Historic Dublin Pictures & Videos Thread

Nothing special, but I came across this site where a couple of tourists have uploaded their photos of Dublin in 1985 - http://blogtrotta80s.blogspot.com/2007/07/james-joyces-land-august-1985.html

It's fun to see the Dublin of my childhood, but I don't remember at all the building having Sony on it. What is that building anyway? I always had assumed it was Heineken offices but it's presumably not.

Also, someone tell us about Bartley Dunnes. Someone in the comments calls it "one of the strangest pubs in dublin folklore" Why?

EDIT: Oh, and it seems some of you are ex-Ballymunners. I am too, well kinda. My great-grandmother, grandparents and my mother and uncles lived in a cottage at Ballymun Cross. I lived there too for the first few months of my life before we moved to Clonshaugh. It was the house directly in front of you as you came up Santry Lane (my memory tells me it's Lane, but I second guessed myself and checked Google Earth which says Santry Avenue. I feel stupid now because I traveled up that road every day for years. Which is it?)

Thanks for that link. Some interesting pics and great for car spotters like me!

Exit wrote: »

It's fun to see the Dublin of my childhood, but I don't remember at all the building having Sony on it

It had SONY on it for years - most of the 1980s anyway and probably into the 1990s. Whenever I caught a glimpse of it , it used to remind me of an old flame. I haven't looked closely at it lately but a few years ago you could still see an outline of the letters S, O, N and Y.

(TENNANTS had an advert there too if memory serves me correctly).

Exit wrote:

What is that building anyway? I always had assumed it was Heineken offices but it's presumably not

I can recall it's name now but I presume it's just offices. I'd very much doubt that it had anything to do with Heineken but is used to derive income from it's prime advertising location.

Exit wrote:

Also, someone tell us about Bartley Dunnes. Someone in the comments calls it "one of the strangest pubs in dublin folklore" Why?

I don't know. I've never been in there although I think I may have been in Break for the Border.

Exit wrote:

It was the house directly in front of you as you came up Santry Lane (my memory tells me it's Lane, but I second guessed myself and checked Google Earth which says Santry Avenue. I feel stupid now because I traveled up that road every day for years. Which is it?)

I've always known it as Santry Avenue but I have heard it called Santry Lane.

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Great stuff - thanks for that. I couldn't locate a pic although I have one somewhere.

If you look closely at the parapets on each side you can see the slight curve which made it unsuitable for trams.

Notice how far up the ship is as Butt bridge wasn't opened until 1879.

This one okay for now?

Rashers wrote: »

This one okay for now?

Great picture Rashers. I'd say it dates from around 1860 (going by the attire of the gentleman in it).

Those are amazing photos.
Every town should have a set like this.
People would spend hours going through them.

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

It looks like they are observing the the D'olier Street/Hawkins Street area from that odd shaped monument that was outside the RIC Station.

There's something not quite right about that photo and I can't put my finger on it.

1. Would they have turned their backs to a police station where we could presume there were armed police?

2. The college was well defended by the OTC, even inviting passing civilians to join in and be given a rifle.

Could it be a Civil War photo?

spurious wrote: »

It looks set up.... .......especially if they are being fired on from a height as the aiming of the lads in the back would imply.

That's exactly what I thought but didn't want to say. If they were under sniper fire from above, why on earth would they be gathered in the centre of a street?

Rashers wrote:

Could it be a Civil War photo?

I'm always confused by pics from 1916 or 1922. I'm embarassed to say it but usually I can't tell the difference!

This one is supposed to be the Countess Markievicz after her trial being escorted to a British Army ambulance to be taken back to prison.



A young man who drove one of those ambulances during the Rising, and who later said at the commission of enquiry into the rebellion that the insurgents had behaved in an honourable way was a man named Nevil Norway.

Nevil Norway was decorated for his bravery in taking injured civilians, British servicemen as well as Rebels to hospital while under fire. He changed his name later and would be better known to most of us as Nevil Shute.

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I might have a couple of pictures of the old bridge. I'll have a look

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I couldn't locate a pic although I have one somewhere

Found it!

It was taken in 1872 but heavily re-touched later by the looks of it.

Rashers wrote: »

We used to use it to visit my sis who had Primary TB and was a patient in Fairy Hill sanatoreum (sp?). Have been looking for Fairy Hill since but it seems to have disappeared.

Unless someone here know where it is? I'd love a photo of it.

Rashers wrote: »

My memory is pretty vague on where exactly Fairy Hill was, but I remember we seemed to be a long time on the tram from Sutton. I think it was at or near the summit.

This is a bit of a long shot Rashers but is there a possibility that you may have confused Howth with Bray?

The reason I ask is that there was a large house in Bray called Fairy Hill. It was the boyhood home of Dr Garret Fitzgerald for a few years. I wonder if it was later turned into a Sanitorium?

Fairy Hill

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

This is a bit of a long shot Rashers but is there a possibility that you may have confused Howth with Bray?

Thanks for that, Wish. But my father worked in Sutton at the time and we often walked up to the hospital on a fine day.

Rashers wrote: »

Was that the cottage covered in some plant which flowered in Spring and Summer.... looked lovely? Shame those cottages were pulled down. You must remember the little shop across the road to the left of your house as you came out, and the big water pump out front.

Oh by the way. That used to be Ballymun Cross, now Santry Cross.... gone all posh doncha know.:rolleyes:

I was thinking some of this was before my time, so I asked my ma. The cottage with the plant was the one next door, the shop was owned by the Rogers family (which I do actually recall) and the water pump was outside until about 1970.

She also cleared up the Santry Lane/Avenue thing for me. It was always called Santry Avenue until the people moved out from the city centre to the flats. To them, an Avenue was supposed to be a wide road, whereas this looked more like a country lane, so it ended up being called two different things.

tricky D wrote: »

After a bit of local inquiry from the family of the current owners, Fairy Hill is around here, a bit above the stella maris (very bottom middle). Not sure exactly which one, but it's down an easily missed lane.

Thanks a million for that. My sister, who's a grandmother now has been saying for so long that she'd love to see the sanatorium once more.

Also, up until when it was bought (1973) it was known as a hospital for children with polio. It might have been a sanatorium at one stage but that would have quite a long time ago.

This would have been around 1950. I'd say we can safely assume it's the same place. Thanks very much.