Glasnevin

Glasnevin is a largely residential middle-class neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland. It is also a civil parish in the ancient barony of Coolock. Dublin City University has three campuses located in the parish at Ballymun Road, Griffith Avenue and Old Finglas Road.

A mainly residential neighbourhood, it is located on the Northside of the city of Dublin (about 3 km north of Dublin City centre). It was originally established on the northern bank of the River Tolka. It is bordered to the north by Finglas, northeast by Ballymun and Santry, Whitehall to the east, Phibsboro and Drumcondra to the south and Cabra to the west.

The village has changed a lot over the years, and is now part of Dublin City. It is now largely a mix of young families, senior citizens and students attending Dublin City University.

As well as the amenities of the National Botanic Gardens (Ireland) and local parks, the national meteorological office Met Éireann, the Fisheries Board, the National Standards Authority of Ireland, Sustainable Energy Ireland, the National Metrology Laboratory (NML), the Department of Defence and the national enterprise and trade board Enterprise Ireland are all located in the area.

National Botanic Gardens


The Curvilinear Range of glasshouses at the Irish National Botanic Gardens
The house and lands of the poet Thomas Tickell were sold in 1790 to the Irish Parliament and given to the Royal Dublin Society for them to establish Ireland's first Botanic Gardens. The gardens were the first location in Ireland where the infection responsible for the 1845–1847 potato famine was identified. Throughout the famine research to stop the infection was undertaken at the gardens.

The 48 acres (190,000 m2) which border the River Tolka also adjoin the Prospect Cemetery. In 2002 the Botanic Gardens gained a new two-storey complex which included a new cafe and a large lecture theatre. The Irish National Herbarium is also located at the botanic gardens.

Glasnevin (Prospect) Cemetery

Prospect Cemetery is located in Glasnevin, although better known as Glasnevin Cemetery, the most historically notable burial place in the country and the last resting place, among a host of historical figures, of Michael Collins, Eamon DeValera, Charles Stewart Parnell and also Arthur Griffith. This graveyard led to Glasnevin being known as "the dead centre of Dublin". It opened in 1832 and is the final resting place for thousands of ordinary citizens, as well as many Irish patriots.

Hart's Corner

Approaching Glasnevin via Phibsboro is what is known as Hart's Corner but which about 200 years ago was called Glasmanogue, and was then a well-known stage on the way to Finglas. At an earlier date the name possessed a wider signification and was applied to a considerable portion of the adjoining district.

Delville

At the start of the 18th century a large house, called Delville - known at first as The Glen - was built on the site of the present Bon Secours Hospital, Dublin. Its name was an amalgamation of the surnames of two tenants, Dr. Helsam and Dr. Patrick Delany (as Heldeville), both Fellows of Trinity College.

When Delany married his first wife he acquired sole ownership, but it became famous as the home of Delany and his second wife - Mary Pendarves. She was a widow whom Delany married in 1743, and was an accomplished letter writer.

They couple were friends of Dean Jonathan Swift and, through him, of Alexander Pope. Pope encouraged the Delaneys to develop a garden in a style then becoming popular in England - moving away from the very formal, geometric layout that was common. He redesigned the house in the style of a villa and had the gardens laid out in the latest Dutch fashion creating what was almost certainly Ireland's first naturalistic garden.

The house was, under Mrs Delany, a centre of Dublin's intellectual life. Swift is said to have composed many of his campaigning pamphlets while staying there. He and his life - long companion Stella were both in the habit of visiting, and Swift satirised the grounds which he considered too small for the size of the house. Through her correspondence with her sister, Mrs Dewes, Mary wrote of Swift in 1733: "he calls himself my master and corrects me when I speak bad English or do not pronounce my words distinctly".

Patrick Delany died in 1768 at the age of 82, prompting his widow to sell Delville and return to her native England until her death twenty years later.

The Pyramid Church

Glasnevin is also a parish in the Fingal South West deanery of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.[6] It is served by the Church of Lady of Dolours. The church underwent some refurbishment work inside and in its grounds and car park during the first half of 2011. A timber church, which originally stood on Berkeley Road, was moved to a riverside site on Botanic Avenue early in the twentieth century. The altar in this church was from Newgate prison in Dublin. It served as the parish church until it was replaced, in 1972, by a structure resembling a pyramid when viewed from Botanic Avenue. The previous church was known locally as "The Woodener" or "The Wooden" and the new building is still known to older residents as "The new Woodener" or "The Wigwam".


Met Éireann

In 1975 the new headquarters of Met Éireann, the Irish Meteorological Office, opened just off Glasnevin Hill, on the former site of Marlborough House. The Met Éireann building too was built in a somewhat pyramidal shape and is recognised as one of the most significant, smaller commercial buildings, to be erected in Dublin in the 1970s.

Griffith Avenue

Griffith Avenue, which runs through Glasnevin, Drumcondra and Marino. The avenue spans three electoral constituencies, and is the longest tree-lined avenue in the Northern Hemisphere with no retail outlets. It was named after Arthur Griffith who was the founder and third leader of Sinn Féin and also served as President of Dáil Éireann. Arthur Griffith also was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.