liar".)[12]
The township was incorporated into the City of Dublin in 1930, and its functions were taken over by Dublin Corporation, now known as Dublin City Council.[13] Kimmage–Rathmines is a local electoral area of Dublin City Council, electing six councillors; the boundaries of the electoral areas in Rathmines have varied over the years.[14]
Places of interest
Cathal Brugha Barracks (known in the past as Portobello Barracks) is a large army barracks which is home to many units of the Irish Army including, the 2 Brigade and the 7th Infantry Battalion.[15]
Rathmines Library was opened on 24 October 1913 following a grant of £8,500[16] from Andrew Carnegie, to a design by architect, Frederick Hicks.[17]
The green copper oxide dome of Mary Immaculate, Refuge of Sinners Church is a prominent landmark. The original dome was destroyed in a fire in 1920 and replaced by the current one when reopened in 1922. The dome was to be used in St Petersburg but the political and social upheaval in that city caused it to be diverted to Dublin.[18]
The Holy Trinity Church (Church of Ireland) was designed by John Semple (1801–1882) in the Gothic Revival style and consecrated on 1 June 1828. Constructed of Black Calp, a local limestone that turns black in the rain, the Church was one of two in Dublin to be known as the 'Black Church,' (the other also being designed by Semple and in St. Mary's Place).[19]
Rathmines is also the location of Grosvenor Road Baptist Church.[20]
On 14 September 2014, the old Swan cinema was upgraded, refurbished, and enhanced, at a cost of nearly €8 million. From the original seating capacity of 258, it was expanded to 1,519, over a total of eight movie screens.[21] This has multiple screens, it shows up-to-date movies and features 3D movies. In October 2017, the Stella Cinema, a vintage cinema popular in the 1980s was refurbished and reopened, offering classic films and blockbusters.[22]
Transport
From the 1850s, horse-drawn omnibuses provided transport from Rathmines to the city centre. Portobello Bridge, which had a steep incline, was often a problem for the horses, which led to the fatal accident of 1861.[23]
On 6 October 1871 work was commenced on the Dublin tram system on Rathmines Road, just before Portobello Bridge, and a horse-drawn tram service was in place the following year. The following year also the long-awaited (since the 1861 accident) improvements to Portobello Bridge were carried out, the Tramway Company paying one-third of the total cost of £300.
Today Rathmines is served by the Luas light rail system: Ranelagh on the Green Line is the most convenient for access to the main street, while the Charlemont, Beechwood (which is near the former railway station) and Cowper stops are also within walking distance of the area.
Dublin Bus routes S2, 14, 15, 15A, 15B, 65, 65B, 83, 140 and 142 serve Rathmines. The area is also served by the Dublin Bus Nitelink routes 15N and 49N on Friday and Saturday nights and on public holidays.
Mamie Cadden, midwife, backstreet abortionist and convicted murderer, operated a maternity nursing home, St Maelruin's, at 183 Lower Rathmines Road[25]
Martin Cahill (1949-1994) aka The General, career criminal, lived in Cowper Downs prior to his murder in 1994[citation needed]
Frederick William Cumberland (1820–1881), architect, railway manager and politician, grew up in Rathmines; his father Thomas was employed at Dublin Castle[27]
Madeleine ffrench-Mullen (30 December 1880 – 26 May 1944) was an Irish revolutionary and labour activist who took part in the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916[citation needed]
Grace Gifford, an artist and cartoonist who was active in the Republican movement, was born in Rathmines; she married Joseph Plunkett in 1916 only a few hours before he was executed[citation needed]
The Earl of Longford had a large house in the Grosvenor park area of the Leinster road between Rathmines and Harold's Cross, that was demolished and replaced with a modern housing estate in recent decades[citation needed]
Kathleen Lynn, 1874–1955, Sinn Féin politician, activist and medical doctor lived and practised on Belgrave Road, Rathmines[30]
Éamonn MacThomáis, 1927–2002, born in Rathmines, was an author, broadcaster, historian, Republican, advocate of the Irish language and lecturer, noted for numerous RTÉ documentaries on his native Dublin[citation needed]
Constance Markievicz, Irish revolutionary. In 1903 after a visit to the Ukraine, she and her husband Casimir Markievicz returned to live in a house provided by Constance's mother in Rathmines to bring up her daughter Maeve and stepson Stanislaus[citation needed]
Conor Cruise O'Brien was born in 1917 in Rathmines, the only child of Francis Cruise O'Brien, a journalist who worked for the Freeman's Journal, and Kathleen Sheehy[citation needed]
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