Category: list

Posted on

Rotunda Hospital – original site

Photograph of a Dublin City Council commemorative plaque at 60 South Great George's Street. The wording on the plaque reads LATHAIR SITE OF THE ORIGINAL ROTUNDA HOSPITAL 1745-1757.

This plaque marks the original site of the Rotunda Hospital, founded in South Great George’s Street, then called ‘George’s Lane’, in 1745 by Bartholomew Mosse.

The site is now 60 South Great George’s Street and is occupied by Decwell’s hardware.

The ‘Rotunda’, Ireland’s first dedicated maternity hospital, or ‘lying-in hospital’, remained on the site until 1757, when it relocated to Rutland [now Parnell] Square.

Bartholomew Mosse established the original hospital on South Great George’s Street in response to high maternal and infant mortality rates in the 18th century. Driven by a vision to create a safe space where women of all backgrounds could access childbirth services, Mosse’s ‘lying-in hospital’ became a pioneering haven of care.

In 1757, the hospital moved to a larger, purpose-built facility on Parnell Square, where it continues to serve Dublin’s families and stands as a beacon of progress in maternal health.

The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor, and the Master of the Rotunda, on 1 November 2024.

Posted on

Grimshaw, Thomas Wrigley – physician and philanthropist

This plaque, at 10 Molesworth Street, commemorates physician and philanthropist Thomas Wrigley Grimshaw (1839-1900), who lived on the site from 1861 to 1881.

The plaque replaces a missing Dublin Tourism plaque and was unveiled on 16 November 2024.

Born near Belfast in 1839, Grimshaw was educated at Trinity College, the Royal College of Surgeons, and Dr Steevens’ Hospital, where he was appointed professor of botany at the age of 23.

Going on to work in the Cork Street Fever Hospital, the Coombe Lying-In Hospital, and the Dublin Orthopaedic Hospital, he kept up his involvement with Dr Steevens’ hospital, where he was elected professor of medicine in 1878.

Throughout his career he was interested in public health and statistics, and he was appointed Registrar General of Ireland in 1879.

Grimshaw served as president of the Statistical Society of Ireland in 1888–90 and as president of the Royal College of Physicians in 1895–6.

You can read more about Thomas Henry Grimshaw at the Dictionary of Irish Biography.

Posted on

Hamilton, Sir William Rowan – mathematician & astronomer

Photograph of a Dublin City Council commemorative plaque. The plaque is granite, with a blue base with the Dublin City logo, and is attached to a grey granite wall. The text reads 'WILLIAM ROWAN HAMILTON 1805-1865, Matamaiticeoir agus Réalteolaí, A RUGADH ANSEO, Mathematician and Astronomer, BORN HERE.

This plaque marks the site of the childhood home of William Rowan Hamilton, at 36 Dominick Street, Dublin 1 (now 21-24 Bolton Square).

Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805–1865) was an Irish mathematician and physicist renowned for his contributions to algebra, optics, and mechanics. A child prodigy in languages, he later focused on mathematics and made significant discoveries, including the reformulation of Newtonian mechanics, known as Hamiltonian mechanics.

He also invented quaternions, an extension of complex numbers, which laid the groundwork for modern vector analysis. In honour of his invention 16 October is celebrated as Hamilton Day, marking the day he ‘discovered’ quaternions and carved the formula into the bridge over the Royal Canal, at Cabra.

Hamilton served as the Royal Astronomer of Ireland and Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin, based at Dunsink Observatory, where he lived and conducted much of his work.

Hamilton’s work greatly influenced the development of modern physics and mathematics.

The plaque was unveiled on 16 October 2024.

Posted on

O’Hara, Maureen – actress

Photograph of a Dublin City Council commemorative plaque. The plaque is granite, with a blue base with the Dublin City logo, and is attached to a red brick wall. The text reads 'Maureen O'Hara 1920-1923, Aisteoir, A RUGADH ANSEO, Actor, BORN HERE.

This plaque, at 32 Beechwood Avenue Upper, Ranelagh, commemorates the the iconic Irish actress, Maureen O’Hara.

Born Maureen FitzSimons in 1920, O’Hara went on to become one of the most beloved actresses of her generation, starring in timeless classics like The Quiet Man, Miracle on 34th Street, and How Green Was My Valley. Known for her fiery red hair, her fierce independence, and her captivating performances, O’Hara left an indelible mark on both Irish and international cinema.

Read about Maureen O’Hara in the Dictionary of Irish Biography.

The plaque was unveiled on 7 September 2024, at Maureen O’Hara’s childhood home, by the Lord Mayor of Dublin James Geoghan; Dr Ruth Barton, film historian from Trinity College Dublin, spoke about O’Hara’s importance as a pioneering woman in cinema and her lasting legacy in the world of film.

Posted on

James Plunkett, author

Photograph of a Dublin City plaque. on a red brick wall. The plaque is made of granite and has a blue base with the Dublin City Council logo on it. The text on the plaque is in both Irish and English and in English it reads 'James Plunkett 1920-2003 writer lived here'.

 This plaque commemorates the author James Plunkett, author of Strumpet City.

Find this plaque on Google maps.

James Plunkett Kelly was born in Sandymount, Dublin, on 21 May 1920. He was educated at Synge Street CBS, and, following the death of his father, became a clerk in the Dublin Gas Company. There he joined the Workers’ Union of Ireland (WUI), becoming a union official and working alongside James Larkin.

During the 1950s, Plunkett became a regular contributor of talks, short stories and radio plays to Radio Éireann, which he joined in 1955, eventually becoming the head of RTÉ’s features department in 1968.

His first published was ‘The mother’, which appeared in the The Bell in 1942, and many other works followed, including the play ‘The risen people’ in 1959.

Plunkett’s best known work is Strumpet City; published in 1969 it sold over 250,000 copies worldwide and was translated into several languages. Paperback rights were bought for £16,000 and the seven-part dramatisation of the novel, adapted by Hugh Leonard and screened by RTÉ, is regarded as one of the highpoints of the station’s dramatic output. 

Strumpet city was followed by Farewell companions (1977), a semi‐autobiographical account of Dublin life between the 1920s and 1940s, and The circus animals. Neither achieved the success of Strumpet city, though some critics thought Farewell companions superior. In 1987 he published a collection of essays, The boy on the back wall.

James Plunkett died on  28 May 2003.

Veteran Dublin City Councillor Mary Freehill, who was friendly with the Kelly family, proposed that the plaque be erected. It was unveiled on 21 May 2024 at 25 Richmond Hill, Rathmines, on what would have been his 104th birthday.

You can read more about James Plunkett in the Dictionary of Irish Biography.

Posted on

Devlin’s Pub – meeting place of GHQ Intelligence

Photograph of a Dublin City Council plaque commemorating Devlin's Pub, Parnell Street, Dublin 1.

This plaque marks the location of Devlin’s Pub, which stood on the site of what is now the Point A Hotel, Parnell Street, Dublin 1.

In mid-1919, Derry born Liam Devlin relocated from Glasgow with his family of seven children to a public house that he bought at 68 Parnell Street, Dublin. Within a few weeks he had offered the use of upstairs rooms to Michael Collins.

The pub quickly became one of the main locations for meetings of the IRB Headquarters of Intelligence. It was a significant location during the War of Independence. Meetings were held daily at the pub, attended by Michael Collins, Frank Thornton, Liam Tobin, Emmet Dalton and many others of the leadership of the Volunteers and the IRB.

As many as eight to ten Volunteers and Officers were accommodated there every night during this period. Devlin was himself an Intelligence Officer and was entrusted with the safe keeping of National Loan Funds.

Michael Collins waited here for news about the abandoned escape and later execution of Kevin Barry. He was also in Devlin’s Pub on the morning of Bloody Sunday. The pub was the location of the Mutiny, which threatened the very survival of the Free State, led by Liam Tobin, in March 1924.

The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daithí de Róiste, and John Healey, grandson of Liam Devlin, on 5 April 2024.

Posted on

Clonturk Park – venue for the All Ireland Finals

Photograph of a Dublin City Council plaque commemorating Clonturk Park as the venue for All Ireland Finals, at Richmond Road, Dublin 3.

This plaque, at the Drumcondra AFC clubhouse on Richmond Road, Dublin 3, commemorates Clonturk Park as the venue for the GAA All Ireland finals in both hurling and football for 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1894.

The matches played at Clonturk Park included landmark occasions such as Cork’s first All Ireland championship in hurling, and Dublin’s first in football; the first football final between Dublin and Kerry, and the only win by a Kerry team in the hurling championship.

The 1893 final was transferred to the Phoenix Park because the grass at Clonturk had not been cut for the occasion.

After Clonturk Park’s era as the preferred GAA venue in the city came to an end, the All Ireland final of 1895 was the first to be played on Mr Butterly’s amusement grounds on Jones’s Road, the venue now better known as Croke Park.

The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daithí de Róiste, and Uachtarán Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Jarlath Burns, on 23 March 2024.

Posted on

Kite, John – Dublin Fire Brigade

Photograph of a Dublin City Council plaque commemorating Fireman John Kite, at 10 Trinity Street, Dublin 2.

This plaque, at 10 Trinity Street, Dublin 2, commemorates Fireman John Kite, the first member of Dublin Fire Brigade to be killed in the line of duty.

Just before 9.30pm on the night of 20th of March 1884, the Fire Brigade were alerted to a fire at 10 Trinity Street, now Cotswold Outdoors. Firemen from two nearby fire stations – Coppinger Row off South William Street and Whitehorse Yard off Winetavern Street, were on the scene in minutes.

The building was on fire at basement and ground floor, and on the third floor. Firemen entered the building at ground level and from a wheeled escape ladder to the third floor.

The fire was quickly under control when without warning, the building collapsed burying nine firemen inside under masonry, timber and slates. Remaining firemen outside the building, with assistance from police and soldiers from the nearby Ship Street Barracks, set about removing the rubble to find the missing firemen.

Eight were rescued, many with serious injuries, but unfortunately one fire fighter, John Kite, lost his life. His death was reported by the Dublin City Coroner to have been due to ”suffocation in the ruins of a house while carrying out his duty”.

He was the first Dublin Fire Brigade fire fighter to lose his life while on duty. Fireman John Kite was survived by his wife Eliza and six children.

The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daithí de Róiste, and Assistant Chief Fire Officer Michael Reilly, on 20 March 2024.

Posted on

Brennan, Maeve – writer and journalist

A photograph of the Dublin City Council commemorative plaque for Maeve Brennan, at 48 Cherryfield Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin.

This plaque, at 48 Cherryfield Avenue, Ranelagh, commemorates Maeve Brennan, columnist with the New Yorker magazine and writer of short stories.

Maeve Brennan, once described as ‘the greatest Irish writer you never heard of’, was born in Dublin on 6 January 1917, second of four children of the journalist Bob Brennan, who would go on to found the Irish Press.

The family lived at 48 Cherryfield Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin, from 1921 until 1934. The house is the setting for many of her stories.

After her father was selected as Ireland’s ambassador to Washington in 1934, Maeve Brennan completed her secondary and third level education in Washington and moved to New York to work in a library. There her literary talent was noticed by the editor of New Yorker magazine. For three decades she contributed to the New Yorker and had two critically acclaimed collections of short stories published in 1969.

While fighting a losing battle against financial and mental health problems, she retreated into obscurity and spent her last years in a home for the elderly in New York, her talent unknown to her carers and, in the end, herself.  It was only after her death in 1993 that her work was anthologised and recognised by a new generation of writers and critics, placing Maeve Brennan among the best Irish short-story writers since Joyce. Her works have been accepted into the canon of twentieth century literature:

The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dublin on 6 January 2024.

Posted on

O’Leary, Jerome – youngest victim of Bloody Sunday 1920

A photograph of the Dublin City Council Commemorative plaque for Jerome O'Leary.

This plaque commemorates Jerome O’Leary who, at 10 years old, was the youngest of those killed at Croke Park on Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920.

Find this plaque on Google maps.

The plaque reads:

JEROME O’LEARY
1910-1920
A Maraíodh i bPáirc an Chrócaigh ar Domhnach na Fola
A CHÓNAIGH ANSEO
Killed at Croke Park on Bloody Sunday
LIVED HERE

On the morning of 21 November 1920 fourteen suspected British intelligence personnel were killed, and one fatally injured, by the IRA.

That afternoon, as a reprisal, a force of Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), including the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, opened fire on the crowd attending a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary at Croke Park. 14 civilians were killed in the attack.

The second or third bullet fired killed 10-year-old Jerome O’Leary from Blessington Street. The boy was sitting on the wall at the Canal end of the pitch and was shot through the right side of his head.

Jerome was buried in Glasnevin where for many years his grave went unmarked. As part of its Bloody Sunday Graves project in 2019 the GAA erected a headstone for Jerome in Glasnevin.

Jerome O’Leary lived at 69 Blessington Street, where the plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor on 20 November 2023. The plaque was proposed by Mr Pearse Turner.

A detailed account of Bloody Sunday may be found in History on Your Doorstep volume 3, written by Dublin City Council historians-in-residence and available from any branch of Dublin City Libraries, or online at https://www.dublincity.ie/library/blog/history-your-doorstep-volume-3.