The Story of Shankill
Shankill (Irish: Seanchill, meaning "Old Church") is a suburb of Dublin located in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Dublin, Ireland. It had a population of 13,242 as of the 2006 census.
Name
The name Shankill derives from the Irish Sean chill, meaning Old Church. However, there is little evidence of any religious activity or a church in the area at the time when this name was first used, and so it is said that the name actually comes from the Irish Sean Choill, meaning Old Wood.
Dark Ages
Shankill features a number of antiquities, including raths and cromlechs. Around 1230, there were forests that were cleared under the orders of the then owner of Shankill, Archbishop Luke. Courts for serious crimes in the style of assizes were conducted at Shankill during this period. To keep the native Gaelic Irish out fortified gates protected parts of the townland.
The manor of Shankill was overrun by the Irish and completely destroyed a century later. In response to these incursions, a large garrison was re-instated. The Irish were restrained from entering and the land was eventually re-let as grazing land.
Middle Ages
The Lawless family feature prominently in the history of Shankill. In 1408, family members had control of the seigniory of Shanganagh. Several Lawlesses became residents of Shankill by the 1480s.
Several castles which still stand today, Shankill Castle and Shanganagh Castle, as well as a strong house, called Puck's Castle, were built between 1400 and 1600. The Walsh family comes to prominence in the 1500s, building defensive structures throughout Shankill.
From 1640 onwards, the Irish were subdued in numerous battles, which led to greater agricultural use of the lands and consequent prosperity. Shankill was taken into the Rathmichael parish, becoming more populous.
The Walshes quit the lands of Shankill, primarily due to the Act of Commonwealth that redistributed landowners and tenancies. After this, the Lawless families regained possession for the third time of all of Shankill. The last Lawless died in 1795, whereupon the lands became the possessions of the third Sir William Domvile, resident of nearby Loughlinstown House. The Domvile family was granted the lands surrounding Loughlinstown under the Restoration.
19th century
Shankill and Rathmichael were at that time the property of Sir Charles Compton William Domvile (1822–1884). Domvile was known as an uncompromising and ruthless property owner, and sought to change the usage of land from the smallholdings that existed at the time of his inheritance of the estate.
Domvile intended to build grand Georgian style housing developments, squares and streets, to gentrify the area, making it attractive for wealthy Dublin based professionals to live. At this time, Shankill was a rural village.
During Domvile’s time new roads and streets were laid out, as well as water mains which feed a relief tank from Vartry Reservoir, continuing on to Stillorgan reservoir.
However, Domvile was an impetuous man, and acted unreasonably with his tenants and prospective buyers of estates on his holdings. His personal debts mounted as a result of his financing two large estates at Shankill and Santry, ultimately resulting in his bankruptcy.
The net outcome of Domvile’s actions was to halve the population of Shankill and Rathmichael during the 1860s. He evicted over 100 tenants, during a period of grinding poverty, and many were forced to re-negotiate their tenancies at usurious rates. Many of the evicted ended up in the local workhouse, the Rathdown Work Union, which is now the site of Loughlinstown Hospital.
A landowner with holdings adjacent to the Shankill townland, Benjamin Tilly, granted quarter-acre holdings to several of the evicted tenants. Tilly’s land straddled the townland border into Shanganagh, and the new holdings along the Shanganagh Road became known as Tillystown. In 1871, there were over 60 houses, and at the turn of the century, this village became known as Shankill proper.
In 1911, a large tract of land to the west of Shankill, known as New Vale, was developed as labourers' cottages.
20th, 21st centuries
Shankill initially comprised large agricultural tracts broken into smallholdings for tenant farmers, and larger, grander estates with fine country houses, many which still exist today. Large housing estates have been built on many of these estates, of varying size and quality. Recently, tracts of land such as the caravan park and young offenders prison have been sold to developers, who have built higher density housing than the larger plot housing estates constructed in the 1970s.
There are a large number of local authority housing developments, notably Rathsallagh and Shanganagh Cliffs estates, located near Shankill DART station, stretching to the coastline. Smaller developments are also found on Quinn’s Road.
In recent times, several property developers have purchased adjacent large houses with the intention of developing apartment complexes.
Local antiquities and features
Puck's Castle.
Ballycorus Chimney.
Shanganagh Castle (18th century).
St. James's Church, Crinken (1840).There are several antiquities in the area including ruined churches and standing stones. The ruins of several castles and defensive type structures remain; including Puck's Castle, Shankill Castle, Shanganagh Castle and a Martello Tower.
Some houses of architectural note include Clontra, a coastal Gothic mansion, Crinken Castle House, Crinken, and Shanganagh House, an imposing mansion now surrounded by housing estates built during the 1960s. Clontra was built for Dublin solicitor James Lawson and designed by eminent 19th century architects Sir Thomas Newenham Deane and Benjamin Woodward in their trademark Italian medieval style. They are better known for their work on the Kildare Street Club and the museum building at Trinity College, Dublin. The local library is itself of note, formerly a courthouse built in an old Victorian style of granite and mock Tudor features. There are also some follys such as a mock round tower built of red brick in the Castle Farm Farmyard.
Traces of South Dublin's industrial heritage remain, such as the lead mine chimney. Other features of note include the 'upside down' houses by the Harcourt Street railway line bridge, which was the site of the original post office, and has its guest rooms downstairs, and its kitchen and living room upstairs. Shankill was accessible via the original Kingstown-Bray train line, which is now five metres from the sea in some places. A coastal wall was built from Killiney to Bray to try to stop the erosion; traces of this can still be seen along the beach. The medieval village of Longnon was sited some 200 yards (180 m) east of Quinn’s Road beach, but was completely obliterated by coastal erosion.
Amenities
Sporting options in the area include two soccer teams, Vale View Shankill FC, which caters for senior and schoolchild football, and RSFC who cater for senior football. There is also a Bowling Club with an all-weather surface.
Shankill Tennis Club, which opened a new €940,000 clubhouse during 2007, is located on Quinn's Road.
There is one pub and restaurant complex in Shankill; Brady's, Mickey Byrne's, and Grace's Garden, and the village is served by grocery and convenience stores. The local credit union has a substantial office on the main street. There is also a public library, and until recently, Shankill featured one of Dublin's few remaining campgrounds, the site of which has since been developed into an apartment complex.
The village recently won the national 'Best Urban Village Award' and two other awards in the Tidy Towns Competition. Efforts are ongoing by a very active committee and residents alike, to improve the appearance and quality of the local environment.
Education
Shankill itself has three primary schools: Saint Anne's National School, and Scoil Mhuire, one a large Naíonra, an Irish language school in Rathmichael is also Rathmichael Parish School.
Religion
The village has a Roman Catholic church.
The nearest Church of Ireland church is in Rathmichael.
The other Shankill
Like its namesake, the Shankill district of Belfast, Dublin's Shankill also has its own Falls Road. Occasionally the primary schools and community groups in both Shankills hold football or other sporting events to promote better north-south relationships. Shankill native Charlie Martin received an honorary MBE in April 2006 for his work in this field.
Click here for features of Shankill
(text taken from wikipedia)