Palmerstown

For other uses, see Palmerstown (disambiguation).
Palmerstown
Baile Phámar
Town
Palmerstown

Location in Ireland

Coordinates: 53°21′00″N 6°22′44″W / 53.35°N 6.379°W / 53.35; -6.379Coordinates: 53°21′00″N 6°22′44″W / 53.35°N 6.379°W / 53.35; -6.379
Country Ireland
Province Leinster
County South Dublin
Dáil Éireann Dublin Mid-West
European Parliament Dublin
Elevation[1] 17 m (56 ft)
Population (2006)
 • Urban 3,929
Time zone WET (UTC+0)
 • Summer (DST) IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference O082345
Website www.sdcc.ie

Palmerstown (Irish: Baile Phámar) is a civil parish and suburb in South Dublin, Ireland. It is located about 8 km west of Dublin city centre. The area is bordered to the north by the River Liffey, to the west by Lucan, to the south by Ballyfermot and to the east by the village of Chapelizod. Palmerstown village is situated near the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre. The area is situated near the major junction of the M50 motorway and the N4. It is 8.8 km from Dublin city centre. The Old Lucan Road, once the main route from the city to the west, passes through the centre of Palmerstown village.

Name origin and spelling

A "palmer" in medieval times was a pilgrim who returned from the Holy Land with a palm branch or leaf; in the case of Palmerstown the pilgrims were associated with the leper hospital of Saint Laurence in the townland of the same name.[2][3] The spelling "Palmerston" rather than "Palmerstown" was fixed by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland in the 1830s; this remains the legal spelling and is officially recognised by South Dublin County Council.[4] Locals generally use "Palmerstown", and road signs have used both.[5] The Local Government Act 2001 requires a plebiscite of residents for a legal name change.[6] In 2009 a plebiscite to change to "Palmerstown" was narrowly defeated.[7] Supporters of the change argued that the wording of the ballot confused some voters who wanted "Palmerstown" but voted No.[7] Opponents argue the cost of changing road signs is prohibitive.[7] A second vote was tabled by South Dublin County Council in December 2013.[7] Others argue that the name "Palmerston" legally applies only to the civil parish and townland, and that the locality known as "Palmerstown" has a separate identity.[5] A 2015 plebiscite officially added the missing "W" to the name.[8]

The title Viscount Palmerston created in 1722 in the Peerage of Ireland derives from the place;[9] its spelling also varied,[10] but the form "Lord Palmerston" is now usual for the Victorian prime minister.[11]

Townlands

The civil parish of Palmerstown is the most northerly parish in the former Barony of Uppercross. Much of Palmerstown has been developed for residential, transportation and commercial purposes over the last half century. Townlands include:[12]

Palmerstown village

The main building of Stewartscare and HSE from Mill Lane.

The townlands of Palmerstown Upper and Palmerstown Lower straddle the old Lucan Road which was the ancient western highway. Many of Palmerstown's local amenities are located in a cluster along the road. Robin Villas and Hollyville were labourers' cottages built at the beginning of the last century. The old national school is now a community centre. Stewarts Hospital, (formerly the residence of the Hely-Hutchinson family, the Roman Catholic Church of St. Philomena, the National School, the Palmerstown House Pub and Restaurant and a variety of general enterprises, including a bank and convenience stores are located here.Stewartscare is a health care facility at the Stewarts buildings and grounds which overlook the meandering Liffey valley. The Stewarts complex houses the administration of the Irish Health Service Executive. Stewarts Sports and Leisure centre is open to the general public. It also hosts an annual summer camp.

Redcow Farm

Glenaulin Park, adjacent to St. Patrick's GAA Club and home to many local sports fixtures

This area was the location of the first modern housing development in Palmerstown, constructed between 1955 and 1965. Centred on Manor road, this area contains several shops, the local credit union and a doctor's surgery. To the east of Redcow Farm, adjacent to the California Hills Park, is Glenaulin Sports Park, home of St. Patricks GAA club. The name 'California Hill' was given, by the children of the area, to a small wasteland to the East of Glenaulin Park, which had been a builder’s dump during the construction of the main Palmerstown Estate in the mid to late 60's. The wasteland had a series of small hills which were in fact mounds of builders rubble which had been buried under clay and eventually over grown with wild grass. The children of the area sometimes shortened the name to 'The Caliers' and this name is also still in use today. The hills or mounds were flattened some years ago and the area landscaped for communal/public use.

Palmerston Lower

Mill Lane leads to the original Palmerstown settlement and centre of industry, which once employed over 600 millhands, craftsmen, and labourers. This seventeenth-century low-lying waterside industrial village was complete with flax, seed, oil, and flour mills. The ruin of a pre-Norman church and the remains of the once prosperous thriving community are situated near the river. A small ferry crossed the Liffey here, to where the Wren's Nest pub was situated on the North side. A football ground opposite the river Liffey is home to Palmerstown F.C. Muhammad Ali visited Stewarts Hospital on the 15th of July 1972 when the hospital was hosting its annual sporting fete.[13]

Palmerstown Manor

Palmerstown's largest housing estate was built in the early 1990s in the south east of the area. Adjacent to the Coldcut and Kennelsfort roads and the M50 motorway, the estate marks the 'border' between Palmerstown with Ballyfermot and Clondalkin.

Woodfarm Acres

The townland of Woodfarm Acres was mostly farmland, with a few council cottages previously existed on the site. This housing development was built during the 1970s. The estate is bounded by the M50 motorway and N4. Adjacent to Woodfarm Acres is another shopping centre containing a local SuperValu market, a bowling alley and other amenities. Access to the local cemetery is adjacent to this centre. The Silver Granite Pub is located nearby, as is Pobalscoil Isolde, a secondary-level community school which opened in the 1980s.

Oakcourt

The Oakcourt housing estate lies in the western part of the 59-acre Johnstown townland, behind Pobalscoil Iosolde. It was originally developed in the 1970s, and expanded in the mid-1990s. The Johnstown townland extends due west from the Georgian Johnstown House (now St. John's College) on Le Fanu Rd. It runs west to Kennelsfort Road and lies between St. Laurence townland (the St. Laurence House is now the West County Hotel) from the River Liffey and Chapelizod in the north, to Ballyfermot Upper/Blackditch on the south.

Transport

The main public transport is Dublin Bus running via the N4 at Palmerstown village. Scheduled services run east to the city and west to Lucan, Celbridge, Leixlip and Maynooth. Route 26 operates from travels from Woodfarm Acres to Dublin city via Kennelsfort Road. Route 18, a circular city route runs from the Old Lucan Road to Sandymount Green via many south Dublin suburbs including Walkinstown, Crumlin and Rathgar. Route 40 operates via the Coldcut road to Finglas via Dublin city. Routes 67, 66, 66a, 66b, 25, 25a and 25b operates via the Chapelizod Bypass to Merrion Square via Dublin City. Palmerstown railway station on the Dublin and Lucan tramway, later part of the Dublin United Transport Company tram system, opened in November 1881 and closed on 13 April 1940.[14]

Palmerstown Cemetery

Palmerstown Cemetery was originally opened in 1978. It is located on Kennelsfort Road, adjacent to Woodfarm Acres. It is currently being managed as part of the Glasnevin Trust.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Maps, Weather, and Airports for Palmerston, Ireland
  2. ↑ Lee, Gerard A. (June 1967). "Leprosy and certain Irish placenames" (PDF). Dinnseanchas. 2 (3): 71–72. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "Saintlaurence". Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 7 November 2014. This place appears to have taken its name from a leprosy hospital dedicated to the martyr Saint Laurence.
  4. ↑ Palmerston - Chronology
  5. 1 2 Palmerston will vote to end a very bad spell
  6. ↑ "Part 18, Local Government Act, 2001". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Council faces a €70k bill for second vote in name row over Palmersto(w)n
  8. ↑ http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/palmerstown-wins-back-w-as-council-approves-name-change-1.2064799
  9. ↑ "Palmerstown". The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland: Adapted to the New Poor-law, Franchise, Municipal and Ecclesiastical Arrangements, and Compiled with a Special Reference to the Lines of Railroad and Canal Communication, as Existing in 1844–45. III: N-Z. A. Fullarton and Company. 1846. p. 68. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  10. ↑ O'Hart, John (1880). Irish pedigrees; or, The origin and stem of the Irish nation. Dublin: Gill. p. 286. The Temples, viscounts Palmerstown or Palmerston.
  11. ↑ "Palmerston, Henry John Temple, Viscount, 1784-1865". LC Linked Data Service. Library of Congress. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  12. ↑ Placenames Database of Ireland - Palmerstown townlands
  13. ↑ "When Muhammad Ali came to Palmerstown.". Come Here To Me!. 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  14. ↑ "Palmerstown station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
  15. ↑ http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/funeral-services/palmerstown-cemetery/ Glasnevin Trust
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