Kingswood, Dublin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kingswood is a small housing estate in Tallaght and Clondalkin, Dublin, Ireland.

1 General description
2 Notable features
3 Sport
4 External links

[edit] General description

The estate is located between Belgard Road and the M50 motorway. Traditionally considered to be part of the hinterland of Clondalkin Village, the estate is now divided by the Ballymount Road, with roughly two thirds of the estate in Dublin 24, with the remainder, west of the road, in Dublin 22. It has a population of approximately 1,600. The shops, in the center of the estate, act as a meeting point for the neighborhood. These shops consist of a bookmakers, a Chinese take-away, a dry-cleaners, an Italian fish & chip take-away, a hair salon, a pharmacy, and a mini-market, Centra. In the past there has been a hardware, video store (Video Quest), pizzaria (4 Star), butcher, clothes shop (Ciara Anne's), sit-down restaurant/ takeaway (The Cannonball Express), and newsagent ('No.7', known as 'Jim's', after popular shopkeeper Jim Murphy. The mini-market was extended into No.7 by Jim's son, Gerard)

Kingswood contains the primary schools, St. Killian's S.N.S and St. Killian's Junior School. Beside the schools is the community centre complex, consisting of the impressive new community centre, the old prefabricated community centre (the estate's original church)and the Scout's hall, built in 2004. A controversial apartment complex has been built atop the "Clock Tower" pub (now named "The Kingswood Lodge").

[edit] Notable features

One of Kingswood's most noteworthy features is the park. Dubbed "Tynan Park" after the poet, Katherine Tynan, who once lived in Kingswood, the park provides a place to relax in the sunshine. It also has plenty of dark, unpaved regions, which make interesting exploring grounds for youngsters.

Tynan Park is also home to the ruins of a castle, known locally as "Kingswood Castle", which was built by William Parsons in 1622, only to be burned down in 1646 by insurgents. On the north side of the park, there is a mound with a stone ruin on top, which is commonly mistaken for a motte and bailey castle, also built by Parsons. However, it was actually built in the early 1700s by John Butler as a venue for his daughter's wedding. The structure was never fully built, giving it the appearance of a ruin, though in fact it is in good condition.

[edit] Sport

Soccer:

Kingswood F.C. is a local soccer club that was founded in 1988, as Kingwood Boys Football Club, by, amongst others, Paddy Baker, John Hickey and Jimmy Gaynor. The club was nearly called 'Albion F.C.', and a proposed link up with Grimsby Town Football Club in England meant the initial strip consisted of dark purple and white verticle stripes. The first u-15 side, managed by John Hickey, wore such a strip with 'Albion FC' on the left side of the chest. The club swiftly moved to black and white stripes and it was decided to adopt a name to reflect the locality. The club initially fielded most of its teams in the Dublin District Schoolboys League, but now is a member of the South Dublin Football League. The club caters for players from nursery level to under 18s, and the 'Boys' in the original title was dropped in the mid-90s to reflect the growing participation of girls in the club. Originally, all games were played in Kingswood Green, where the small-sided games now take place, before the older teams decamped to a pitch that is now the lake in Ballymount Park. More senior teams now play elsewhere in Ballymount park, beside the Crematorium.

In 1990, the club acquired a controversial changing area, a pre-fabricated former church which was placed beside the tennis courts. Following much local pressure, the portable srtucture was placed beside the architecturally similar community centre, where it languished, unloved and vandalised, until replaced in the early 2000s with a metal container. It is proposed that changing facilities will be placed in the new Community Centre. There are also changing facilities in Ballymount Park