Handball alley Threadneedle Rd

bobbyss

Does anyone know anything about the handball alley on Theeadneedle Road? Does it belong to St Enda's or is it public? Is there access or is it closed off?

JillyQ

As far as I can remember it belongs to st endas not sure if it is open to the public

ronnie3585

Belongs to Enda's, not open to the public.

Cheshire Cat

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Belongs to Enda's, not open to the public.

Exactly!

fmlarnapairce

there are two alleys at the side of st marys that are always open, go to the left of the building as you drive up the driveway. you can get to them from the rhs as well, just drive around the building with pitches on your rhs

nuac

fmlarnapairce wrote: »

there are two alleys at the side of st marys that are always open, go to the left of the building as you drive up the driveway. you can get to them from the rhs as well, just drive around the building with pitches on your rhs

Indeed. Spent a lot of time there in the fifties.

Not sure if they are formally open to public. Insurance companies getting fussy about these matters

smurf492

Wall at the top of kingston road will easily get you into the alleys... In a long-term resident of the area but i didn't tell you that...

Ludikrus

smurf492 wrote: »

Wall at the top of kingston road will easily get you into the alleys... In a long-term resident of the area but i didn't tell you that...

Is getting out again over the same wall an issue? I'm resident of the area as well. I'd have a hit in the alleys the odd time if I could.

OP there's a public ball alley on the way into barna. It's across from the church and beside the slip road down to silver strand. It gets water logged when it rains though.

bobbyss

Ludikrus wrote:

OP there's a public ball alley on the way into barna. It's across from the church and beside the slip road down to silver strand. It gets water logged when it rains though.

Yes I pass it regularly enough. I thought it was closed off or an unsafe structure. I think all these alleys are relics from the fifties or sometime like that. There was a documentary about them on the radio some time ago. They are ugly looking in fact and am surprised the Barna one hasn't been knocked down if it's not being used. I assume the council owns it.

fmlarnapairce

bobbyss wrote: »

Yes I pass it regularly enough. I thought it was closed off or an unsafe structure. I think all these alleys are relics from the fifties or sometime like that. There was a documentary about them on the radio some time ago. They are ugly looking in fact and am surprised the Barna one hasn't been knocked down if it's not being used. I assume the council owns it.

marys one is the job, was in there yesterday evening, even painted it!

fmlarnapairce

fmlarnapairce wrote: »

marys one is the job, was in there yesterday evening, even painted it!

as in someone else. not me!

Ludikrus

bobbyss wrote: »

Yes I pass it regularly enough. I thought it was closed off or an unsafe structure. I think all these alleys are relics from the fifties or sometime like that. There was a documentary about them on the radio some time ago. They are ugly looking in fact and am surprised the Barna one hasn't been knocked down if it's not being used. I assume the council owns it.

It's not unsafe and it's used quite a bit actually. I've gone to use it several times and found people there hitting with hurls or tennis rackets. One particularly fine day there were people waiting outside for their turn to use it.

bobbyss

fmlarnapairce wrote:

marys one is the job, was in there yesterday evening, even painted it!

So you can enter and bang away? Do you need permission if Mary's owns It?

nuac

Some of those alleys were enclosed by back walls. In a few the backwall was glass.

Last time I was in SMG they were the same as in the fifties. They are in view of the college building. I don't know if anyone lives there now 7/24 as boarding ceased years ago.

Years ago in simpler times when transport was scarce ball alleys in rural areas were social centres - places to hang out. Apart from handball, pitch and toss was popular

bobbyss

There was an alley in UCG long time ago but long gone now. They were great for kicking the hell out of a ball. I never saw anyone using it for handball as such although that was quite a popular sport once and televised weekly. I never hear anything about handball now. It may be a uniquely Irish thing.

whineflu

bobbyss wrote: »

So you can enter and bang away? Do you need permission if Mary's owns It?

If you were to ask for permission you would get a negative response because by permitting you to play on their property St Mary's would be liable if you injured yourself. Also if someone was to leave litter or engage in anti social behaviour then Mary's would obviously start to take more notice of whether the alley was being used by students or outsiders.
Do you see what I'm saying here?

fmlarnapairce

fmlarnapairce wrote: »

marys one is the job, was in there yesterday evening, even painted it!

whineflu wrote: »

If you were to ask for permission you would get a negative response because by permitting you to play on their property St Mary's would be liable if you injured yourself. Also if someone was to leave litter or engage in anti social behaviour then Mary's would obviously start to take more notice of whether the alley was being used by students or outsiders.
Do you see what I'm saying here?

I just wander in whenever i want to flake a ball around for half an hour, never any issues. I usually go up the drive, veer left and drive around, this gives you access to one of the alleys. If someone there, back up and go around the other side of the school, through the bb court and around the road, will get you to the other side.

jkforde

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_pelota

The Basques play pelota and I think the GAA have/do advise them on running their leagues and such.... and some matches are organised between the national teams.... https://www.gaahandball.ie/

bobbyss

fmlarnapairce wrote:

I just wander in whenever i want to flake a ball around for half an hour, never any issues. I usually go up the drive, veer left and drive around, this gives you access to one of the alleys. If someone there, back up and go around the other side of the school, through the bb court and around the road, will get you to the other side.

Aren't you trespassing basically?

fmlarnapairce

bobbyss wrote: »

Aren't you trespassing basically?

if you want to go and puck around in a handball alley, you have all the info you need. if not, use the side of your house.

manualskeleton

This was a nice short documentary on handball alleys, unfortunately I can't find it online anywhere at the moment...

http://www.telegael.com/show.php?show=60

There's an intersting history behind the Barna alley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmond_Tisani

McTigs

Deleted User wrote: »

There's an intersting history behind the Barna alley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmond_Tisani

Wow! I'm from Barna and I never heard this before, thanks!

bobbyss

manualskeleton wrote:

This was a nice short documentary on handball alleys, unfortunately I can't find it online anywhere at the moment...

Yes I saw or heard a documentary on handball alleys but for the life of me I can't recall when.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Ludikrus wrote: »

Is getting out again over the same wall an issue? I'm resident of the area as well. I'd have a hit in the alleys the odd time if I could.

OP there's a public ball alley on the way into barna. It's across from the church and beside the slip road down to silver strand. It gets water logged when it rains though.

I don't think there's an easy way in from Kingston Road, very easy to hop the gates anyway on Threadneedle Road, if they're not opened already.

Go across the odd time myself now, more so to give the dog a quick walk and run around when I can't/won't go for a longer one. Never had any issues with staff. However only one alley is opened, the one at the back left. All the paths up to it are over-grown, I wonder if it's for a reason..