Kate Isabel Hampton

HOLLYBANK ROAD IN DRUMCONDRA

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Every street and building in Dublin has an associated story, sometimes many, if you look hard enough. Of course the stories may not be true or are only slightly true.

Even though I lived, for about five years, on Carlingford Road which runs parallel to Hollybank Road I found it difficult to say anything about the street until I remembered that my grand-aunt once told me that the first telephone operator in Ireland had lived on Hollybank road. I decided to check it out, as she never made mistakes.

Ireland’s first telephone exchange opened on Dame Street in 1880 and 22-year-old Kate Isabel Hampton from 19 Hollybank Road found employment at the Dame Street exchange in the early days but I could not establish if she was the first operator or even the first female operator … but why let such details ruin a good story.

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