Santry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Santry is a bustling mixed class suburb on the Northern side of Dublin. Today it straddles the boundary of Dublin and Fingal. The character of the area has changed in the last 100 years. Much of the old village is gone and where there were once fields full of crops, and wild woodlands of all sorts there are now housing estates, an athletics stadium, a shopping complex, industrial parks and busy roads leading to Dublin Airport.

Where the Santry Demesne public park is situated was once a palatial old house and gardens built in the 1700s. This was once the largest house in North County Dublin and people traveled from far and wide to be received by the owners - the Barry Family. Many clues of the house still exist and the park is worth visiting to find the house foundations, front steps, tree-avenue and walled garden. A small bend in the Santry river (which is the boundary for the park today) was widened to create a small pond for the boating pleasure of Georgian Ladies and Gentlemen who resided at, and visited the house.

The ancient history of the area is just as interesting. Santry is an anglicisation of the Irish placename Shean Triabh (pronounced Shan-treev) which literally means "old tribe". Although nobody can be quite sure, the book of Leccan refers to a tribe called the Almanii who inhabited the area, who might have been the source of the name.

During the Viking invasions a number of peaceful Norse farmers move into the North Dublin area, which now proves to be excellent farmland. These Norsemen are famous for their agricultural prowess, crafts and fishing skills. They also bring new pass-times and strange Scandinavian phrases which are thought to survive to today further away from the city. The gregarious, direct, rogueish and outgoing character of the Norsemen may be something that endures with what Dublin people understand as a "Northsider".

After this time people began to refer to the area from Santry and North to Swords, Lusk and the Naul as "Fingal", which translates as Fair-Haired Foreigner. The name was confined to songs, poems, folk memory and some antiquarian titles until a re-organization of Local Government in the 1990s set up Fingal County Council and County Fingal.

[edit] History

In the 12th century, The neighbourhood of Santry was plundered by Murcadh Ua Maeleachlain, King of Meath, in revenge for the death of his son at he hand of Mac Gilla Mocholmog, chief of Fingal, who sets his base in Santry.

In 1581 Santry is awarded to William Nugent who then lost it aafter falling out of favour with the Crown. The Barry family became The Lords of Santry where they remain for several generations. King Charles II made Sir James Barry then only a knight, Baron of Santry. (For services rendered). By this time the kingdom of Fingal is absorbed into the new County of Dublin.

Santry was the scene of violence in the early months of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, when a punitive expedition led by Sir Charles Coote massacred a group of local farm labourers, who were sleeping in the fields there. Coote had assumed they were rebels who were preparing to attack Dublin.

During the Williamite war in Ireland, in 1690, the Catholic King James stationed his Jacobite army just to the west of Santry, near Balcurris (now Ballymun) before setting out to oppose William of Orange at the battle of the Boyne.

In the Irish Rebellion of 1798 United Irishmen from all over Fingal marched south towards Dublin city but were met by a company of local Yeomanry (government miliita) from Santry village and were massacred. The bloodshed was so bad that the area at the Northern gateway to Santry Demesne (Little Venice Restaurant) was known as "Bloody Hollows" for several years after.

[edit] Swiss Cottages

The expansion of Santry was inevitable given the northward sprawl of Dublin City. The Swiss Cottages that are still associated with Santry no longer exist. The cottages were built in 1702 by Lady Domville who, after a visit to Switzerland, decided to build 11 Swiss style cottages for visiting gentry. Unfortunately 10 of the 11 cottages were destroyed by fire in 1902. While the last remaining cottage still stands in Santry, it isn’t in its original conception. The building was adapted into an office block in 1984 and today houses a pharmacy. Morton Stadium now stands on the site of the Barry gardens of the Barry mansion. The only contemporary reminder to of the Swiss cottages is found on the name of a local pub, ‘The Swiss Cottage.’ or 'Molloy's' as the sign says.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 53°24′N 6°16′W

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