The Parks and Gardens of Dublin, Ireland

Abstract

Dublin is the capital city of the Republic of Ireland and is located in County Dublin on the east coast of the island at the mouth of the River Liffey. With 921 km2, Dublin is one of the smallest counties in the country but its population of 1.42 m persons represents 28.5% of the total population of the Republic. Historically, the Island of Ireland was for 800 years under British rule until a century ago when it was partitioned and land in the north east of the country (16.74%) became Northern Ireland and is still part of the UK.
Europe suffered much in the first half of the 20th century because of two world wars and little attention was paid to providing public parks. Ireland was neutral during WWII, and except for a few incidents, Dublin escaped bomb damage. The fastest growth of the city only began from 1950 onwards and especially after joining the European Union in 1973.
The greatest expansion is due mainly to an influx of people from the rural communities, returned emigrants and immigrants from other countries. Dublin has a heritage of public parks dating from the early 17th century, but the golden era of developing new parks was from the second half of the 20th century, in line with urban expansion. Today, the total area of public parks exceeds 7,100 hectares representing 50 square metres of managed public open space per capita, a high proportion generally compared with other cities. If private spaces around buildings and private gardens are included, the amount of green space is doubled. The National forests which are accessible to the public and managed by Coillte, would add even more green space.
Dublin is administered by four local authorities; Dublin City Council the old city authority, Fingal County Council which manages the northern part of the county, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council which manages the south-eastern part of the county and South Dublin County Council which manages the south-western part of the county. All of these councils have active parks departments which plan, develop and manage public parks and other elements of green infrastructure. A national agency called the Office of Public Works (OPW) is responsible for historic landscapes and buildings, including public parks and gardens.
While information on many parks is available in hard copy and on websites for the various authorities, this book is the first detailed account of a selection of important parks in Dublin city and county which are managed by these five authorities. Over 140 parks and gardens, each with an interesting story, are discussed in detail with illustrations under 14 thematic chapter titles. They range from Dublin’s most famous and largest park, the Phoenix Park, to the smallest pocket park around the statue of Anne Devlin in Rathfarnham Village. The first chapter is on the history and development of parks principally from the 17th century. It also includes information on the key players who drove the agenda for public parks during a period when other forms of infrastructure were considered more important. The Covid19 pandemic restricted people’s movements, especially travel beyond 5km and this highlighted the importance of public parks for health and recreation. A new awareness of the benefits of parks was realised and that subject is covered in the second chapter.
Chapter titles include Historical Parks and Gardens, Dublin’s Squares, Former Demesnes, Commemorative Parks and Gardens and Plant Collections. Rivers and canals in and around Dublin formerly used for water supply, power supply for water mills and navigation now have public parks along the routes and these are discussed in a separate chapter. Dublin is a coastal city and there are several parks that were developed around Dublin Bay; these are discussed in the ‘Coastal Parks’ chapter. A chapter deals with the 19th century parks developed towards the end of that century and another chapter is on a selection of some 20th century parks. Small parks can have an impact if strategically placed, so a chapter entitled ’Pocket Parks’ includes almost 20 such favourite parks in the city. The final chapter is entitled 21st Century Parks and Future Trends and deals with some parks developed since 2000 and other which are at the planning stage.