Glasnevin, Finglas and the adjacent district

CHAPTER XXV

Drumcondra, Santry, Buck Jones and Clonliffe

Once an isolated village on the Great Northern road, Drumcondra now retains few vestiges of its original character, and is known to Dublin people of the present day only as a rapidly extending suburb of the Metropolis. Yet there are many residents who can remember a time when Drumcondra presented an old-fashioned and even picturesque appearance compared with its present aspect, and when it contained few houses or terraces, except those in the village and the row on the hill, which latter are said to be among the oldest dwellings in the neighbourhood.

In former times Dorset Street ended at the Bethesda Chapel, and the continuation of that thoroughfare as far as the Canal Bridge was known as Dorset Lane, beyond which it was Drumcondra Lane, as far as the Tolka Bridge, and thereafter the Santry Road.

For hundreds of years this has been one of the principal highways leading out of the city, and so far back as 1634, a traveller wrote of it:- “As dainty a fine way as ever I rode, and a most pleasant country.” Even at an earlier date this road was regarded as such an important thoroughfare that in a Chancery Roll of 1450 it is styled “Tile Royal Way.” It became the mail road from Dublin to the North after the route *via *Finglas, Ashbourne, and Duleek had been abandoned, and was traversed daily by a number of mail and passenger coaches in the early part of the last century. Tile milestones were placed on it in 1812 at a cost of *50s. *each, and in 1823 the footpath along it was constructed as far as Swords.

Brewer, in his *Beauties of Ireland *(1826), says “Drumcondra or Drumconrath, although not distant more than two miles from the Metropolis, is marked by an air of pensive tranquillity, in some measure produced by the deep shade of numerous trees, which embower many parts of the village.”

The correct name of this district would appear to be Clonturk, otherwise Clontolk, meaning the meadow of the boar, the name Drumcondra having been at first applied only to the village, and subsequently extended until it had superseded the original name of the district.

In the reign of George I. some of the Dublin citizens formed themselves into an association called “Tile Florists’ Club,” for the purpose of encouraging the cultivation of flowers in Ireland. They held their meetings at the Rose Tavern in Drumcondra Lane, where they adjudged premiums to those who had produced the most beautiful flowers at their shows. The Rose Tavern continued in existence until the year 1793.

Belvidere House, now St. Patrick’s Training College, was the seat of the Coghill family, for many years associated with this locality. Sir John Coghill, Master in Chancery, resided here in the 17th century, and on his death, his son, Marmaduke, succeeded to the estates, becoming in succession Judge of the Prerogative Court, Privy Councillor, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Commissioner of the Revenue, and representative of the University of Dublin in the Irish Parliament. It is related of him that in his capacity as judge he had occasion to adjudicate in a dispute between a lady and her husband, the latter having administered, by way of emphasising his marital authority, what is now in vulgar parlance termed “a good hiding.” The judge, in delivering judgment, gravely expressed the opinion that moderate chastisement with a switch was within the matrimonial privilege of a husband, and this judicial opinion having reached the ears of a young lady to whom the judge had been successfully paying his attentions, so alarmed her that she broke off all further relations with the exponent of so ungallant a doctrine. This distinguished member of the family died, unmarried, in 1738, and was interred in the burial ground of the church erected by his sister, which contains a handsome monument to his memory. It represents him sitting in his robes as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and bears an inscription setting forth the principal events in his life, with his pedigree from the Coghills of Coghill Hall, Yorkshire. After his death, his niece and heiress, Hester, became Countess of Charleville, and she dying without issue, bequeathed her property to her cousin, John Cramer, who thereupon assumed the name and arms of Coghill, and was created a baronet in 1778.

Francis Grose, the antiquarian, was buried in Drumcondra churchyard in 1791. He was the son of Francis Grose, of Richmond, a jeweller, who acquired some temporary fame through being commissioned to fit up the Crown for King George the Second. The antiquarian was born in 1731, and early in life entered the Surrey Militia, of which he became Adjutant and Paymaster. Finding the duties unsuited to his tastes, he resigned the appointment, and after travelling trough England and Wales, produced an important work on the antiquities of the districts he visited. He then went to Scotland for a similar purpose, but before finishing with that country, came to Ireland, and, as the result of his travels here, brought out two large volumes on Irish antiquities, copiously illustrated. This work appeared in 1791, and soon afterwards in that year the author died of an apoplectic fit at the house of Horace Hone in Dublin.

Near Grose’s grave is buried Thomas Furlong, the Wexford poet, who died in 1827.

Although such a short distance from Dublin, the district between Drumcondra and Swords for many years bore the unenviable reputation of being one of the most dangerous in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis, repeated robberies, both of mail coaches and foot passengers, as well as other outrages, having taken place in it up to the early part of the last century. The following are some of the most noteworthy instances on record: - On 17th September, 1773, the Drogheda mail coach coming to Dublin, was robbed at the wall near Santry by two young men of good address, who, having secured all the cash and watches of the travellers, except the purse of a priest which they returned, fled on the approach of some foot passengers. About a week afterwards, one of them, named Fleming, was arrested at Stradbally, and confessed his guilt, besides informing on his comrade.

On the 24th March, 1798, the North Mail Coach on its way from Dublin, was attacked near Santry by a party of “Innocents” (insurgents), who robbed the passengers of property to the value of between £300 and £400, including all the arms which the passengers and guard had with them for their protection.

Two months later, in the same year, the Belfast Mail was stopped in Santry village by nine or ten armed men, who had previously fixed a barricade of carts across the road. They told the driver and guard that they were friends, and that the reason they stopped the coach was to prevent it from falling into the hands of a large body of the insurgents near Swords. The guard and driver believing them, dismounted, and, on being invited, entered a house, where they were detained while the coach was filled and covered with dry furze and set on fire, every portion of it and its contents being consumed, except a small remnant of the letters, which were taken back, half burnt, to the General Post Office. This outrage, however, seems to have been an act of war rather than one of highway robbery, as none of the passengers were either ill-treated or despoiled of their property, and, according to the driver’s account, a large crowd, estimated by him at not less than 1,000 persons, was assembled on the occasion in the adjoining fields. The Attorneys’ Cavalry Corps, which happened to be patrolling in the neighbourhood, captured five men suspected of complicity in the transaction, and took them to Dublin.

On the 18th August, 1828, when the Derry Mail was on its way from town, a man intentionally drove his cart against it and broke one of the lamps. The guard gave the horse and cart with its driver into charge of the police at Santry, who, when on their way to the pound, were attacked near Coolock bridge by a party of desperadoes with the object of effecting a rescue. The police, outnumbered, fired two shots at their assailants, severely wounding two of them, whom they arrested and conveyed, with the driver of the cart, to Dublin.

In the following year a robber was shot dead on the road near Santry, and was buried in the churchyard. On another occasion a gentleman of the neighbourhood, returning on his outside car from a day’s shooting, was stopped at a dark part of the road by a number of highwaymen; he, however, offered a desperate resistance, shooting one dead, and so severely wounding another that to save the injured man’s life he had to drive him into town for medical treatment after the remainder of the robbers had fled.

Besides these, many other outrages and robberies are recorded, and the numerous woods in the neighbourhood seem to have been recognised shelters for highwaymen, one of the most noted of whom, according to tradition, made his favourite lair in a hollow tree near Santry, still pointed out to the wayfarer.

Santry had, at the northern end of the village, toll-gates across the roads to Swords and Ballymun; they were removed in 1788, but the toll-house, an old red brick cottage, may still be seen at the angle of Santry demesne, and the field opposite the forge is to the present day called “The Turnpike Field.”

The district around Drumcondra was, about the latter end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, not only the residence, but the resort of many fashionable and distinguished people, and a number of tea houses and gardens were, during that period, established there, in the hope of attracting their patronage. After some years, however, in consequence of the extension of the city in this direction, these places came to be frequented by a different class from those for whom the originators had intended them; the amusements degenerated into rowdyism and drunkenness, and it at length became necessary to close all these resorts in consequence of the disorderly scenes enacted there.

In a poem by Thomas Dermody, published in 1806, the following reference is made to Drumcondra:-

“But ah! my dearest, let not gypsies lead,

Thy vagrant wand’ring to the rural mead,

Let dire Drumcondra e’er unheeded lie,

Though teapots, cups and saucers court the eye.”

About 1819 an enterprising Frenchman named Duval undeterred by the failure of his predecessors, rented Clonturk House and grounds, and attempted to convert them into a second Vauxhall; he had hobby horses and swings set up through the grounds, held displays of fireworks, rockets, and fire balloons, and, last, though not least, “discovered” a mineral well, in regard to which some strange stories are told.

It appears that when he took the place, this well, having been for many years in disuse, was filled up with rubbish, and Duval having got a sample of the water analysed, the expert reported that it possessed valuable chalybeate qualities. As spas were in great vogue at that time, Duval thought he saw his way to fortune, and proceeded at once to have the well cleared of all the rubbish that had lain in it so long - broken earthenware, old kettles and pots, scrap-iron, and so forth; but at length, when it was thoroughly cleaned out, it was found that its ferruginous qualities had vanished, so, taking the hint, its “discoverers” restored the old iron, and with the adventitious aid of some well-selected chemicals, the well in a short time achieved a widespread reputation as a medicinal spa.

The time-worn and weather-beaten balustrades at Clonturk House originally belonged to Carlisle Bridge, on the demolition of which structure they were removed to their present position by the contractor for the new bridge, who then resided in this house.

Any article on this district would be incomplete without a reference to Frederick E. Jones, better known as “Buck” Jones - one of the most noted men of his time - who lived in Clonliffe House, and whose memory is perpetuated in the title of Jones’s Road. The present straight Clonliffe road is a little over 100 years old, and was preceded by a narrower and more winding thoroughfare called Fortick’s Lane. Clonliffe House and demesne were at this time called Fortick’s Grove after their owner, Tristram Fortick, whose name may be seen embodied in an inscription on the almshouse in Little Denmark Street, endowed by him in 1765, but the original name was restored to the house by Buck Jones when he got possession of it.

Early in life, to complete his education, Jones was sent abroad, where he associated with people of rank and influence. Shortly after his return to Ireland he purchased, in conjunction with Lord Westmeath, the music hall in Fishamble Street, where he set up a theatre. Subsequently he became the lessee and manager of Daly’s Theatre in Crow Street, which was then in a dilapidated condition, and he expended an immense sum in renovating it. During the troubled times of 1798 Jones became unpopular, and he was forced to close the theatre owing to the serious riots which became of almost nightly occurrence in the building. It was subsequently re-opened, but again, in 1803, for similar reasons, he was forced to close it.

Jones was considered one of the handsomest men of his day; his manners and bearing were those of a polished gentleman, and it was said that he bore some resemblance to George IV, when Prince of Wales. In Jones’s time the demesne of Clonliffe House extended as far back as the Tolka, and included what is known as “Donnelly’s Orchard,” and as the only means of access to Clonliffe Road was from Drumcondra road at one end and Ballybough at the other, Jones had a new road made - a continuation of Russell Street - leading by a temporary bridge across the Royal Canal, directly at right angles into Clonliffe Road opposite the entrance to his house. For long afterwards this road was universally known as “Buck Jones’s road,” but in recent years the name has been simplified into its present form.

Clonliffe House, a plain, well-built structure, still survives, though exhibiting, of course, some evidences of decay, and owing to the demolition of its extensive out-offices, it now presents a rather insignificant appearance. It faces Clonliffe College, and is now included within the grounds of that establishment. The house was used as a depot for the Revenue Police - a force long since extinct - from 1845 to 1857.

Jones was a man of great courage and determination, and his energetic conduct as a magistrate occasionally brought him into conflict with the criminal classes. On one occasion he nearly lost his life in consequence of his efforts to apprehend a notorious local desperado named Larry Clinch, who was known to be one of the party that burnt the Belfast mail at Santry. Clinch, so far from being intimidated by Jones’s proceedings, actually had the audacity to besiege Clonliffe House with a number of his gang. But in this he was outwitted, for Jones, having got wind of the project, privately conveyed to his house in hackney carriages, under cover of night, an officer and guard of the Tipperary Militia. The attack took place on the 6th November, 1806. On that night Captain O’Reilly, who was on a visit with Jones, went to the hall door to look out, whereupon the robbers rushed in, two of them following O’Reilly into the diningroom, where a desperate conflict ensued. Excited by the uproar, no less than seven of the soldiers fired madly from the adjoining room, wounding their own officer, but the robbers, overawed, retired, and one of them in his flight received two bullets, from the effects of which he died during the night. Another of them rushed upstairs, shouting “upstairs, boys, for the money and plate,” to which a soldier on the first landing answered, “down stairs, boys, for the powder and ball,” and, suiting the action to the word, fired, killing the robber on the spot. The remainder of the gang were then made prisoners, and the corpses of the dead robbers, after having been exposed for a few days for the purpose of identification, and not having been claimed by their relatives, were buried in the suicides’ ground, beside the cross-roads at Ballybough.

Jones’s end was a sad one. On the expiration of his patent in 1820 for the Crow Street Theatre, he failed, owing to a cabal against him, either to obtain a renewal of it or compensation for the losses entailed on him by the action of the Government in issuing a patent for the Theatre Royal (burnt in 1880), and he found himself a ruined man. He spent a considerable time in prison for debt, and at length sank into abject poverty, his last abode having been a small cabin near where Mountjoy Prison stands. Here, until his death in 1834, he was kept in the necessaries of life by a few faithful friends, who had known him in his better days, and who endeavoured to alleviate the old man’s sorrows in his later years.

Common gossip of the locality holds that he is wont at times to revisit his whilom haunts, and there are not wanting some who aver that they have seen him, at dead of night, a tall stately figure on horseback, noiselessly riding about the neighbourhood of Jones’s Road.

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