DRUMCONDRA VILLAGE UPPER DRUMCONDRA ROAD

Someone asked me how does one know the difference between 'Upper' and 'Lower' and the answer is that in general [there are one possible exception that I am aware of] the section of a street nearest a river or canal is lower while the section furthest away from the river or canal is upper. In the old days the better off people would live at the upper end of the street to avoid the smell of the water and also in order to avoid flooding. The exception is Mount Street Lower and Mount Street Upper as they are parallel but it could be argued the the lower street is closer to the river Liffey if the Grand Canal is not the reference.

In the 1980s I lived in Drumcondra for about five years and I really liked the area. However, I cannot remember any area being described as Drumcondra Village but there is now a sign that welcomes visitors to Drumcondra Village so my memory must be failing.

According to Wikipedia the village of Drumcondra was the central area of the Parish of Clonturk, and the two names were used equally for the religious and civil parishes, but the new suburban district of Drumcondra now also encompasses the old Parish of St. Mary.

The Cat and Cage Pub on the Drumcondra Road was the site of an old postal stop and the point at which rebels, during the 1798 rebellion, seized a postal cart in order to signal to others in north County Dublin to revolt. The Cat and Cage is located at the corner of Church Avenue.