Ballsbridge In Dublin (Ireland) - Ball's Bridge - Panoramio
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Ballsbridge () (from historic Ball's Bridge) is an affluent neighbourhood of the city of
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, the capital of Ireland. The area is largely situated north and west of a three-arch stone bridge across the
River Dodder The River Dodder () is one of the three main rivers in Dublin, Ireland, the others being the River Liffey, Liffey, of which the Dodder is the largest tributary, and the River Tolka, Tolka. Course and system The Dodder rises on the northern s ...
, 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 may refer to: Canada * Pembroke Township, Ontario, now part of Laurentian Valley Ireland * Pembroke, Dublin, a former township now within the city of Dublin United States * Pembroke Township, Kankakee County, Illinois * Pem ...
.


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.
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) () 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 economically. It was long active as a learned ...
(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.(The Earl of Pembroke's surname was Herbert.) Until 1965, there was a well-known botanical garden on Landsdowne Road near Ballsbridge. The garden belonged to Trinity College, 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, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, often referred to as a corridor between Rathmines area and Milltown, Dublin, Milltown. Among the locations in Dartry are Dartry Road, Temple Road, Orwell Park and Palmerston ...
. 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 (), 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 the aim of establishing an ind ...
.
The O'Rahilly Michael Joseph O'Rahilly ( or ; 22 April 1875 – 29 April 1916), known as The O'Rahilly, was an Irish republican and nationalist. He was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and served as Director of Arms. Despite opposing the ac ...
, one of the leaders of the Rising, lived at 40 Herbert Park. Another resistance leader,
Eoin MacNeill Eoin MacNeill (; born John McNeill; 15 May 1867 – 15 October 1945) was an Irish scholar, Irish language enthusiast, Gaelic revivalist, nationalist, and politician who served as Minister for Education from 1922 to 1925, Ceann Comhairle of D ...
, who refused to participate in the Rising, lived down the road at 19 Herbert Park.


Popular culture

The date of 16 June 1904, now commemorated as
Bloomsday Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce, observed annually in Dublin and elsewhere on 16 June. The day is named after Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Joyce's 1922 novel ''Ulysses (novel), Ulysses' ...
, was chosen by the writer
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...
for the setting of his novel Ulysses because it was the date on which he lost his virginity to his girlfriend Nora Barnacle - 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) ( ; ; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican, an activist who wrote in both English and Irish. His widely ackno ...
lived in Ballsbridge, as did the poet
Patrick Kavanagh Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel ''Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life th ...
, 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 wit ...
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 Merrion Road () is a major road, part of the R118, in Dublin 4. It joins the Pembroke Road section of the R118 at Herbert Park and runs southeast to Merrion, where it meets the Rock Road at Booterstown. At Merrion Gates, it meets Strand Ro ...
towards Merrion and along Anglesea Road towards Donnybrook, and westwards to encompass the area around Pembroke Road, Clyde Road, Elgin Road and Herbert Park. The bridge was extensively modernised and widened by 24 feet in 1900 by William Kaye-Parry. Herbert Park, 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) () 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 economically. It was long active as a learned ...
(RDS) has its grounds here, and the
Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...
headquarters of the
Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) () 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 ground at Aviva Stadium, where a ...
(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 the Republic of Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of ge ...
(AIB) are also located in Ballsbridge. The former Pembroke Town Hall is located to the immediate northwest of the RDS. Ailesbury Road, along with adjacent
Shrewsbury Road Shrewsbury Road (, ; ''Bóthar Sriúsbaire'' in Irish) is a street in Dublin, Ireland, and was the sixth-most-expensive street in the world in 2007, ahead of more well-known streets such as the Via Suvretta in St. Moritz and Carolwood Drive in ...
, contains the most expensive properties in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, and the roads are featured in the Irish edition of the board game ''
Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
''. 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 British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
, 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, Professor of Architecture at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. 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 or God. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition of a God. An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group, ...
for the Irish
Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...
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 train passes nearby, stopping at
Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...
(which is also frequently served by
commuter Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...
services) and Sandymount stations. Ballsbridge used to be served by the
Dublin tramways Dublin tramways was a system of trams in Dublin, Ireland, which commenced line-laying in 1871, and began service in 1872, following trials in the mid-1860s. Established by a number of companies, the majority of the system was eventually operat ...
6, 7 and 8, and also served as the terminus for tram line 5 back when Ballsbridge was still known as Pembroke. The tram lines were closed throughout the 1930s and 1940s and the 6, 7 and 8 were the last to close, with all three ending on 9 July 1949. Ballsbridge is serviced by the following bus routes: * 4
Ballymun Ballymun () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, at the northern edge of the city's Northside. Ballymun has several sub-districts, such as Sillogue, Coultry, Shangan and Poppintree, and is close to Dublin Airport. A metro stop on a city-to-airpo ...
to Monkstown * 7 Cherrywood to
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
* 7a
Loughlinstown Loughlinstown () is a southern Dublin suburb, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, on the N11 national road. Loughlinstown is the location of St. Columcille's Hospital, which serves both south Dublin and Wicklow. The European Foundation for ...
to Dublin * 18
Palmerstown Palmerstown (; officially Palmerston, see #Name origin and spelling, spelling) is a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and suburb in western Dublin, Ireland on the banks of the River Liffey. It forms part of the South Dublin local authorit ...
to
Sandymount Sandymount () is a coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside, Dublin, 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 () is an Irish State-owned enterprise, state-owned bus operator providing services in Dublin. By far the largest bus operator in the city, it carried 145 million passengers in 2023. It is a subsidiary of CIÉ, Córas Iompair Éireann ...
' ''Network Direct'' route restructuring programme.


See also

*
Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium, also known as Lansdowne Road (, ) or Dublin Arena (during UEFA competitions), is a List of stadiums in Ireland by capacity, sports stadium located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,711 spectators ...
* Marian College *
Sandymount Sandymount () is a coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside, Dublin, Southside of Dublin in Ireland. Etymology An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.
*
St Bartholomew's Church, Dublin Saint Bartholomew's Church, Dublin, is a Church of Ireland (Anglican) parish church located on Clyde Road in Ballsbridge on the Southside of Dublin. History The church was consecrated in 1867. Many of its original features are intact, such ...
* List of towns and villages in Ireland


References

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