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Ballsbridge () (from historic Ball's Bridge) is an affluent neighbourhood of the city of
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, the capital of Ireland. The area is largely north and west of a three-arch stone bridge across the River Dodder, on the south side of the city. The sign on the bridge still proclaims it as "Ball's Bridge", in recognition of the fact that the original bridge on that location was built and owned by the Ball family, a well-known Dublin merchant family in the 1500s and the 1600s. The current bridge was built in 1791. Ballsbridge was once part of the
Pembroke Township Pembroke Township was an area adjoining the city of Dublin, Ireland, formed for local government purposes by private Act of Parliament in 1863. The township took its name from the fact that most of the area was part of the estate of the Earl o ...
.


History

18th-century maps show that the area of Dublin that is now Ballsbridge was originally mud flats and marsh, with many roads converging on a small village located around the bridge, and known already as Ballsbridge. Situated on the Dodder, this village had a ready source of power for small industries, including by the 1720s, a linen and cotton printers, and, by the 1750s, a paper mill and a gunpowder factory.Eneclann Irish Genealogy and History Research Services
"History of Ballsbridge"
, published by Sherry Fitzgerald realtors, accessed 23 January 2017.
By the early 1800s, Ballsbridge was a small settlement on a major road linking Dublin city with the port at Dalkey, where most of the shipping freight was landed, due to the shallow waters of the Liffey estuary. The land around Ballsbridge was rural and mostly belonged to the
Earl of Pembroke Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its origin ...
. After the
Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) ( ga, Cumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath) is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economi ...
(RDS) moved into its present site near Ballsbridge in 1879, the Earl of Pembroke began to develop these lands into suburban residential housing. The RDS held their first show on their new premises in the early 1880s. In 1903, the land formerly known as the ‘Forty Acres’ was given to the city by the Earl of Pembroke to establish
Herbert Park Herbert Park () is the name of a road and a public park in Ballsbridge, Dublin. History The land used for the park was given to the city by the 14th Earl of Pembroke whose family name was Herbert. In 1907, the World Fair known as the Irish ...
. (The Earl of Pembroke's surname was Herbert.) In 1907, the Dublin International Exhibition was held in Herbert Park. Until 1965, there was a well-known botanical garden on Landsdowne Road near Ballsbridge. The garden belonged to
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
, which had leased land from the Earl of Pembroke. In 1960, the original lease from the Pembroke Estate expired and was not renewed. After reducing their size considerably, Trinity decided, in 1965, to close the botanical gardens at that location and to open a new garden at
Dartry Dartry () is a small suburb of Dublin, Ireland, often referred to as a corridor between Rathmines area and Milltown. Among the locations in Dartry are Dartry Road, Temple Road, Orwell Park and Palmerston Park. Boundaries Part of Dartry Road ...
. Two hotels now stand on the site. In 1916, the Mount Street bridge, which spans the Grand Canal at the foot of Northumberland Road, was the site of an important battle during the
Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with t ...
.
The O'Rahilly , birth_date = , birth_place = Ballylongford, County Kerry, Ireland , death_date = , death_place = Dublin, Ireland , resting_place = Glasnevin Cemetery , nationality = Irish - British subject , ...
, one of the leaders of the Rising, lived at 40 Herbert Park. Another resistance leader, Eoin MacNeill, who refused to participate in the Rising, lived down the road at 19 Herbert Park. During the Irish war of independence,
Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and ...
, Commander-in-Chief of the Irish National Army and later a government minister, had a study in the house of Miss Hoey at 5 Mespil Road, from where he carried out intelligence work.


Popular culture

The date of 16 June 1904, now commemorated as Bloomsday, was chosen by the writer
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...
for the setting of his novel Ulysses because it was the date on which he lost his virginity to his girlfriend
Nora Barnacle Nora Barnacle (21 March 1884 – 10 April 1951) was the muse and wife of Irish author James Joyce. Barnacle and Joyce had their first romantic assignation in 1904 on a date celebrated worldwide as the "Bloomsday" of his modernist novel ...
- Joyce was renting a room at the time in a house at 60 Shelbourne Road. In the 1940s and 50s, the writer
Brendan Behan Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (christened Francis Behan) ( ; ga, Breandán Ó Beacháin; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican activist who wrote in both English and ...
lived in Ballsbridge, as did the poet Patrick Kavanagh, who lived at 62 Pembroke Road. Busts of Behan and Kavanagh are on display at two pubs along Pembroke Road, Searson's and the Wellington. Kavanagh wrote his famous poem
On Raglan Road "On Raglan Road" is a well-known Irish song from a poem written by Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh named after Raglan Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin. In the poem, the speaker recalls, while walking on a "quiet street," a love affair that he had ...
about a girl he met on that street in 1944.


Buildings, structures and parks

The bridge itself forms the heart of the Ballsbridge suburb which extends northwards towards the Grand Canal along Northumberland Road up to Haddington Road and Shelbourne Road, southwards along the Merrion Road towards Merrion and along Anglesea Road towards Donnybrook, and westwards to encompass the area around Pembroke Road, Clyde Road, Elgin Road and
Herbert Park Herbert Park () is the name of a road and a public park in Ballsbridge, Dublin. History The land used for the park was given to the city by the 14th Earl of Pembroke whose family name was Herbert. In 1907, the World Fair known as the Irish ...
.
Herbert Park Herbert Park () is the name of a road and a public park in Ballsbridge, Dublin. History The land used for the park was given to the city by the 14th Earl of Pembroke whose family name was Herbert. In 1907, the World Fair known as the Irish ...
, a public park, is thirty-two acres in size and is divided by a road, also called Herbert Park, and forms part of Ballsbridge's nebulous border with Donnybrook. The
Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) ( ga, Cumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath) is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economi ...
(RDS) has its grounds here, and the Lansdowne Road headquarters of the
Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...
(IRFU) is on the boundary between Ballsbridge and Irishtown. The corporate headquarters of
Allied Irish Banks Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is one of the so-called Big Four (banking)#Ireland, Big Four commercial banks in Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of general insurance ...
(AIB) are also located in Ballsbridge. Ailesbury Road, along with adjacent Shrewsbury Road, contains the most expensive properties in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, and the roads are featured in the Irish edition of the board game ''
Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
''. Shrewsbury Road was the sixth most expensive street in the world in 2007. Many of Dublin's embassies and diplomatic residences are located in the southern part of Ballsbridge on and around Ailesbury Road. The British, American, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Israeli embassies are all located in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin. The U.S. embassy, an iconic cylindrical building, is a major landmark in present-day Ballsbridge. It was designed in 1955 by
John M. Johansen John MacLane Johansen (June 29, 1916 – October 26, 2012) was an American architect and a member of the Harvard Five.
, Professor of Architecture at
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
. The project was 9 years in incubation and the building was inaugurated in 1964. Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar, the place of assembly and
worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recogni ...
for the Irish
Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
community, is located on Serpentine Avenue. It is located on the site of the old Oscar Cinema which the community purchased in 1987.


Transport

The
DART Dart or DART may refer to: * Dart, the equipment in the game of darts Arts, entertainment and media * Dart (comics), an Image Comics superhero * Dart, a character from ''G.I. Joe'' * Dart, a ''Thomas & Friends'' railway engine character * Da ...
train passes nearby, stopping at Lansdowne Road and Sandymount stations. Ballsbridge is serviced by the following bus routes: * 4
Ballymun Ballymun () is an outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland, at the northern edge of the Northside, the green-field development of which began in the 1960s to accommodate a housing crisis in inner city areas of Dublin. While the newly built housing was ...
to Monkstown * 7 Cherrywood to
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
* 7a Loughlinstown to Dublin * 18 Palmerstown to
Sandymount Sandymount () is an affluent coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. Etymology An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.
* 27X Clare Hall to Belfield A number of services have been withdrawn due to
Dublin Bus Dublin Bus ( ga, Bus Átha Cliath) is a State-owned bus operator providing services in Dublin. By far the largest bus operator in the city, it carried 138 million passengers in 2019. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann. ...
' ''Network Direct'' route restructuring programme.


See also

* Aviva Stadium * Marian College *
Sandymount Sandymount () is an affluent coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. Etymology An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.
*
St Bartholomew's Church, Dublin , imagesize = , landscape = , caption = , location = Clyde Road, Ballsbridge,Dublin , country = Ireland , coordinates = , denomination = Anglican , churchmanship = Anglo-Catholic , membership = , attendance = , website stbartho ...
* List of towns and villages in Ireland


References

{{Dublin residential areas Towns and villages in Dublin (city) Townlands of County Dublin Dublin (barony)