Sutton ( ga, Cill Fhionntain – Fintan's
cell
Cell most often refers to:
* Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life
Cell may also refer to:
Locations
* Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery ...
or church) is a residential suburb on the
Northside 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 c ...
, Ireland. It occupies the
tombolo
A tombolo is a sandy or shingle isthmus. A tombolo, from the Italian ', meaning 'pillow' or 'cushion', and sometimes translated incorrectly as ''ayre'' (an ayre is a shingle beach of any kind), is a deposition landform by which an island becom ...
which links
Howth Head
Howth Head ( ; ''Ceann Bhinn Éadair'' in Irish) is a peninsula northeast of the city of Dublin in Ireland, within the governance of Fingal County Council. Entry to the headland is at Sutton while the village of Howth and the harbour are o ...
to the mainland, some of the lower slopes of Howth Hill, and a little of the adjacent coasts. The area lies within the jurisdiction of
Fingal County Council. There is a small commercial core at the Sutton Cross road intersection.
Sutton lies in the ancient Barony of Coolock, within the historic
County Dublin
"Action to match our speech"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg
, map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...
.
History
The first recorded mention of Sutton in reference to the area is from around 1228-48, noted in the Calendar of Archbishop Alen's Register; it is likely linked to a person of Norman origin.
Location and geography
Location
Historically Sutton lay entirely on the
Howth peninsula, from Sutton Cross up to Claremont Road and where Barren Hill meets
Carrickbrack Road
Carrickbrack Road is a road in Dublin, Ireland, a constituent part of the R105 Regional Road. It leads east-southeast from Sutton Creek around the southern part of Howth Head, up to the eastern part of the headland near Howth Summit, to Thorma ...
and the
Martello Tower
Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.
They stand u ...
at Red Rock. Today, however, it is generally considered to extend to the railway, where it meets
Baldoyle
Baldoyle () is a coastal suburb of Dublin's northside. It is located in the southeastern part of the jurisdiction of Fingal, Ireland, developed from a former fishing village.
Baldoyle is also a civil parish in the barony of Coolock within t ...
, and to the junction of Baldoyle Road and the coast road, where it meets
Bayside, these additional lands historically having been farmland.
Access
Beginning on the
Howth Road (R105) about 12 kilometres from the city centre, Sutton neighbours
Howth
Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes ...
, which occupies most of the Howth peninsula, and Baldoyle and Bayside. It is served by the main road from Dublin to Howth (R105).
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.
...
serves the area with routes H3 and 6, within the BusConnects scheme. There is a cycleway that connects Sutton to
Clontarf and
Fairview, with works ongoing to connect to
Sandymount.
Sutton railway station opened on 30 July 1846 as ''Baldoyle & Sutton'', being renamed ''Sutton'' in 1901. The station lies on the Howth branch of the commuter rail network and is served by the
Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) system.
The Hill of Howth Tramway ran between Sutton railway station and
Howth railway station
Howth DART station ( ; ga, Stáisiún Bhinn Éadair), is a railway station in Fingal, Ireland that serves Howth village and one side of Howth Head.
History
The Station opened on 30 May 1847, The Howth tram ran between here and Sutton railwa ...
around the Hill of Howth until 1959.
Geography
At the core of Sutton is a
tombolo
A tombolo is a sandy or shingle isthmus. A tombolo, from the Italian ', meaning 'pillow' or 'cushion', and sometimes translated incorrectly as ''ayre'' (an ayre is a shingle beach of any kind), is a deposition landform by which an island becom ...
connecting Howth (which used to be an island) to the mainland. The original village of Sutton was situated on the city-facing (south-western) side of Howth Head, along Strand Road, where there are today housing terraces and a small harbour, but the area is now centred on Sutton Cross.
Streams
There are several small streams in the area, all substantially culverted. Some tiny flows cross the Sutton end of the Cliff Walk paths, and two bigger streams, Santa Sabina Stream and the Carrickbrack Stream, discharge at the coast on Sutton Strand
in front of Saint Fintan's Roman Catholic church, sometimes very actively, sometimes largely covered by sand, which is then cleared by Fingal County Council staff.
Carrickbrack Stream rises between
Shielmartin Hill
Shielmartin Hill or ShelmartinDublin, MH Gill and Son, 1912, Weston St John Joyce, "The Neighbourhood of Dublin", Chapter 32Dublin, The Irish Naturalist, Vol. 4, No. 7 (Jul. 1895), pp. 174-179, Praeger R Lloyd, "Notes on the Flora of Howth" ( hi ...
and Dun Hill near Howth Golf Course, and flows, meeting minor tributaries, roughly parallel to Carrickbrack Road, coming to the shore at the south-western end of Sutton Strand.
Santa Sabina Stream comes from the central area of the Howth (Deer Park) Estate, and runs in culvert past the Offington housing estate and through the grounds of Santa Sabina Dominican Convent, reaching the sand around 150m north of the mouth of the Carrickbrack.
The mouth of the Santa Sabina has concrete framing and a guard rail.
Beaches
![Sutton beach1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Sutton_beach1.jpg)
Sutton is surrounded by many beaches. The
Burrow Beach
Burrow Beach, also known as the Hole in the Wall locally, is a beach in Sutton, in Fingal, County Dublin, Ireland. It neighbours Claremont Beach by Howth village, and, across the water (the exit of the inlet of Baldoyle Bay), Portmarnock Stran ...
is particularly popular among locals and tourists. It is approximately 1.2 km and stretches from Sutton Golf Club to Howth, along one side of the tombolo connecting
Howth Head
Howth Head ( ; ''Ceann Bhinn Éadair'' in Irish) is a peninsula northeast of the city of Dublin in Ireland, within the governance of Fingal County Council. Entry to the headland is at Sutton while the village of Howth and the harbour are o ...
to the mainland. Sutton Strand runs along the coast road and in front of St. Fintan's church.
Quarries
Two quarries previously operated in Sutton on the Howth Road near
Corr Castle
Corr Castle ( ga, Caisleán an Chorraigh – Castle of the round hill) is an L-plan tower house likely constructed sometime in the fifteenth century in Sutton, Dublin. The castle lies within the boundaries of Howth Demesne in the old townlan ...
and at Barren Hill on St.Fintans Road. Both are now closed.
Amenities
There is one main commercial area, with a
Supervalu store (previously a
Superquinn) supermarket, under that chain's HQ, which in turn had replaced the local cinema), the Marine Hotel, a post office, and other banking, dining and retail operations. The local filling stations closed some years back, leaving the unattended
Maxol
Maxol is an Irish oil company, part of McMullan Bros. Limited. It was founded in 1920.
Organisation
Republic of Ireland
*Maxol Lubricants Ltd. (Lubricant supplier to the automotive, industrial, marine, and agricultural markets)
*Maxol Direct Ltd ...
filling station in coastal Kilbarrack and its attended station on Baldoyle Road as the only fuelling facilities nearby.
Sports and leisure activities
There is
dinghy sailing
Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls:
* the sails
* the foils (i.e. the daggerboard or centreboard and rudder and sometimes lifting foils as found on the Moth)
* the trim (forward/rear angle o ...
off the coast at Sutton Dinghy Club, based within
Sutton Creek. Golf can be played at Sutton Golf Club, with Howth and the Deerpark golf facilities nearby;
footgolf
Footgolf is a sport in which players kick a football into a cup in as few shots as possible. The name is a portmanteau of association football and golf, and the game combines the two sports, being more closely related to golf.
Rules
The game ...
and poc fada can also be played at Deerpark.
Suttonians Rugby Football Club, at Station Road, provides for local rugby players and supporters. Sutton Tennis Club has 12 outdoor courts and five indoor squash courts; it is the biggest club for junior squash in Ireland. The local soccer club is Howth Celtic, with grounds located opposite St.Fintan's primary school on
Carrickbrack Road
Carrickbrack Road is a road in Dublin, Ireland, a constituent part of the R105 Regional Road. It leads east-southeast from Sutton Creek around the southern part of Howth Head, up to the eastern part of the headland near Howth Summit, to Thorma ...
. There is a local scout group which meets in St. Mary's Church of Ireland Parish Hall in Howth.
Red Rock is a
trailhead
A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...
for the Cliff Walk which navigates a large section of Howth Head and ends at Howth village.
Shielmartin Hill
Shielmartin Hill or ShelmartinDublin, MH Gill and Son, 1912, Weston St John Joyce, "The Neighbourhood of Dublin", Chapter 32Dublin, The Irish Naturalist, Vol. 4, No. 7 (Jul. 1895), pp. 174-179, Praeger R Lloyd, "Notes on the Flora of Howth" ( hi ...
is also readily accessible from Sutton.
Buildings
![Howth Housing - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Howth_Housing_-_geograph.org.uk_-_458367.jpg)
One of the area's oldest buildings, the fifteenth century
Corr Castle
Corr Castle ( ga, Caisleán an Chorraigh – Castle of the round hill) is an L-plan tower house likely constructed sometime in the fifteenth century in Sutton, Dublin. The castle lies within the boundaries of Howth Demesne in the old townlan ...
, is located at Sutton North near the Howth Road entrance to Offington housing estate. The castle previously formed part of the Howth Park Racecourse which stretched over large parts of Sutton and Howth.
The area is also home to one of Ireland's
Martello Tower
Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.
They stand u ...
s at Red Rock which is now a private residence. Also located in Red Rock is
Sutton Castle, the former home of the
Jameson family, and later became the residence of Belgian businessman
Albert Luykx
Albert Antoine Luykx (born 1917, Lommel, died 1978, Dublin)Dermot KeoghJack Lynch, A Biography Gill & Macmillan Ltd, 2009, page 269 was a Flemish businessman, living in Ireland, who was involved in the 1970 Arms Crisis.
Luykx was a member of the ...
, made famous during the Irish
arms trial. It subsequently became Sutton House Hotel and then Sutton Castle Hotel, before being converted in 2003 to private residences.
Several notable Georgian houses are located in Sutton including two imposing 4-storey Georgian era houses now called Beachfield House (previously called Devonshire Terrace) as well as the nearby Sealawn House (1830s) which was owned by
John Pentland Mahaffy
Sir John Pentland Mahaffy (26 February 183930 April 1919) was an Irish classicist and polymathic scholar.
Education and Academic career
He was born near Vevey in Switzerland on 26 February 1839 to Irish parents, Nathaniel Brindley Mahaffy and ...
. Adjacent to these is a terrace of Howth stone-faced fisherman's cottages called ''Martello Terrace''. The end house of this terrace used to house the old Sutton coast guard station but has now been converted into residential accommodation.
The old tram shed which was used by the
Hill of Howth Tramway
The Howth Tram on the Hill of Howth Tramway was a tram which served Howth Head, near Dublin, Ireland. The termini were at Sutton railway station, by the entrance to the peninsula, and Howth railway station by the village and harbour of Howth.
...
is located near Sutton Station, but is now a private residence which is part of a modern housing development.
The Luí na Gréine (English:''Sunset'') granite standing stone monument is located on the seaside pathway at Sutton strand and was designed by
Cliodhna Cussen and erected in the mid-2000's.
Education
Sutton has three mixed primary schools: the Burrow School, on the Dublin Road between Sutton Cross and Howth, St. Fintan's National School, on Carrickbrack Road, and the primary part of
Sutton Park School. It holds three secondary schools:
St. Fintan's High School (a boys school, technically in Baldoyle), Santa Sabina Dominican College (a.k.a. Santa Sabina) (girls) and the senior part of Sutton Park School (mixed).
Religion
Sutton comprises a parish in the Roman Catholic church, St. Fintans, within the deanery of Howth, with a parish church at the base of Howth Hill, adjacent to Santa Sabina School, at the junction of Greenfield Road and Church Road.
![St Fintan's Church - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/St_Fintan%27s_Church_-_geograph.org.uk_-_458357.jpg)
There is also a Methodist church at the junction of Church Road and Howth Road.
![Sutton_Methodist_Church_-_geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Sutton_Methodist_Church_-_geograph.org.uk_-_518809.jpg)
Sutton contains one of Dublin's main burial grounds,
St. Fintan's, which is divided into two parts, "old" and "new." The former contains a ruined chapel dating from early Norman times, and the latter, an abandoned keeper's cottage.
Uphill from the older graveyard, in a wooden hut on private grounds, is the still-flowing holy well of St. Fintan.
Administration
Sutton is part of the
Dublin Bay North Dáil Éireann constituency, having previously been part of
Dublin North-East for many years.
The area is also within the Howth-Malahide
local electoral area
A local electoral area (LEA; ga, Toghlimistéir Áitiúil) is an electoral area for elections to local authorities in Ireland. All elections use the single transferable vote. The Republic of Ireland is divided into 166 LEAs, with an average p ...
in the jurisdiction of
Fingal County Council, and there is also an electoral division of ''Sutton''.
Notable people
*
Bernard "Bunny" Carr, radio announcer, TV host and founder of Carr Communications
*
Ian Dempsey
Ian Dempsey (born 16 January 1961) is an Irish presenter of television and breakfast radio. He is the long-running presenter of the breakfast show on Today FM, self-titled '' The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show'', which runs from 6-9 am each weekday. ...
, radio and television presenter
*
Jim Fitzpatrick, artist, Celtic style work but also created the iconic two-tone portrait of Che Guevara, on Burrow Road
*
Gerry Gannon
Gerry Gannon is an Irish builder and property developer since the 1980s. Gannon played a significant role in the Irish construction industry in the lead up the bursting of the Irish property bubble. Gannon was one of the key figures involved in ...
, one of Ireland's biggest property developers, part owner of the
K Club
The Kildare Hotel and Golf Club (abbreviated The K Club) is a golf and leisure complex in the Republic of Ireland, located at Straffan, County Kildare. It is built on the original grounds of the Straffan estate, incorporating the 1830s Straffan ...
and MD of Gannon Homes, formerly building, for example,
Clongriffin
Clongriffin ( ga, Cluain Ghrífín) is a community in northern Donaghmede,Dublin: Dublin City Council, Minutes of full Meeting of Council, April 2009, Q. 36 - City Manager's answer. on the northern fringe of Dublin, Ireland. The settlement w ...
housing estate, and with extensive land holdings in the area
*
Kevin Grogan, former Ireland and Manchester United youth player
*
Sheelagh Harbison (1914–2012), Irish medieval historian
*
Patrick Hillery
Patrick John Hillery ( ga, Pádraig J. Ó hIrghile; 2 May 1923 – 12 April 2008) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as the sixth president of Ireland from December 1976 to December 1990. He also served as vice-president of the Eur ...
, former President of Ireland; lived in Sutton for many years until his death in 2008
*
Aidan Kearney (rugby union), former Leinster and Ulster rugby player
*
Frank Kearns, owner of Rockschool and founder of Irish Rock group
Cactus World News
*
Ian Keatley, Irish and former Munster and Leinster professional rugby player
*
Alice Lawrenson
Alice Louisa Lawrenson (2 October 1841– 14 March 1900), often writing as St. Brigid, was an Irish botanical writer and gardener.
Biography
Alice Lawrenson was born Alice Louisa Jane Bland, to Reverend Robert Wintringham Bland and Alicia Evan ...
, 19th-century Irish gardener, lived at Sutton House (later Sutton Castle)
*Philomena Lynott, mother of
Phil Lynott (who himself lived here briefly in the 1980s, and is buried in
St. Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton)
*
John Pentland Mahaffy
Sir John Pentland Mahaffy (26 February 183930 April 1919) was an Irish classicist and polymathic scholar.
Education and Academic career
He was born near Vevey in Switzerland on 26 February 1839 to Irish parents, Nathaniel Brindley Mahaffy and ...
, lived at Sea Lawn house on Shielmartin Road between 1886 and 1897
*
Larry Mullen, Jr.
Laurence Joseph Mullen Jr. (; born 31 October 1961) is an Irish musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band U2.
Mullen was born in Dublin, where he attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School. In 1976, he co-founded U2 ...
, drummer with rock group
U2
*
Vogue Williams
Vogue Williams (born 2 October 1985) is an Irish model and media personality, known for participating in ''Dancing with the Stars'' and '' Stepping Out'' and for winning the 2015 series of '' Bear Grylls: Mission Survive''.
Early life and educ ...
was educated at Santa Sabina school
See also
*
List of streets and squares in Dublin
*
Howth
Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes ...
*
Burrow Beach
Burrow Beach, also known as the Hole in the Wall locally, is a beach in Sutton, in Fingal, County Dublin, Ireland. It neighbours Claremont Beach by Howth village, and, across the water (the exit of the inlet of Baldoyle Bay), Portmarnock Stran ...
References
External links
Interview with Charles Sargent and Raymond Sexton of the Howth Sutton Community Council– radio documentary from Near90fm
Howth and area tourismSutton Dinghy ClubSutton Golf ClubHowth Coast Guard Rescue Unit
{{Dublin residential areas
Towers in the Republic of Ireland