Rathgar

Rathgar (Irish: Ráth Garbh, meaning "rough ringfort"),[1] originally a village, from 1862 part of the township Rathmines and Rathgar, in 1930 became a suburb of Dublin, Ireland.[2] It lies about 3 kilometres south of the city centre.

Rathgar

Ráth Garbh
Suburb
Christ Church, Rathgar
Rathgar
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°18.7′N 6°16.46′W
CountryIreland
ProvinceLeinster
CountyDublin
Administrative countyDublin City

Location

Rathgar is situated in south Dublin. It lies beside Rathmines, Terenure, Dartry and Harold's Cross. Other nearby suburbs are Ranelagh, Rathfarnham, Milltown, Kimmage and Crumlin. The Grand Canal flows to the north of Rathgar. The majority of Rathgar lies within the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council and straddles the postal boundary of Dublin 6.

Rathgar is located in the Dáil Éireann constituency of Dublin Bay South.

History

Rathgar, in the Middle Ages, was a farm belonging to the Convent of St Mary de Hogges, at present-day College Green.[3] At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Rathgar was granted to the Segrave family: they built Rathgar Castle, ownership of which subsequently passed to John Cusacke, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1608.[4][5] The castle remained in the possession of the Cusack family for over a century, but gradually decayed and was a ruin by the end of the eighteenth century. No trace of it remains today, though it is thought to have been located at present day 44-49 Highfield Road.[6]

In 1649 the Duke of Ormonde commander of the Anglo-Irish Royalist army established his camp at Rathgar during the Siege of Dublin.[4] He was then routed at the Battle of Rathmines nearby by English Republican forces under Michael Jones.

The village began to develop in the eighteenth century. Rathgar Avenue may be the oldest street, while Highfield Road was developed in 1753.[4] Zion Church and Christ Church Rathgar were built in the 1860s.[7]

Amenities

Rathgar is a largely residential suburb with amenities that include primary and secondary schools, nursing homes, child-care and sports facilities, and public transport to the city centre. The housing stock largely comprises red-brick late Georgian and Victorian era terraces and much of the area lies within an architectural conservation zone. Dodder Park is located in Rathgar.

One of the main schools in the area is The High School, Dublin, which moved to the area from its original location on Harcourt Street in 1971. The High School follows a liberal Anglican heritage,[8] but also has students of Jewish heritage.[8] Other schools include Stratford College on Zion Road, which was founded in the 1950s by members of the Jewish Community in Dublin. St Louis High School, Rathmines was opened in 1913 and provides education for girls.[9] It is a member of The Le Cheile Schools Trust.[10] St Mary's College, which provides education for boys, have sports facilities in Kenilworth Square, Rathgar. The rest of the school is in Rathmines. Rathgar is also the home of a school called Rathgar Junior School.

Rathgar has a number of retail outlets, including a small Supervalu supermarket, and several restaurants.

Health care

St. Luke's Hospital is based on Highfield Road, and specialises in cancer treatments.[11] Mount Carmel Community Hospital, located on Orwell Road, re-opened as a short-stay nursing home in September 2015.[12][13]

Religion
Zion Church, Rathgar

Churches

Churches serving the area include Christ Church Rathgar (part of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland) which is at the junction of Rathgar Road and Highfield Road in the village centre.[14] The Roman Catholic Church of The Three Patrons (named after the three Patron Saints of Ireland: St Patrick, St Bridget and St Columba) on Rathgar Road. It is also known as "The Servants' Church" because, in the late 19th and early 20th century, it was the place of worship for the large number of servants who worked and lived in the large houses in the area.[15]

Theological College

The Church of Ireland Theological College and the Zion Church of Ireland at the junction of Zion and Bushy Park Road are also in Rathgar.

Synagogues

The Dublin Jewish Progressive Congregation (Knesset Orech Chayim) have their Synagogue on Leicester Avenue, Rathgar.[16] The orthodox Dublin Hebrew Congregation have their synagogue in nearby Terenure.[17]

Convents

The Marist Sisters have a convent at 51 Kenilworth Square[18]

Diplomatic missions
Kenilworth Square North

The Embassy of the Russian Federation is located in grounds in southern Rathgar, with the Consular Office by the gates.

Notable residents
  • Ulick O'Connor (1928–2019), writer and historian who was born in Rathgar[19]
  • George William Russell (1867–1935), lived in Rathgar for a time[20]
  • John Millington Synge (1871–1909), writer and playwright who lived at 4 Orwell Park (as did Bram Stoker)[3]
  • David Marcus (1924–2009), Cork-born editor and writer who lived in the area[21]
  • Éamon de Valera (1882–1975), whose presidential office was moved to 53, Kenilworth Square in 1921 when his house in Blackrock was raided. It was in this house that Arthur Griffith presented Lloyd George's proposals for the Anglo-Irish Treaty to de Valera four days before the Treaty was signed in London.[22]
  • Seumas O'Sullivan (1879–1958), poet and editor who spent much of his life in Rathgar
  • Mary Lou McDonald (b.1969), politician
  • George Dawson Preston (1896–1972), physicist born in Rathgar
  • Dorothy Price (1890–1954), physician[23]
  • James Joyce (1882–1941), novelist and short-story writer was born in Brighton Square
  • Jack Lynch (1917–1999), Taoiseach who had a home at Garville Avenue
  • Bram Stoker (1847–1912) writer who lived at Orwell Park for a time[3]
  • Kate Sheppard (1848–1934) a prominent New Zealand suffragette. After her father died, her Irish mother brought the family to Kenilworth Square in Rathgar. Later they emigrated to New Zealand. Sheppard maintained her connection with the square and returned several times (including after speaking engagements in London) to stay with her aunt at Kenilworth Square.[24]
  • Andrija Artukovic (1899–1988), convicted Croatian war criminal and Holocaust perpetrator, apparently lived in Rathgar for a period following the Second World War, after fleeing justice via a ratline, and was possibly aided by anti-British sentiment in Ireland.[25][26]
  • Arnold Bax (1883–1953), composer and poet who rented a villa in Bushy Park Road for a short time. He described the view in his autobiography:

    "[f]rom the back windows of the incongruously named "Yeovil" there was... a clear vista of parklike wooded country and beyond that of the complete ring of the untamed Dublin Mountains. On any clear day one's eye could wander along that amphitheatre of beloved slopes, over Niall Glundubh's cairn on Tibradden, past haunted Kilmashogue, down into the sylvan hollows of Glendhu, up again along a red-brown fringe of leafless trees to the sinister ruins of Kilikee brooding over Dublin's south-western suburbs - "the Hellfire Club," monumental to the arrogance and violence of the eighteenth-century Irish gentry - until finally one's gaze rested upon Seefin, a pearl-grey phantasm of a mountain, its summit gleaming maybe with the snowdrifts of last week's blizzard. And deep in those folded hills, thirty miles away, was hidden Glendalough of the Seven Churches, an enchanted place of holy gloom."
    Arnold Bax, Farewell My Youth

References
  1. "Rathgar / Ráth Garbh". logainm.ie. Irish Placenames Commission. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  2. "IE DCLA UDC/1 : Archives Of The Rathmines And Rathgar Township (1847-1930)" (PDF). dublincity.ie. Dublin City Archives. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  3. "Rathgar Walking Trail Map & Guide" (PDF). dublincity.ie. Dublin City Council. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  4. "History of the District of Rathgar". christchurchrathgar.org. Christ Church Rathgar. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  5. "Rathgar - History". rathgarresidentsassociation.ie. Rathgar Residents Association. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  6. "Rathgar period home". independent.ie. Independent News & Media. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  7. "1861 – Zion Church & School, Rathgar, Co. Dublin". Architecture of Dublin City. Archiseek. 2014. Archived from the original on 2018-11-20. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  8. "Ethos". The High School. The High School, Dublin. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  9. "History and Tradition". St Louis High School, Rathmines. St Louis High School, Rathmines. Archived from the original on 2016-01-29. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  10. "List of Schools". lecheiletrust.ie. Le Chéile Trust]]. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  11. "St. Lukes - Who We Are". stlukesnetwork.ie. St. Luke's Hospital. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  12. "Mount Carmel is reborn as a short-stay nursing home". The Independent. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  13. "Mount Carmel now a community hospital". Irish Health. 4 September 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  14. "Christ Church Rathgar, Presbyterian - Dublin 6, Ireland". christchurchrathgar.org. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  15. O'Connell, Angela (2004). The Servants' Church: History of the Church of the Three Patrons in the Parish of Rathgar. Dublin: Parish Development and Renewal Core Group.
  16. "Dublin Jewish Progressive Congregation". DJPC Ireland.
  17. "A heritage like no other, a community built on strength". Jewishireland.org. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  18. "Marist Sisters". Maristsisters.net. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  19. "Ulick O'Connor". dublincity.ie. Dublin City Council. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  20. "Hairy fairy revisited – An Irishman's Diary on George Russell". irishtimes.com. Irish Times. 3 April 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2018. George William Russell [..] was a poet, painter, playwright and nationalist who wrote on economics and politics, and the list of names of those who attended his famous soirées at his home in Rathgar reads like a 'who’s who' of the Dublin of his time
  21. "Keeper of the literary flame". Irishtimes.com. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  22. "Full text of "De Valera And The March Of A Nation"". Archive.org. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  23. "The 1916 Diary of Dorothy Stopford Price". The 1916 Diary of Dorothy Stopford Price. Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  24. "Places of Interest to Kiwi visitors". New Zealand Association. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  25. Peterkin, Tom. "Ireland 'welcomed Hitler's henchmen". London, UK: Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  26. Mullins, Gerry (2011). Dublin Nazi No.1. Dublin: Liberties Press. p. 97. ISBN 9781907593253.
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