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"Where is Carrickmines?" people used to ask when in 1975 we move to live on the Glenamuck Road. "Its in Darkest South County Dublin" my husband would reply. This little known area lay on the edge of Dublin's exclusive suburbs Foxrock and Cabinteely. Glenamuck still was more or less a country road, with a foot path on one side only. Wildflowers grew on the verges and we picked blackberries every autumn with the children. Many homes were hidden up long driveways. The plop of tennis balls could be heard in the summer coming from the Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tennis club. Just past the tennis club was the old railway bridge and in a hollow by the defunct Harcourt Street line stood the station house now a private residence. If one took the left fork in the road here it led to the incredibly discrete Carrickmines Golf Club. Glenamuck Road wound its way past two working farms, a livery stable, more scattered homes and two rows of cottages until it finally emerged at Palmer's Golden Ball pub. Further South there grazed the Jersey herd of the Killternan Dairy, whose luscious creamy milk was delivered to our door every morning for many years. Were one to turn right just past the Glenamuck railway bridge to Castle View there was a stream and a hairpin bend that led to the Ballyogan Road. Here one felt really in the country. It is thought that this route had formed part of the boundary known as the Pale. It seems the Pale was defended by a ditch rather then by a wall. To the right or East of this dyke the denizens were loyal to the English King and crown. To the West and South were the wild mountainy men of County Dublin and Wicklow who bedevilled the forces of law and order. Nearby on Francy Mooney's farm lay the buried remains of Carrickmines Castle destroyed in 1641, unbeknownst to most of the locals. This amiable farmer cut the hay in the local paddocks every August. At other times one would need to phone Mr Mooney to ask if he owned the fine heifer that was depositing organic manure on one's lawn. Farms stretched as far as the eye could see, interspersed with a few fine houses. Lining the western edge of Baliyogan Road a hodgepodge of cottages and bungalows plus ONeill's marble works led to the Dublin County Council Tipp head, know as the Dump. Here the County Council trucks disgorged the rubbish of the city to biodegrade (or not ) in a midden that will surely fascinate future archaeologists. It did prove a bit sniffy in summer but in spite of this we were living an idyllic life only 8 miles from. Dublin. On the Eastern border of our garden lay Bewley's field where lovely, prize winning Jersey cattle grazed in sylvan peace. Later some neighbours beautiful hunters roamed this glorious site. When in the 1980s it was sold, some itinerants set up camp there for a while. They caused us no trouble and my children watched enviously through a gap in the hedge saying that itinerant children had a great life. They never seemed to go to school and had a barbeque every evening for supper. When the winter arrived our travelling neighbours left to be replaced in the spring by builders with bulldozers. Since then most of the surrounding fields have been invaded by bulldozers. There are housing developments on almost every open space and even in most large gardens. The M50 now snarls by the orchard fence. To visit a neighbour who lived a short stroll ‘up the road' now one must negotiate two roundabouts. On the former farmland there sits the Carrickmines Retail Park which vies for space with new apartment blocks. The Co. Council Dump is now the Ballyogan Civic Recycling Facility. It is still rather sniffy in summer. On a nearby field beloved of my children because it boasted a sign stating: "Beware of the Bull" stand houses and apartments. A home in one of these would set a person back the equivalent of the Gross National Product of a small country. Where is Carrickmines you ask. Its just off the M50 take exit 15.
Niamh Wallace |