Tallaght Dublin

Tallaght is perhaps the hardest to classify in all the areas of Dublin. It is the single largest suburb in Dublin and quite diverse. There are areas like Jobstown which are not good to live in and then there is Firhouse which is a good residential area, additionally the area has about 100,000 people living there.

It would be safe to say that Tallaght is still growing and developing. It is home to many families, there is good infrastructure and travel links to the city centre – the Luas final stop is in Tallaght beside The Square, one of four shopping centres on the outskirts of Dublin.

However it will still take at least one hour to get into Dublin city centre during any morning rush hour. The price of appartment and house rentals in Tallaght are a little cheaper than closer to the city centre – but what you will get is more square meters for your money – so a larger house or apartment for the same price. If you decide to live in Tallaght a car would be preferable for travel, relying on public transport in an area that is quite spread out is difficult.

If you are considering living in Tallaght stay away from Virginia Heights, Springfield, Jobstown, Kiltalown, Brookfield and Fettercairn. The rest is okay, just have a look at the areas in the evening and you will see.

Tallaght is 13 km southwest of Dublin city, in the plains by the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. It begins west of Templeogue running west to the border with Saggart, and runs from the boundaries of Glen na Smol and Knocklyon in the south to south of Clondalkin and Walkinstown.

If you are a hill walker or like getting into the countryside Tallaght is very well placed for access to the Dublin Mountains and has easy road access to head to Glendalough, Sally Gap and other well known walking and cycling areas in the hill.

Tallaght History

The place name Tallaght is derived from the words támh leacht, meaning a plague burial place. The earliest mention of Tallaght in recorded material is the account of Parthalon in the Annals of the Four Masters who had their residence in the plain between Tallaght and Swords. Parthalon the Greek was said to be one of the early invaders of Ireland. A plague is said to have killed 9,000 of his followers in one week and they were buried at Tallaght and its environs. Thus the place came to be named Taimleach Muintire Parthalon. However, the burials that have been found in the Tallaght area are all normal pre-historic interments, mainly of the Bronze Age, and nothing suggesting a mass grave has so far been recorded here.

With the foundation of the monastery of Tallaght by St. Maelruain in 769 A.D. we have a more reliable record of Tallaght’s early history. The monastery was a centre of learning and piety and was particularly associated with the Céli Dé spiritual reform movement. It was such an important institution that it and the monastery at Finglas were known as the “two eyes of Ireland”. St. Aengus, an Ulsterman, was one of the most illustrious of the Céli Dé and devoted himself to the religious life. Wherever he went he was accompanied by a band of followers who distracted him from his devotions. He secretly travelled to the monastery at Tallaght where he was not known and enrolled as a lay brother. He remained unknown for many years until his identity was discovered by Maeilruain. They later wrote the Martyrology of Tallaght together and St. Aengus also wrote a calendar of saints known as the Féilire of Aengus.

St. Maelruain’s Church of Ireland now occupies the site of the original monastery. The present day church was built in 1829 and replaced an earlier one to which the still existing tower belonged. The tower is four stories high and has a spiral staircase. An external stairs gives access to the first floor and the spiral stairway to the floors above. The third floor has a vaulted stone ceiling above which is the flat roof and a small turret. In 1662 the churchwardens were granted a sum of £100 in compensation for damage done by Captain Alland who had been stationed there with his troops in 1651. He stripped off the roof of the church and used the timber slates and pews for his own house. He also used the paving stones to pave the entrance to his kitchen and fed his horses from the font.

There are a number of interesting historic features in the grounds of the church. On the left inside the churchyard gate is a font called St. Maelruain’s Losset. This is a wide and shallow granite stone trough or font. ‘Losat’ is an Old Irish word denoting a wooden trough used in former times for kneading bread. It is likely that the country people named it from its similarity in shape to the lossets that they used in their homes. St. Maelruain’s Cross lies south of the font. It is a small ancient cross set in a pedestal which is fixed in a circular granite base resembling a mill stone. The pedestal and base were formerly known as Moll Rooney’s loaf and griddle and the font was called Moll Rooney’s Losset. There are a great many tombstones in the graveyard dating mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, and some even from the 17th century. One of these commemorates Colonel John Talbot of Belgard who sat in the Parliament of James II and took part in many important military engagements. The graves of the artists Oisin Kelly, Evie Hone and Elizabeth Rivers are in the new graveyard at St. Maelruain’s. Also to be seen in the grounds of the church is the remains of the fosse, the ancient curved bank which enclosed Maelruain’s monastery. The best view is from the carpark at the rear of Smith’s Toystore.

St. Maelruain died in 792 and was buried in Tallaght. The influence of the monastery continued after his death, as can be judged by the fact that, in 806, the monks of Tallaght were able to prevent the holding of the Tailtin Games, because of some infringement of their rights. In 811 the monastery was devastated by the Vikings but the destruction was not permanent and the annals of the monastery continued to be recorded throughout the following centuries. After the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1179 Tallaght and its appurtenances were confirmed to the See of Dublin and became the property of the Archbishop. The complete disappearance of every trace of what must have been an extensive and well organised monastic settlement can only be accounted for by the subsequent history of the place, the erection and demolition of defensive walls and castles, and the incessant warfare and destruction that lasted for hundreds of years.

Throughout the greater part of the 13th century a state of comparative peace existed at Tallaght, but subsequently the O’Byrnes and O’Tooles took offensive action and were joined by many of the Archbishop’s tenants. As a result of this the land was not tilled, the pastures were not stocked and the holdings were deserted. In 1310 the bailiffs of Tallaght got a royal grant to enclose the town. No trace of these defensive walls survive and we don’t have any evidence of their exact location, except for the name of the Watergate Bridge which spans the Dodder on the Oldbawn Road.

The continuation of such raids prompted the construction, in 1324, of Tallaght castle and it was finished some time before 1349. A century later it was reported to be in need of repair. Tallaght had become an important defensive site on the edge of the Pale. When Archbishop Hoadley replaced Archbishop King in 1729 he found it in ruins, which he demolished and built himself a palace at a cost of £2,500. By 1821 the palace too had fallen into ruin and an Act of Parliament was passed which stated that it was unfit for habitation. The following year it was sold to Major Palmer, Inspector General of Prisons who pulled the palace down and used the materials to build his mansion, Tallaght House, as well as a schoolhouse and several cottages. Tallaght House is now incorporated in the buildings at St. Mary’s Priory.

An ancient tower was spared in the demolition of the palace and was later incorporated into the buildings of Saint Mary’s Priory where it still stands today. It contains a spiral staircase and was originally four stories high but is now reduced internally to two. Attached to the castle was a long building which was used in the archbishop’s time as a brewery and later on as a granary and stables. Under the Dominicans it was converted into a chapel and was used as such until 1883 when the new church was built. The grounds of the Priory, the old palace gardens, still retain many features from the historic past such as the Archbishop’s bathhouse, the Friar’s Walk and St. Maelruain’s Tree.

The old constabulary barracks on the main street was the scene of the engagement known as the Battle of Tallaght, which occurred during the Fenian rising on 5th March 1867. On that night the Fenians moved out to assemble at the appointed place on Tallaght Hill. The large number of armed men alarmed the police in Tallaght who sent warning to the nearest barracks. There were fourteen constables and a head constable under Sub-inspector Burke at Tallaght, and they took up a position outside the barracks where they commanded the roads from both Greenhills and Templeogue. The first body of armed men came from Greenhills and, when they came under police fire, retreated. Next a party came from Templeogue, and were also dispersed. In 1936 a skeleton, sword-bayonet and water bottle were found in a hollow tree stump near Terenure. It is thought that these were the remains of one of the Fenians who had taken refuge there after the Battle of Tallaght and either died of his wounds or was frozen to death.

The 17th and 18th centuries brought many changes to Tallaght. Many mills were built along the Dodder and this brought new prosperity which saw the building of many houses in the area. In 1888 the Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway opened and it passed through Tallaght Village. This provided a new means of transporting goods and also brought day-trippers from the city.

Modern development

While no plan was formally adopted, Tallaght was laid out as a new town, as set out in the 1967 Myles Wright masterplan for Greater Dublin. This proposed four self-contained new towns at Tallaght, Clondalkin, Lucan and Blanchardstown. Many of the social and cultural proposals in this plan were ignored by Dublin City Council, and contrary to planners’ suggestions, Tallaght and the other ‘new towns’ were not provided with adequate facilities. Characterised by the same problems associated with poorly planned fringe areas of many European cities, during the 1970s and 1980s, Tallaght became synonymous with suburban mismanagement.

While it has been absorbed into the larger suburban area of Dublin (including becoming the postal district Dublin 24 in the late 1980s), Tallaght has developed a distinctive identity, arising largely from its rapid growth during recent decades. Tallaght now has a thriving local arts, cultural, sports, and economic outlook matched by a distinctive sense of place. Along with libraries and local arts groups, it can boast two theatres and a homegrown youth theatre company. It is also the home to the Tallaght Swim Team, the National Basketball Arena, Shamrock Rovers F.C., and several notable martial arts schools and Gaelic Athletic Association clubs.

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