Category: list

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Dowden, Edward – poet & critic

Photograph of a Dublin City Council plaque commemorating Edward Dowden

On Sunday, 29th November 2015, a Dublin City Council commemorative plaque honouring the Irish poet and literary critic Edward Dowden (1843-1913) was unveiled in Ballsbridge.

The plaque is located at 50 Wellington Road, Dublin 4, where Dowden lived for several years, with Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha speaking on behalf of Dublin City Council’s Commemorative Naming Committee.

Locate this plaque on Google maps.

Appointed to the newly created position of Chair of English Literature at Trinity College Dublin in 1867, Dowden quickly earned a reputation as an internationally respected literary critic and was an authority on William Shakespeare as well as figures such as Percy Bysshe Shelley and Robert Browning. A staunch unionist who was hostile to the Irish Literary Revival and growth of Irish nationalism during his later years, Dowden received honorary degrees from the Universities of Oxford, Edinburgh, and Princeton.

He married twice and had several children, with a daughter from his first marriage, Hester Meredith Dowden (1868-1949), going to become one of the most famous spiritualists and psychic investigators during the first half of the twentieth century. Those wishing to learn more about a figure described by author John Eglinton as “almost a saint to culture”, should consult the chapter ‘Edward Dowden: Irish Victorian’ in Terence Brown’s book Ireland’s Literature: Selected Essays (1989). You can reserve a copy of the book when Level 5 restrictions are lifted. 

Watch the presentation below by Dr James Curry, Dublin City Council historian in residence, which is part of a “Plaques of Dublin” online lecture series.

Submitted by Historian in Residence, James Curry.  

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Ennis, Séamus – musician

Photograph of Dublin City Council plaque honouring Seamus Ennis

On the afternoon of Friday, 3rd May 2019, an official Dublin City Council commemorative plaque unveiling took place at the site of Séamus Ennis’s boyhood home in Finglas, which was demolished during the 1960s. 

This event occurred two days before the centenary of the birth of the renowned musician, singer, folklore collector and broadcaster who left behind, to quote from one 1982 obituary notice, “a priceless heritage of Irish tradition to the nation”.

The plaque was unveiled outside Burgess Galvin & Co. Ltd. on the Jamestown Road by Councillor Paul McAuliffe, representing the Lord Mayor of Dublin, with Ennis’s children Catherine and Christopher travelling from England for the occasion.  

A bronze plaque commemorating Ennis at the same site had previously been unveiled by John Gormley, Lord Mayor of Dublin, on Tuesday, 1st November 1994, during the inaugural Séamus Ennis Festival (Féile Shéamuis Ennis), a week-long Finglas celebration that included the renaming of a local road in Ennis’s honour. This earlier commemorative plaque was designed by Finglas sculptor Leo Higgins and stonemason Bobby Blount.

If you would like to learn more about Séamus Ennis, there is an essay on his life in the book History on your Doorstep, Volume 2. Six more stories of Dublin history (Dublin City Council, 2019), available at all branch libraries. Photo by Paddy Cahill. You can also watch the presentation by Dr James Curry, Dublin City Council historian in residence, which is part of a Plaques of Dublin online lecture series.

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Fallon, Richard – Garda

Located at 24 Aran Quay, Dublin 7, D07 W620, this plaque honours Garda Richard Fallon, who was killed in the line of duty on 3rd April 1970.

Locate this plaque on Google maps.

On the morning of 3rd April, 1970, three armed men robbed the Royal Bank of Ireland, Arran Quay, Dublin. On arrival at the scene Garda Fallon, with two colleagues, Garda Paul Firth and Garda Patrick Hunter, were confronted by the raiders. As the Gardai moved  towards them all three of the raiders fired repeatedly at the Gardai. Garda Fallon attempted to arrest the gunman nearest to him when he was shot by one of the other raiders and was fatally wounded.

The plaque was unveiled on 22nd July, 2020.

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Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club

This plaque commemorates the founding of the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club. The club was founded in 1877 and its first home was at 24-25 Upper Pembroke Street, on premises leased to the club by Sir Francis Brady.

Find this plaque on Google maps.

The club quickly outgrew the premises and in 1880 moved to its current grounds on Appian Way, Dublin 6.

The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor on 10 June 2023.

In 1879 the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club organised a national ladies’ championship, the first of its kind in the word.

The tournament was held at the club courts on Upper Pembroke Street, and is also marked by a Dublin City Council commemorative plaque.


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Four Courts Garrison

Located at the Capuchin Mission Office, Church Street, Dublin 7, D07 NNH4, this plaque commemorates the Four Courts Garrison.

Locate this plaque on Google maps.

It is one of several plaques erected during the 1916 Centenary year to mark the garrison sites around the city, and to honour those who fought and died during the Rising.

The plaque was unveiled by Lord Mayor Críona Ní Dhálaigh on 12th July, 2016.

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Guinness Barge, last sailing

On Friday, 23rd July 2021, a Dublin City Council commemorative plaque honouring the last operational sailing of a Guinness Barge down the River Liffey was unveiled at Victoria Quay, Dublin 8, by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin Joe Costello.

https://youtu.be/Wiwel94bATQ
VIdeo presentation about the Guinness Barge plaque by historian James Curry.

This replaces an earlier plaque which was sponsored by Guinness and erected in 1992 by the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, but since disappeared.

The new plaque unveiling ceremony was hosted by Deputy City Librarian Brendan Teeling, with Councillor Vincent Jackson also speaking on behalf of Dublin City Council’s Commemorative Naming Committee. The event’s other speakers were Jim O’Riordan (Chairman of Inland Waterways Association of Ireland) and Eibhlin Colgan (Guinness Archive Manager).

The last sailing of a Guinness barge from Victoria Quay to Custom House Quay took place on the evening of Friday, 23rd June 1961. For almost ninety years the brewery’s barges had been a familiar sight along the Liffey, transporting wooden barrels of Guinness to cross channel steamers stationed near the Custom House. One of the barges is mentioned in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses as omitting “a puffball of smoke” from its funnel as it passes under O’Connell Bridge.

Those wishing to learn more about the plaque and the story of the last Guinness Barge sailing along the River Liffey can watch the presentation below by Dr James Curry, Dublin City Council historian in residence, which is part of a “Plaques of Dublin” online lecture series.

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Hardy, Samuel Little

Located at 9 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, D02 WN50, this plaque commemorates physician and obstetrician Samuel Little Hardy.

It was unveiled on 28th September 2016.

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S.S. Hare

plaque commemorating the sinking of the SS Hare in 1918

Located on the North Quays at the Sean O’Casey Bridge, this plaque commemorates the sinking of the S.S. Hare on 5th January 1918.

Locate this plaque on Google maps.

The S.S. Hare had been one of Larkin’s ‘food ships’, bringing food and other necessities from Britain for families of striking workers during the 1913 Lockout.

The ship was travelling from Manchester to Dublin when she was sunk by a German U-Boat with the loss of twelve lives.

The plaque was unveiled on 30th September 2017 by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Michael Mac Donncha.

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Hirschfeld Centre

Photograph of a plaque commemorating the Hirschfeld Centre in Temple Bar, Dublin.

Located in Temple Bar, this plaque is at the site of the former Hirschfeld Centre, Ireland’s first dedicated, full-time community centre and space for the LGBT community.

Locate this plaque on Google maps.

The Centre, funded by Senator David Norris, a gay rights activist, opened on 17 March 1979.

The plaque was unveiled by Senator Norris, and Lord Mayor Paul McAuliffe, at 10 Fownes Street, Temple Bar, on 20th June 1019.

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Hyland, Richard – Garda

On Monday 16th August, 2021, a Dublin City Council honouring Detective Garda Richard Hyland and Detective Sergeant Patrick McKeown was unveiled at 97A Rathgar Road, Dublin 6.

The plaque was unveiled by Ms Marie Hyland (daughter of Garda Hyland); Councillor Mary Freehill (representing the Lord Mayor), and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris,

Detective Sergeant Patrick McKeown, from Armagh, and Mayo-born Detective Garda Richard Hyland, were both shot during a raid at 97A Rathgar Road, on 16th August 1940.  

Shortly before 8 a.m. on 16th August, 1940 a group of five detectives, under the command of Detective Sergeant Patrick McKeown, carried out a search in Rathgar Road, Dublin, under the provisions of the Offences against the State Act, 1939.  After gaining entry to the building, the Gardaí were surprised by a burst of gunfire from behind a partition wall. 

Detective Garda Hyland managed to discharge one shot after being wounded which warned off his surviving colleagues from entering through the front of the shop. Detective Sergeant McKeown died from his wounds the following day. Another Garda, Detective Garda Brady, was seriously wounded. 

Richard Hyland was born on 26th October, 1903, in Manulla, Co. Mayo. He grew up in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, and later lived in Dublin. He joined An Garda Síochána on 9th September, 1933. Prior to joining An Garda Siochana he served as Quartermaster of ‘E’ Coy, 3rd Battalion, Dublin Brigade during the War of Independence. He served on the Republican side during the Civil War and was a member of the bodyguard of Éamon de Valera when he escaped from the old Hamman Hotel in Dublin during that period. Detective Garda Hyland was a married man with two children.

The decision to erect the plaque was made by the Dublin City Council Commemorations & Naming Committee.