Origin of Dublin Place Names

[Bo]

All contributions to this thread are welcome . I will start off with Benburb Street .

Street on Dublins Northside beside the Liffey

It is best known, in historical terms,it is named after the Battle of Benburb Co Armagh that took place in 1646. This was fought between the armies of Confederate Ireland led by Owen Roe O'Neill and the Scottish Covenanters led by Munro. The battle resulted in a crushing victory for O'Neill's men at the townland of Drumflugh around a mile outside the village. Not many know that during this battle a shining light, also known by them back then as the second sun, appeared in the sky. The sun zigzagged across the sky and then back up into the air and disappeared. Many believe this was a UFO sighting but only written documents from monks have been clarified so there is no proof as to what it was.

Since the Battle of Benburb was a rare 17th-century Irish military victory, after Irish independence the new Irish nationalist government named a street in Dublin's north inner city after the battle. Benburb Street runs between Queen Street and Blackhall Place. There is also a Benburb Street in south Belfast just off the Donegall Road.

In later years Benburb became known for its linen production, as did many areas in the North and later still for agriculture, most notably apple farming, and mushroom production.

Benburb was the home of the 17th century poet Maurice O'Dugan (fl.1660), who was reputed to have written the poems Gluas do chabhlach, Bhi Eoghan air buile, Faraoir chaill Eire a céile fircheart and the famous air The Coolin.
Places of interest

The village is also home to the impressive Benburb Castle built in 1611 by Sir Richard Wingfield on a limestone cliff overlooking the River Blackwater, the border between County Tyrone and County Armagh. The castle is in excellent condition having been recently restored and stands in the grounds of the imposing Servite Priory, a religious order based in the village. Benburb is also located on the Ulster Canal.

[quinner]

All contributions to this thread are welcome . I will start off with Benburb Street .

Street on Dublins Northside beside the Liffey

It is best known, in historical terms,it is named after the Battle of Benburb Co Armagh that took place in 1646. This was fought between the armies of Confederate Ireland led by Owen Roe O'Neill and the Scottish Covenanters led by Munro. The battle resulted in a crushing victory for O'Neill's men at the townland of Drumflugh around a mile outside the village. Not many know that during this battle a shining light, also known by them back then as the second sun, appeared in the sky. The sun zigzagged across the sky and then back up into the air and disappeared. Many believe this was a UFO sighting but only written documents from monks have been clarified so there is no proof as to what it

Since the Battle of Benburb was a rare 17th-century Irish military victory, after Irish independence the new Irish nationalist government named a street in Dublin's north inner city after the battle. Benburb Street runs between Queen Street and Blackhall Place. There is also a Benburb Street in south Belfast just off the Donegall Road.

In later years Benburb became known for its linen production, as did many areas in the North and later still for agriculture, most notably apple farming, and mushroom production.

Benburb was the home of the 17th century poet Maurice O'Dugan (fl.1660), who was reputed to have written the poems Gluas do chabhlach, Bhi Eoghan air buile, Faraoir chaill Eire a céile fircheart and the famous air The Coolin.
Places of interest

The village is also home to the impressive Benburb Castle built in 1611 by Sir Richard Wingfield on a limestone cliff overlooking the River Blackwater, the border between County Tyrone and County Armagh. The castle is in excellent condition having been recently restored and stands in the grounds of the imposing Servite Priory, a religious order based in the village. Benburb is also located on the Ulster Canal.

Great stuff bo....

[Bo]

Great stuff bo....

Thank you Joseph , any ideas yerself?

[Bo]

D'Olier Street

Is a street in the southern city-centre of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. It and Westmoreland Street are two broad streets whose northern ends meet at the southern end of O'Connell Bridge over the River Liffey. Its southern end meets Fleet Street, Townsend Street, College Street and Pearse Street.

The street is named after Jeremiah D'Olier (1745–1817), a Huguenot goldsmith and a founder of the Bank of Ireland. D'Olier was the City Sheriff in 1788 and a member of the Wide Streets Commission. The street was one of the last major interventions in the Dublin city plan to be executed by the Wide Streets Commissioners.
Notable addresses

From 1895–2006, Irish Times was based in D'Olier Street, leading the paper to be nicknamed The Old Lady of D'Olier Street. .

In 1830, Samuel Lover was secretary of the Royal Hibernian Academy and lived at number 9 D'Olier Street.

In 1891 James Franklin Fuller designed the D'Olier Chambers building of yellow brick and terracotta for the Gallaher Tobacco Company.

[quinner]

Great stuff bo....

'Robert Munro (d. 1690?): the zealous plunderer of many Ulster towns, including Newry 1642; failed in an attempt to surprise Owen Roe O'Neil at Charlemont,1643; seized Belfast,1644; routed by Owen Roe at Benburb, 1644; retreated to Carrickfergus, which was given up to General Monck by the treachery of his own officers, 1648; spent five years in the Tower but often consulted by Cromwell, who remained his protector; permitted to return to Ireland and compound his estates, 1654.

''Owen Roe O'Neil ; nephew of the 'great' Hugh O'Neill; spent thirty year in the Spanish Military service. 1610-40; accepted an offer to lead the Ulster rebels, April 1642; swore allegiance to the Confederate, November 1642; warm supporter of Rinuccini's ultramontane Irish Policies, 1645; achieved the greatest Irish victories of the 1640's at Benburb; declared an enemy of the conferderacy, 1648; acting with it again the months before his death, Cromwell's arrival having caused the differences of the Irish leaders to be forgotten. In a decade of strange alliance, Owen Roe had the clearest notion of what he wanted for his country and his Church...n

[quinner]

D'Olier Street

Is a street in the southern city-centre of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. It and Westmoreland Street are two broad streets whose northern ends meet at the southern end of O'Connell Bridge over the River Liffey. Its southern end meets Fleet Street, Townsend Street, College Street and Pearse Street.

The street is named after Jeremiah D'Olier (1745–1817), a Huguenot goldsmith and a founder of the Bank of Ireland. D'Olier was the City Sheriff in 1788 and a member of the Wide Streets Commission. The street was one of the last major interventions in the Dublin city plan to be executed by the Wide Streets Commissioners.
Notable addresses

From 1895–2006, Irish Times was based in D'Olier Street, leading the paper to be nicknamed The Old Lady of D'Olier Street. .

In 1830, Samuel Lover was secretary of the Royal Hibernian Academy and lived at number 9 D'Olier Street.

In 1891 James Franklin Fuller designed the D'Olier Chambers building of yellow brick and terracotta for the Gallaher Tobacco Company.

The wide streets commission, which masterminded much of this development was set up in 1758, manned by a powerful group of M P's and the Lord Mayor. They managed both to spend money and to enforce aesthetic standards; by 1800 they were spending £25,000 a year and had created the Lay-out of avenues that converge on the present day O'Connell bridge, while the city as a whole was characterized by classical terraces and wide streets, with vistas of mountains at the end.

[Bo]

Stoneybatter

History

James Collins' 1913 book, 'Life in Old Dublin', notes that 'Centuries ago (Stoneybatter) was called Bothar-na-gCloch. In Joyce's Irish names of places we find the following interesting information as to the original name of the place: "Long before the city had extended so far, and while Stoneybatter was nothing more than a country road, it was -- as it still continues to be -- the great thoroughfare to Dublin from the districts lying west and north-west of the city; and it was known by the name of Bothar-na-gCloch (Bohernaglogh), i.e., the road of the stones, which was changed to the English equivalent, Stoneybatter or stony road."'

The Irish folk song "The Spanish Lady" mentions Stoneybatter in the 5th verse.
Viking names

Apart from the striking artisan dwellings, the area is also known for the prominent Viking street names. For example, there is Viking Road, Olaf Road, Thor Place, Sitric Road, Norseman Place, Ard Ri Road, Malachi Road, Ostman Place, Sigurd Road and Harold Road. At the time of the Norman invasion, the Vikings, Ostmen or Austmenn (men of the East) as they called themselves, were exiled to the north of the Liffey where they founded the hamlet of Ostmenstown later to become Oxmantown.
Other street names

The northern end of Stoneybatter derives its name of Manor Street, bestowed in 1780, from the Manor of Grangegorman in which it was located. The Manor itself was later transformed into a police barracks. During the reign of Charles II (1660-1680), the Manor was held by Sir Thomas Stanley, a knight of Henry Cromwell and a staunch supporter of the Restoration. The short thoroughfare in Stoneybatter called Stanley Street is named after him.
(Wikipedia )

[paudge]

When I was a boy living in the Stoneybatter/Smithfield area there was an alley running between Queen St and Smithfield, known as Thundercut Alley. Apparently it got its name from a brewery in Smithfield known as Thunder's. The workers coming down from Stoneybatter would turn in to Queen street and cut through the alley, hence the name Thundercut Alley. There's an appartment and business complex there now but I'm pleased to see that they put a Thundercut Alley sign in there as a link with the old alley. Only the older generation who were living there back in the day would get the connection.

[jembo]

Henrietta Street (Irish: Sráid Henrietta) is a Dublin street, to the north of Bolton Street on the north side of the city, first laid out and developed by Luke Gardiner during the 1720s. A very wide street relative to streets in other 18th-century cities, it includes a number of very large red-brick city palaces of Georgian design.

The street is generally held to be named after Henrietta, the wife of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, although an alternative candidate is Henrietta, the wife of Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton. The nearby Bolton Street is named after Paulet.

Georgian Dublin
Henrietta Street is the earliest Georgian Street in Dublin – it is the model from which Dublin’s Georgian identity is derived.Construction on the street started in the mid-1720s, on land bought by the Gardiner family in 1721. Construction was still taking place in the 1750s. Gardiner had a mansion, designed by Richard Cassels, built for his own use around 1730.

The street was popularly referred to as Primate's Hill, as one of the houses was owned by the Archbishop of Armagh, although this house, along with two others, was demolished to make way for the Law Library of King's Inns.

The street fell into disrepair during the 19th and 20th centuries, with the houses being used as tenements, but has been the subject of restoration efforts in recent years.
There are currently 13 houses on the street. The street is a cul-de-sac, with the Law Library of King's Inns facing onto its western end.

It is also a popular period location for film and TV companies. Among the productions filmed there are Albert Nobbs, Inspector George Gently and Foyle's War.

Some of these houses have suffered further deterioration following the slowing of the Irish economy in 2008.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Street,_Dublin

[Bo]

MISERY HILL

The irony or mirth of a street named Misery Hill adjacent to Facebook headquarters cannot be lost on some of us ruminative types as we pass between elegant buildings of angled glass and steel whose shadows fall on the mud of history.

The Dublin Docklands, being one of the closest parts of the city to the sea, have embedded tales of mystery and intrigue woven into them, such is the nature of ports that welcome or wave farewell to travellers seeking or fleeing variations of extreme destinies.

The newly tarmacadamed roads and stylish cobbled streets cover the layers of international tales and the groans of the unfortunates who found a certain destiny here.

Before the River Liffey was contained, the tidal waters came up to the Townsend Street and College Green areas. Pilgrim ships destined for Santiago de Compostela apparently berthed alongside a Leper’s Hospital, then sailed directly to the coast of Galicia. By the mid-13th century, some of these ships were carrying people with leprosy who were desperate for a miraculous cure, hoping to cure their suffering.

Historian Turtle Bunbury reports that Misery Hill was the last refuge for those Lazar Hill pilgrims with leprosy who could not afford to stay in a hospice. It apparently derives its name from an age when the corpses of those executed at Gallows Hill near Upper Baggot Street were carted here and strung up to rot as a warning to other would-be troublemakers.


The area’s names also reveal the layers of the past. Street names such as Horse Fair (from the 18th century) and Blood Stoney Road – named for the celebrated engineering genius, Bindon Blood Stoney, who rebuilt Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in the 1880s are some examples that Bunbury quotes.

There were notorious characters who met their start or end here in Dublin 4. None more intriguing than Edward Tyrell the priest hunter. “He was hired as priest hunter by Joshua Dawson,” says Bunbury.

Dawson, who gives his name to Dawson Street, which he commissioned, was Secretary to the Lords Justices in 1705. Priests who did not sign up to the Act of Abjuration, renouncing James III’s claim to the throne had to go on the run.

“Tyrell was hired as a spy by Dawson to try and catch these priests. Tyrell met his own grisly demise, however, being hanged on Gallows Hill, near Baggot Steet, for the crime of bigamy,” informs Bunbury. He would be then carted to Misery Hill to be strung up. According to Bunbury, two of Robert Emmet’s accomplices were also allegedly hanged there in 1803.

Between the lepers of the 13th century and the hangings and display of bodies in the 18th century, the Misery Hill name seems to capture the consistency of macabre unfoldings through time. Perhaps Facebook has found a good home after all!

By Ferg Hayden(news 4 )

[Bo]

FUMBALLY LANE

The Name's Origins

The name Fumbally is a peculiar one and a name that provokes a wide range of theories and suggestions as to its origin. The street is officially called Fumbally Lane today or Lána Fumbally. It has not always been called that and has had many name variations since 1721.

The lane first appears in Charles Brookings map of 1728 without a name and with variations in subsequent maps including John Rocque's map of 1756 as 'Bumbailiff’s Lane' and in Wilson's map of 1798 as 'Fumbailie’s Lane'. It is mistakenly suggested by Rev. McCready in 'Dublin Street Namesated and Explained' that Fumbally’s Lane (as it was then referred to in Thoms Directory was just a ‘corruption of Bumbailiff's-lane’. Fumbally's Lane is also the name James Joyce uses in chapter 3 of his novel Ulysses where he refers to "the tanyard smells"

However, there is some evidence that the name derives from a local Huguenot family named Fontvielle, Fomboilie, Fombily, Fombela, Fonveille and or Fombally. The name appears differently in a wide variety of sources. Christine Casey refers to the street association with a Huguenot family called Fombily and confirming this, Peter Pearson provides two names- David Fombily and Anthony Fombily who were described as ‘skinners’. Pearson, in reference to a study on the houses the Liberties by Peter Walsh, confirms this from a 1741 lease given on two houses on 'Fombily's Lane'. There is further evidence from Registry of Deeds entry of an assignment dated the 7th of October, 1762, mentioned in RSAI Journal in 1893 and from a reference to the RDS, written in 1915, refers to a Royal Dublin Society prize for life drawing in March 1746 was won by a 'Mr. Fombally', these all suggest that a Fombally or Fombely family resided in Dublin and were associated with this lane in the mid-18th century.

In addition, records retrieved from the International Genealogical Index show a Charles, David, Ester, Jacques, Jean, Jeanne, Phillippe and Susanne Fonvielle all born or christened in Dublin at Peter St. Church and at Lucy Lane at the beginning of the 18th century in the period between 1704-1718.
(Wikipedia)

[Ed O'Gorman]

All contributions to this thread are welcome . I will start off with Benburb Street .

Street on Dublins Northside beside the Liffey

It is best known, in historical terms,it is named after the Battle of Benburb Co Armagh that took place in 1646. This was fought between the armies of Confederate Ireland led by Owen Roe O'Neill and the Scottish Covenanters led by Munro. The battle resulted in a crushing victory for O'Neill's men at the townland of Drumflugh around a mile outside the village. Not many know that during this battle a shining light, also known by them back then as the second sun, appeared in the sky. The sun zigzagged across the sky and then back up into the air and disappeared. Many believe this was a UFO sighting but only written documents from monks have been clarified so there is no proof as to what it was.

Since the Battle of Benburb was a rare 17th-century Irish military victory, after Irish independence the new Irish nationalist government named a street in Dublin's north inner city after the battle. Benburb Street runs between Queen Street and Blackhall Place. There is also a Benburb Street in south Belfast just off the Donegall Road.

In later years Benburb became known for its linen production, as did many areas in the North and later still for agriculture, most notably apple farming, and mushroom production.

Benburb was the home of the 17th century poet Maurice O'Dugan (fl.1660), who was reputed to have written the poems Gluas do chabhlach, Bhi Eoghan air buile, Faraoir chaill Eire a céile fircheart and the famous air The Coolin.
Places of interest

The village is also home to the impressive Benburb Castle built in 1611 by Sir Richard Wingfield on a limestone cliff overlooking the River Blackwater, the border between County Tyrone and County Armagh. The castle is in excellent condition having been recently restored and stands in the grounds of the imposing Servite Priory, a religious order based in the village. Benburb is also located on the Ulster Canal.

That second sun was propably caused by too much Bushmills. lol

[Bo]

HAROLDS CROSS

One explanation of the origin of the name Harold's Cross is that it is derived from the name given to a gallows, which had been placed where the current Harold's Cross Park is situated. Harold's Cross was an execution ground for the city of Dublin during the 18th century and earlier. In the 14th century the gallows there was maintained by the Archbishop.

Harold's Cross stands on lands which formed, like those of Rathmines, part of the Manor of St. Sepulchre, and its name is said to have originated in a cross which marked the boundary of the lands of the Archbishop of Dublin, and warned the Harolds, the wild guardians of the border of the Pale near Whitechurch that they must not encroach.The De Meones family, who gave their name to Rathmines, also owned lands at Harold's Cross in the fourteenth century.

Another explanation is that it is derived from a stone cross that marked the boundary of lands held by the Danish Viking Harold family of Rathfarnham in early medieval times, reputedly located at what is now the five-road Kenilworth junction on Harold's Cross Road.(Wikipedia )

[jembo]

Cork Street.
It was named after the first Earl of Cork and once formed part of the ancient highway "An Slighe Dála" connecting Dublin with the west of Ireland. On old maps it was described as "The Highway to Dolfynesberne" (i.e., Dolphin's Barn).
The street was once a centre of fine wool and silk hand-loom weaving. In the late 17th century weavers started moving into the area. Woolen manufacture was set up by settlers from England, while many Huguenots took up silk weaving, using skills they had acquired in their home country, France. The woolen industry was killed off around 1700 by the English government, who wanted to keep the wool monopoly in England, although a minor revival was started around 1775. Despite problems, silk spinning and the manufacture of poplin, supported by the Royal Dublin Society, continued into the 19th century.
The Tenter House was erected in 1815 in this street, financed by Thomas Pleasants. Before this the poor weavers of the Liberties had either to suspend work in rainy weather or use the alehouse fire and thus were (as Wright expresses it) "exposed to great distress, and not unfrequently reduced either to the hospital or the gaol." The Tenter House was a brick building 275 feet long, 3 stories high, and with a central cupola. It had a form of central heating powered by four furnaces, and provided a place for weavers to stretch their material in bad weather.
In 1861 a Carmelite priest bought the Tenter House and opened it as a refuge for the homeless. He ran the hostel for ten years until 1871 when the Sisters of Mercy came to Cork Street. In 1873 they built a convent and in 1874 a primary school, which closed down in 1989.
The Cork St. Fever Hospital (also known as the House of Recovery) was a hospital that opened in Cork St. on 14 May 1804. The hospital was extended in 1817-1819 to help cope with a national typhus epidemic. In 1953 the Cherry Orchard Hospital in Ballyfermot replaced the old Cork St. hospital, which was renamed Brú Chaoimhín and became a nursing home.
Across the road from the hospital is the James Weir Home for nurses, built in 1903. The site had once been a Quaker burial ground.
In 1932 the Maryland housing development off Cork Street was constructed by Dublin Corporation. 1932 was a Marian year, hence the name Maryland.
The street was totally reconstructed towards the end of the 20th century. It is now a mostly residential area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cork_Street,_Dublin

[Bo]

Fishamble Street


Fishamble Street (Irish: Sráid Sheamlas an Éisc) is a street in Dublin, within the old city walls.

The street joins Wood Quay at the Fish Slip near Fyan's Castle. It is mentioned in the 14th century as Vicus Piscariorum and as Fish Street. In 1577, Stanihurst named it as St John's Street. In 1610, some editions of Speed's map call it Fish Shambles.

The street was known as the official fish market for Dublin until the end of the 17th century, when the city markets were moved to the north bank of the Liffey. ("Shambles" were meat markets and open-air slaughterhouse districts, and the word occurs in several British and Irish street names, such as The Shambles in York.)

From 1680, around about the time the fish market was moved, the General Post Office was located here and remained for 30 years. The Church of St. John the Evangelist was located here until it was demolished in the 1880s.

Fishamble Street was the birthplace of James Clarence Mangan, 19th-century poet.
Taverns

In the 18th century, a tavern on the street, the Bull's Head, was one of the most popular and well-known establishments in Dublin, and was in demand for anniversary and celebratory dinners by the various city guilds and bodies. It also provided accommodation for assemblies of the Grand Lodge of Irish Freemasons. The Bull's Head Musical Society was also well known and undertook the building of a Music Hall which was formally opened in 1741.

The street is famous as the site of the first performance of Handel's Messiah, which took place in the aforementioned Music Hall on 13 April 1742 before an audience of approximately 700 people. A pub further up on Thomas Street was known as G. F. Handel's before changing its name to Arthur's. Fishamble Street is also home to Darkey Kelly's, a well known Dublin music pub.