Historical Buildings of Rathmines

In  1920   an  incident  occurred  which  became  known  as  the  Battle of  Portobello.   It began when a crowd of people got into a fight with British soldiers who insisted  on playing a song called "The Kings" at the City Theatre.  A running battle developed, culminating in a skirmish from a very-light corner by the barrack picket.  On the 18th of May 1992 the barrack was handed over by the mayor to General O'Duffy and Comdt. General Ennis and in June 1992 it became the Irish Army's G.H.Q, the red house, which was previously the barrack's hospital staff house.  It was the last home in Dublin of Michael Collins.

 In 1824 a piece of land on Rathmines Road abutting onto Richmond Hill was purchased from the Earl of Meath as a site for the new Catholic Church, the first to be built in this district.  Previously, the Parish  Rev. William Strafford, had to celebrate mass in his private apartment in Portobello Place.  The first stone was laid by the Lord Brabazon.  By the mid 1840's it was obvious that a larger church was needed.  The architect Patrick Byrne was asked to prepare plans but it was 1849 before a subscription list was opened to raise funds Dr. William Meagher succeeded  Father Stafford as parish priest and he was determined to go ahead with the building of the new church.

In the year of 1920 the church was destroyed by a fire.  People said that it could be heard for miles as it collapsed.  The next year a copper dome completed the rebuilding.  The church was opened for services.  It is said that the dome was destined for Russia but, because of the communist revolution there, it became available for Rathmines.

Holy Trinity Church

The Holy Trinity church is now 179 years old.  It was built on Trinity Sunday, June 1st, 1828 by Archbishop Magee.  At that time the church was built close to the  newly built  Rathmines  Castle .K.P.S. is now right beside the site of the castle.  In 1883 the church was made bigger and the organ was replaced and the Parish Hall was built on Belgrave Square.  At that time the Rector lived next door to the Parish Hall. (This hall has now been knocked down and been replaced with an apartment block.) The Holy Trinity Church is built from stone.  Some of the windows are round and some are tall.  They are stained glass.  The church has one steeple which holds the bell.  The front door is painted blue.  The church is surrounded by gravel and railings.  There are also some shrubs growing near the door.  The church stands in the middle of the street.  Several roads meet at the church.    

Our school and the teaching college are built on the grounds of where the castle would have been.  It was on Upper Rathmines Road.  It would have been on the quiet part of Rathmines Road.  The address would have been 96 Upper Rathmines Road Dublin 6.  It also had a Church of Ireland church on its grounds.  There is a main road running in front of it and other quite big houses across the road.  The Rathmines Castle which was built about1820 by Colonel Wynne.  It was later occupied by John Purser Griffith, Chief Engineer to the Dublin Port and Docks Board.  Though 1820 seems to be the accepted date for this castle, another castle is shown on Taylor's map of 1816 where it is indicated as much closer to the eastern boundary of the grounds and is just marked as "Castle ".  There might have been a different castle on those grounds before.  Wynne's castle is now demolished and in its place is the Church of Ireland Teacher's Training College and Kildare Place School, which moved here from Kildare Place in 1969.        

No. 136 A Lower Rathmines Road was first used as the township's public library which was later housed in no.192.   In 1913 the present fine library building was opened and like many of the other libraries in the city was built with the aid of a generous grant from Andrew Carnegie.  It was  designed by Bachelor and Hicks who also designed the  adjoining College of Commerce, the library was built on the site of a three storey mansion Leinster Villa which  was  demolished  in 1912.  The fine stained glass window facing the main staircase was designed by William  Morris.  The long established Children's Library began in 1922.                                          

The Town Hall was built in 1894.  It cost. £130.  It is No 200 Lower Rathmines Road.  In the early 19th century there was a house called Fairy Hill there.  The Town Hall was designed by a man called Sir Tomas Drew.  It has five different sized bells all which were made by Matthew Byrne.  The bells cost £264.  The interior fittings of the Town Hall were done by Carlo Cambi who also did the doors in the National Library and the National Museum.  The Town Hall had concerts,  dances and meetings.  One of the events which took place was a demonstration of the wireless telegraphy invention. 

Take me home!