SILCHESTER ROAD IN GLENAGEARY

03/07/2023

There must have been a 1950s party as I saw a number of women wearing rockabilly outfits.

Silchester Road is the type of road which comes to mind when the media use phrases like "leafy suburbs of South-east Dublin".  It was named after Lord Silchester, of the Longford/DeVesci family who owned much of the land in the area. The title Baron Silchester, of Silchester in the County of Southampton was held by the same family from 1821.

It joins Lower Glenageary Road to Adelaide Road.

It is one of the best preserved roads in the area.  There have been no houses demolished at any time along the road, and no really out-of-character developments.  It thus retains its full history of the architecture of high-end houses from the Victorian days to modern times

Silchester Road does not appear in Griffith's Valuation (1849) or in the maps of 1860.  Instead there are open fields. 10 years later, maps show Silchester Road fully laid out, and 3 houses (Silchester House, Nurney and Rosenberg) set back from the road, each occupying quite a large site.  Pathways are shown in the gardens of these houses.  A smaller house, Ardgroom is also shown.  St Pauls Church, on the corner of Silchester Road and Adelaide Road dates from 1868.  Some sites for further houses are also laid out on the 1870 map.  The south side of Silchester Road is still open fields as at 1870.

By the turn of the century, 4 large detatched houses have been added, and 6 pairs of large semi-detached houses.  All of these developments are on the Eastern half of Silchester Road, i.e. the half which is closer to Adelaide Road.

All of the other houses on Silchester Road date from the 20th century.

A glance at the census of 1901 shows all of the signs of an affluent community.  Heads of families include bankers, professionals (lawyers, engineers, etc.) merchants and other business owners, as well as people living on dividends from investments or on high-ranking army pensions.  Most houses had resident servants.

STREET FURNITURE OLD AND NEW

03/07/2023

The Street Art is "Girl Gang" by Claire Prouvost. It was inspired by friendship, empowered women, and the power and importance of being together for good moments. This piece tells the story of a warm July evening, and here you are watching the sun going down on the bay with some people you cherish. The bright colours are a staple of my work, and give a sunny and warm tone to the piece.

Claire is a French graphic designer and illustrator living and working in Dublin. She loves to paint women in a cubist inspired style, using gouaches for their vibrant colours. Her colourful work plays with shapes, contrast, and composition to show the simple beauty of things in our daily lives.

When I was at school one boy was "slagged" because he was  from "Crap Town" ... at the time I did not give the matter much consideration as I did not realise that that there is a Knapton Road in Dun Laoghaire and that it is where he lived. Of course it is possible that they were referring to Dun Laoghaire in general.

Knapton Road is a residential road joining the southern end of York Road to The Slopes. It includes many really houses.

The title of Baron Knapton was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1750 for the first Viscount's de Vesci's father Sir John Vesey.  The deVesci or Vesey family of Abbeyleix,  were landlords in the area.

Samuel Bewley, the noted Dublin coffee merchant and owner of a chain of cafes in the city of Dublin lived in Knapton Road.

In Ireland Slag is verb used to make fun of someone in a nice way.

KING GEORGE LETTER BOX

03/07/2023

This may have been modified as it does not look as it should.

You can tell that a “GR” post box was put up during the era of King George V, from 1910 to 1936, while “GR VI” boxes were from the reign of George VI, from 1936 to 1952.

Following the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, almost all United Kingdom-era pillar boxes and wall boxes were retained, but painted green. Hundreds of these are extant around Ireland, still bearing the cypher of the reigning monarch at the time of the box's manufacture. All are now protected structures. The Department of Posts and Telegraphs continued installing similar pillar boxes and wall boxes, but with the initials SÉ (for Saorstát Éireann), a harp or the Department of Posts and Telegraphs P ⁊ T logo, instead of a monarchical cypher. Since 1984 An Post, the current Irish postal administration, has used their logo to adorn its pillar boxes. All Irish counties, such as County Wicklow, have placed their extant United Kingdom-era pillar boxes on their lists of protected structures, meaning they may not be replaced without special planning permission having first been obtained.