William Murphy

THEY HAVE SINCE BEEN PARTLY DEMOLISHED

The baths at Blackrock were closed in 1997.

Since the baths in Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire opened in the early 20th century, not one person drowned in either pool but despite that both were closed back in the 1980s.

On a typical summer’s day at least three thousand people would pay into Blackrock Baths alone. Blackrock Baths also had the only Olympic diving platform in Dublin. It was also the main base for Leinster’s three thousand water polo players in the summer months.

In 2012 it was claimed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that the remaining derelict structures had become unsafe and should be demolished due to safety concerns. Following an inspection by senior council staff, it emerged that the structures “have suffered from extensive weather damage and from the ravages of the sea”, making them and the adjoining land dangerous to the public.

The concrete had been seriously affected by the wind and waves, while the pool structure was beyond repair. The seating and changing block wedre in danger of collapse. The council also said that the guard rails to the upper seating area “have rusted away and the steps are exposed”, while the diving platform was seriously corroded and detached from the pool base.

During the 2012 inspection, the council noted extensive graffiti and rubbish in the building, “which suggested it is subject to regular unauthorised access”. It confirmed that it is not feasible to secure the site to prevent unauthorised access.

Following a consultant’s report, county architect Andree Dargan determined that the structures on the site were ‘dangerous structures’ and that “measures must be taken to remove the danger that exists”.

ONCE KNOWN AS HEN AND CHICKEN LANE

I would describe the immediate area as a complex of streets and lanes near what was known as Portobello Barracks which is interesting as Mount Drummond Avenue was formerly known as Hen and Chicken Lane, indicating the rural nature of the area until the late nineteenth century.

I found the following description in an old document: Dublin. ‘Portobello Barracks. Sketch shewing the Ordnance Boundary and Hen & Chicken Lane’: plan. Scale: 4.5 inches to 4,000 feet. Compass indicator. Originally filed with papers of January 1850.

Cathal Brugha Barracks is an Irish Army barracks in Rathmines, Dublin. A key military base of the Irish Defence Forces, it is the headquarters of 2 Brigade, and houses the Military Archives of the Department of Defence.

The barracks was originally constructed between 1810 and 1815, and named Portobello Barracks for the area in which it was sited. (When Sir Francis Drake looted the city of Portobelo, Panama, died and was buried at sea in its harbour, many places in England and Ireland were commemoratively named Portobello – including part of Rathmines in 1696. The nearby canal bridge and the area became known as Portobello and thereafter, the barracks.)

In 1817 William Windham Saddler, son of balloonist James Saddler, set off in a hot-air balloon from the grounds of the barracks landing in Holyhead in North Wales.

Originally designed as a cavalry barracks, it saw some development along these lines, with additional land being purchased, and the addition of a church (1842) and canteen block (1868).

During the 1916 Easter Rising, and the Irish War of Independence, British troops from the barracks were involved in actions throughout Dublin. During this time, three journalists, including the pacifist Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, were murdered outside the barrack guardroom. The Royal Irish Rifles company commander Captain Bowen-Colthurst, who ordered the shootings, was controversially adjudged “insane” at the subsequent inquiry and court-martial.

On 17 May 1922 Irish troops took possession of the Barracks, and it became the National Army’s Headquarters under General Michael Collins.

In 1952 it was renamed for Cathal Brugha, who was a leader during the 1916 rising, Minister for Defence in the First Dáil, and who lived locally for a time. Cathal Brugha, a leader in the Anti-Treaty IRA, was shot by the National Army on O’Connell street during the Battle of Dublin.

BLACKROCK BATHS 23 FEBRUARY 2008

MOUNT DRUMMOND AVENUE