Houses for heroes

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

This is very interesting. Was there a similar scheme for returning servicemen from WW2?

I don't think so because we were running our own show at that stage. According to the book that I have, the British Government decided to fund the housing in order to prevent returning soldiers from joining the republican movement.
'The over riding concern of the British Government was to maintain social stability'. It was an insurance against revolution. The replies you have all posted are really fascinating and make me think that there would be plenty there to research. I never realised that Killester train station was built specifically for the houses. I never heard the bus story either. I wonder if the builders were treated the same way as Simarillion's great grandfather. Fascinating stuff, keep them coming please...:D

Pmfrederick,
The houses in Killester were built by the Irish Local Government Board and were completed in 1923. The houses were allocated by them until 1924. There was a trust set up to manage and provide further housing for ex-servicemen in 1924 (The Irish Soldiers and Sailors Land Trust). They looked after allocations, maintenance and evictions after that. The Killester houses were particularly interesting because the tenants there went on a rent strike in 1929. This ended up in 9 Killester residents taking the Trust to the Supreme court where they won the right for all ex-servicemen to stay in their houses free from rent. Their action eventually led to the demise of the Trust. If you want I can check my info and hopefully tell you when your Grandad moved in. I can also email you 2 fascinating articles about the houses if you want.

Pmfrederick, I just sent you an email with those articles. Enjoy !

Yep, the houses in Wicklow and Castleknock were built by the Irish Soldiers and Sailors Land Trust. The Trust built nearly 3000 houses throughout the State for soldiers returning from WWl.

I focused mainly on the Killester houses which represented the largest development built by the Trust. There were 3 sizes of houses which were allocated according to rank. The largest houses were in Demesne and were given to officers and their families. I would imagine that the same rule applied elsewhere. The Trust built different styles of houses in various places.

Here is an extract from an article by Fred Aalen where Castleknock is mentioned:

Significant developments, with between 40 to 80 houses in each, were built on the outskirts of Dublin at Cabra (1932-34), Glasnevin (1928-31), Milltown (1928-31), Ballinteer (1931-32), Kimmage (1931-33) and Sandymount (1923) 43 Numerous smaller developments were built, for example at Library Road, Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) (Fig. 2c), Sallynoggin, Castleknock, Dundrum, Palmerstown, Clontarf, Raheny and Drimnagh. There is considerable variety of house styles between and within these developments and in the way they are laid out. Milltown, forexample, has short terraces of two-storey brick houses, arranged mainly in subdued crescents on the roadside (Fig. 3a); Sallynoggin has mainly single-storey terrace dwellings with picturesque bay windows, colourful, orange roof-tiles and doors framed by wide, sloping pilasters (identical houses were built at Athy, County Kildare); Castleknock has semi-detached, single-storey and two-storey houses, while Ballinteer has cottages of varied designs, but mainly short terraces similar to those at Milltown, arranged on a secluded road and a nearby cul-de-sac (Fig. 3b)
and linked with a small colony of local authority labourers' cottages.

Drop me a PM if you would like me to email that article to you.

Hi Mairin,
Returning soldiers had to apply to the Local Government Board for a house. There didn't seem to any strict criteria, just ex-servicemen of sound character who had families to support. The first residents moved in in 1923, many of the returning soldiers worked on the Killester site as labourers, physically building the houses they were going to live in. The Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust took over in January 1924 and then men had to apply directly to the Trust for housing.
PM sent.

Apologies for the poor quality