Chapter 8.

Ballymun

anciently parcel of the manor of Santry. Here is one of the four Roman Catholic chapels in the union of Clontarf, and near it a schol-house For children of both sexes. Here also a charter-school is still supported, the only one now existing in this county. (See *ante, *at “Santry.”) Close to this a shady avenue leads into Santry.

For a notice of Ballymun in 1435, see “Santry.”

In 1642 Edmund Barnewall died seised, by inheritance and in tail male, of the” town and lands of Ballymun, four messuages and 180 acres, which he had of the king *in capite *by knight’s service. [Ib.]

In 1673 the tithes of Ballymun were granted to the Archbishop of Dublin and his successors, in trust for the incumbent, subject to the yearly rent of £1 lOs.

The botany of Ballymun presents the *aira cespitosa, *turfy hair grass; *triticum repens, couch grass; [339] erythroea centaurium, *common centaury; *chenopodium album, *white goosefoot; *sium nodiflorum, *procumbent water parsnip; *pimpinella saxifraga, *common burnet saxifrage; *geranium Pyrenaicum, *mountain crane’s bill; *geranium rotundifolium, *round-leaved crane’s bill; *ulex Europoeus, *common furze; *lathyrus pratensis, *yellow meadow vetchling; *trifolium filiforme, *slender yellow trefoil; *lotus corniculatus, *common bird’s-foot trefoil; *hypericum quadrangulum, *square St. John’s wort; *hypericum perforatum, *perforated St. John’s *wort; apargia autumnalis, *autumnal hawk-bit; *senecio tenuifolius, *hoary ragwort. - In the ditches and hedges along the road sides, *festuca sylvatica, *slender wood fescue grass; *euonymus Europoeus, *common spindle tree, the fruit of which is used in many places to decorate churches and rustic kitchens; *vinca minor, *lesser perriwinkle; *bunium flexuosum, *pig-wort; *ranunculus hederaceus, *ivy crowfoot; *lonicera periclymenum, *common honeysuckle, of which Darwin writes:

“Fair Lonicera prints the dewy lawn,

And decks with brighter blush the vernal dawn;

Winds round the shadowy rocks and pansied vales;

And scents with sweeter breath the summer gales;” *

sanicula Europaoea, *wood sanicle; *smyrnium olusatrum, *Alexanders; *prunus spinosa, sloe; pyrus aucuparia, mountain ash, with its beautiful clusters of orange berries; rosa canina, *dog rose, perhaps the most elegant of our roses; *rubus corylfolius, *hazelleaved bramble; *fragaria vesca, *strawberry; *ajuga reptans, *common bugle; *vicia sepium, common bush *[340] vetch; *hypericum androsoemum, *tutsal; *sparganium ramosum, *branched bur-reed. - In the fields, *lolium perenne, *rye-grass; *allium vineale, *crow garlic; *luciola campestris, *field wood-rush; *lychnis flos cuculi, *ragged robin; *galeopsis tetrahit, *common hemp-bane; *euphorbia exigua, *dwarf spurge. - In the *woods, geum urbanum, *common avens; tila Europoea, common lime-tree; *ranunculus auricomus, *goldilocks: and on the old walls and roofs of houses, *hedera helix, *ivy; *glechoma hederacea, *ground ivy; sempervivium *tectorum, *house-leek.

Proceeding from Ballymun to Glasnevin, in a sweet situation at the right off the road is Claremount Deaf and Dumb Institution, founded in 316. It is a large and commodious establishment, with 18 acres and a half of ground attached, for which £220 annual rent is paid. The master has a salary of £125 per annum with apartments, the assistant £40 with board and lodging. The charge here for pupils is at the highest £22 15s., but the majority are supported gratuitously. In 1826 there were reported, as on this establishment, 26 males and 19 females, of which total, 11 were Protestants, one Presbyterian, and 31 Roman Catholics, if, indeed, such religious distinctions could be attributed to persons of their capacities. New schoolrooms and dormitories have been since erected, and the Institution can now accommodate about 160 a number which it may be considered as having, as the candidates for admission, together with the 120 now (May, 1836) in the house, actually exceed that number.

[341] In 1328 George Devoy willed, that the interest of two 6 per cent. Grand Canal debentures should be applied for the use of this establishment; and in 1832 George Nugent made a similar bequest of the interest of £50.

Out of school hours the pupils are employed in useful works, contributing either to their health or to the formation of industrious habits. The boys in gardening, farming, tailoring, shoemaking, and other mechanical labours; the girls in needlework, housewifery, laundry work, and dairy management. The buildings, yards, and grounds are so arranged, that the boys and girls in the poor establishment have distinct schoolrooms and playgrounds, besides the master has entirely separate apartments and walks for his own family, and for private pupils of both sexes, who are either deaf and dumb, or afflicted with impediments in speech.

Although the calamity of the visitation is scarcely perceptible in the facility, with which those affected by it here communicate and receive ideas, and although even the inanimate countenance and languid look, which peculiarly accompany their privations, are not here observable, yet is the appearance of a silent school and dumb preceptors an object too unique, to fail exciting the deepest interest. Numbers of pupils have already passed through this institution into the world, and are now taking their part in the industry and enjoyments of this life, and pursuing those moral duties and exercises, which will insure their welfare in the next.

[342] The Abbé de l’Epée, one of those pious and excellent men whom heaven designed to bless mannkind, was the founder of the first establishment for the relief of this class of persons, and the inventor, to a great degree, of the system for their education. A very remarkable account, connected with his benevolent practice in this line, afforded the plot of a little French play, since translated into the English, and entitled, “Deaf and Dumb.” Passing hence by Hampstead, where within the last eight years Doctor Eustace established a lunatic asylum for a few patients, the tourist reaches the classical village of

Ch. 9. Glasnevin.