Walkinstown
Encyclopedia
Walkinstown is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, situated on the Southside
Southside (Dublin)
The Southside is not an official administrative area but a colloquial term referring to the area of County Dublin bounded to the north by the River Liffey to the east by Dublin Bay, to the south and west by the boundaries of County Dublin...

 of the city, approximately 6 kilometres south-west of Dublin city centre. The suburb borders Crumlin
Crumlin, Dublin
Crumlin is suburb in Southside Dublin, Ireland. It is the site of Ireland's largest hospital for children.-Location:Crumlin covers the area from the River Poddle near the KCR to the Drimnagh Road, to Bunting Road, and is situated not far from the city centre, on the Southside of Dublin city....

 to the east, Drimnagh
Drimnagh
Drimnagh is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the Southside of the city between Walkinstown, Crumlin and Inchicore, bordering the Grand Canal to the north and east. Drimnagh is in postal district Dublin 12.-Early to Medieval:...

 to the north, Greenhills
Greenhills
Greenhills is a suburb situated in Templeogue in the Southside of the city of Dublin, Ireland. It sits between Walkinstown, Kimmage, Tallaght, Terenure and Templeogue. It is generally understood to comprise the Greenhills Estate as well as Greenpark, Limekiln and Temple Manor...

 to the south and Ballymount
Ballymount
Ballymount , is located on the south side of Dublin, near the mainly residential areas of Walkinstown to the east, Tallaght to the west and Greenhills to the south...

, Bluebell
Bluebell, Dublin
Bluebell is a small suburb of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the Southside of the city, approximately 6.5 kilometres south-west of Dublin city centre...

 and Clondalkin
Clondalkin
-Today:Modern Clondalkin is a busy satellite town of Dublin, with a population of 43,929 in 2006. Retail facilities include Tesco Ireland- and Dunnes Stores-led shopping centres, and Aldi and Lidl stores on the Fonthill Road and New Nangor Road respectively, and the village centre is a base for...

 to the west. Its postal code is Dublin 12.

Walkinstown is a suburb consisting primarily of Dublin City Corporation owned residential housing. Light industry, warehousing, car dealerships and commercial outlet stores are concentrated along the Long Mile Road in the western sector of the suburb. The Central Statistics Office
Central Statistics Office (Ireland)
The Central Statistics Office is the statistical agency responsible for the gathering of "information relating to economic, social and general activities and conditions" in Ireland, in particular the National Census which is held every five years. The office is answerable to the Taoiseach and has...

 census of 2006 recorded a populated of 5910 for the area. The area is very well served with a library, residents' association, sports ground, community centre, schools, pubs, church and retail facilities.

Name and History

The name of the area is a corruption of Wilkinstown - named after Wilkins, a tenant farmer who lived in the area in the 15th century.

Walkinstown as a suburb is a 20th century creation. The area was a dairy farm until house building began in the 1930s. Building ended in the area in the 1970s when most of the available land was built upon. The 1950s saw the building of the local Catholic church as well as primary and second schools for boys and girl.

Location and extent

There is some ambiguity as to the full extent of the suburb, with some claiming Walkinstown includes Greenhills
Greenhills
Greenhills is a suburb situated in Templeogue in the Southside of the city of Dublin, Ireland. It sits between Walkinstown, Kimmage, Tallaght, Terenure and Templeogue. It is generally understood to comprise the Greenhills Estate as well as Greenpark, Limekiln and Temple Manor...

, as well as one of three parts of Ballymount
Ballymount
Ballymount , is located on the south side of Dublin, near the mainly residential areas of Walkinstown to the east, Tallaght to the west and Greenhills to the south...

.

Greenhills was previously linked to Walkinstown in the Catholic Church structure to make up the Parish of Walkinstown and Greenhills, at a time when Greenhills did not have its own local church. This combined parish ceased to exist when Greenhills acquired its own parish church in 1971. Greenhills is generally regarded now as a separate and distinct suburb, with its own identity and full range of services.

The distinction between Ballymount and Walkinstown is not so well defined. Given that Ballymount has a less clear identity, many consider it to form part of Walkinstown. The area itself is primarily given over to light industry with much less residential housing than its nearest neighbour, Walkinstown. Most residential housing which exists directly borders on the Ballymount Road which itself is often listed as Walkinstown. Residents of Ballymount do not have their own services and so rely on Walkinstown for schools, church and commercial centres.

Amenities

There is a branch of Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive
Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive
Dublin City Public Libraries represents the largest library authority in the Republic of Ireland, serving over half a million people through a network of 41 branch libraries and service points....

 - the Walkinstown Public Library - on Percy French Road. The local An Post
An Post
An Post is the State-owned provider of postal services in the Republic of Ireland. An Post provides a universal postal service to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union...

 post office is located adjacent to the Walkinstown Roundabout on Bunting Road. The local branch of the Irish League of Credit Unions
Irish League of Credit Unions
The Irish League of Credit Unions is a trade association for credit unions in Ireland. It operates in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland...

, Walkinstown Credit Union, is located on Walkinstown Green.

The local Catholic Church, Our Lady of the Assumption, is one of the largest buildings in the suburb and is situated on Kilnamanagh Road, near the Long Mile Road. It forms part of a major concentration of religious and educational services, with a girls school (Our Lady of the Assumption) adjacent to the Church, whilst a boys school, Drimnagh Castle CBS
Drimnagh Castle Secondary School
Drimnagh Castle Secondary School is a Christian Brothers secondary school located on the Long Mile Road in the suburb of Drimnagh, Dublin. The school buildings are situated directly beside the old Norman castle from which the school takes its name.-History:...

, is situated opposite the girls school on the other side of the Long Mile Road. Both theses schools provide primary and secondary education.

Walkinstown Park is a Dublin City Council run park, on the Walkinstown Avenue oppisite Lidl. The park has three football pitches and two GAA pitches. It also has a tennis court and a stream that runs at the rear of the park.

The premises of the Walkinstown Association, which provides services to people with intellectual disabilities, is situated on the Long Mile Road, adjacent to the Halfway House public house.

The 94th Dublin Scout Den is situated on Bunting Road.

Walkinstown is served by six "and a half" pubs, located in two hubs. The first hub is located at the intersection of the Drimnagh, Walkinstown and Long Mile roads, while the second is situated at the Walkinstown Roundabout. The six pubs are:
  • (1) the Halfway House, located on a triangular site bordered by the Walkinstown and Long Mile Roads, with (2) the Long Mile Inn directly across the road
  • (3) The Black Forge and (4) The Eleanora are located a short distance away on the Drimnagh Road
  • (5) the Cherrytree and (6) the Kestrel House are located on opposite sides of the Walkinstown Roundabout


The "half a pub" refers to The Submarine Bar, which although almost entirely located in Crumlin has its main entrance on Cromwellsfort Road in Walkinstown.

There is no local Garda
Garda Síochána
, more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :...

 station. The area is served equally by neighbouring Crumlin's two Garda stations - the Crumlin Village and Sundrive Road stations. The three hospitals which primarily serve the local community are Tallaght Hospital, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin and St. James' Hospital
St. James's Hospital
St. James's Hospital , also known as SJH, is the largest university teaching hospital in Dublin, Ireland. Its academic partner is the University of Dublin...

.

Shopping

Superquinn
Superquinn
Superquinn is an Irish supermarket chain. Until 2005, the company was entirely privately held by the Quinn family. It is now a subsidiary of Select Retail Holdings Limited....

 on the Walkinstown Road. The Ashleaf Shopping Centre, located on the Cromwellsfort Road, is the nearest shopping centre and has as anchor tenant Dunnes Stores
Dunnes Stores
Dunnes Stores, also known as Dunnes, is a supermarket and clothing retail chain, that is based in Dublin, Ireland.The chain primarily sells food, clothes and household wares. In addition to its main customer base in Ireland, the chain has operations in Great Britain and Spain...

, providing both supermarket and clothing retail services. Lidil is located on the Walkinstown avenue opposite Walkinstown Park. Aldi is located on the Long Mile Road.

Small commercial enterprises such as newsagents, pharmacies and fast food outlets as well as local branches of the major banks are concentrated in a similar fashion to the area's pubs, at the intersection of the Drimnagh, Walkinstown and Long Mile roads as well as around the Walkinstown Roundabout. There is also a Subway {fast food outlet}, Eddie Rockets and a Polish food store located at the rear of LIDL.

Walkinstown Mall is located across from Superquinn on the Walkinstown Road. Located at the Mall is a Chinese take away, Papa Johns, Super Macs, a Funeral Home, Barber/Hairdresser, Door shop, Eastern European food store and a solicitors.

Local landmarks

There are few local historic landmarks within the area of Walkinstown, unlike the neighbouring suburbs of Crumlin and Drimnagh which can boast much longer histories. One of the oldest buildings in the immediate vicinity is Drimnagh Castle
Drimnagh Castle
Drimnagh Castle is a Norman castle located in Drimnagh, a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is the only remaining castle in Ireland with a flooded moat around it; this moat is fed by a small local river, the Bluebell...

, located on the Drimnagh side of the Long Mile Road. The Halfway House pub is the oldest public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

 in the area, predating all of the housing developments that went to make up the suburb. This pub, which used to be a Coachhouse, situated halfway between Dublin and Tallaght, retains the outward appearance of the country pub, although the interior was recently modernised.
The layout of the suburb is such that "nests" of smaller roads run off the main roads, usually with green open spaces as focal points. The dominant style of the area is that of a mid-20th century Dublin housing development. The most distinctive buildings of the Walkinstown area are that of the local Catholic church and schools, built in a sturdy style of the 1950s with grey brick and green copper roofing and impressive stained glass windows, made by local craftsmen.

One of the key features of the area is the Walkinstown Roundabout, also known as Walkinstown Cross, one of the largest, and most accident-prone roundabouts in the Dublin area. This major junction serves seven major local roads - Walkinstown Road towards Drimnagh
Drimnagh
Drimnagh is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the Southside of the city between Walkinstown, Crumlin and Inchicore, bordering the Grand Canal to the north and east. Drimnagh is in postal district Dublin 12.-Early to Medieval:...

, Bunting Road towards Crumlin, Cromwellsfort Road towards Kimmage
Kimmage
Kimmage is a small suburb on the Southside of Dublin near Crumlin, Greenhills, Harold's Cross, Rathfarnham, Templeogue, and Terenure. The name "Kimmage" comes from the Irish cam uisce, which means "winding" river. The River Poddle flows through Kimmage, and flows on to join the River Liffey...

 and Crumlin, and St Peter's Road towards Greenhills
Greenhills
Greenhills is a suburb situated in Templeogue in the Southside of the city of Dublin, Ireland. It sits between Walkinstown, Kimmage, Tallaght, Terenure and Templeogue. It is generally understood to comprise the Greenhills Estate as well as Greenpark, Limekiln and Temple Manor...

 and Templeogue
Templeogue
Templeogue is a suburb of southwest Dublin, Ireland. The original Irish name Teach Mealóg refers to a chapel named after Saint Mel that was built there in about 1273....

, Greenhills Road towards Tallaght, Ballymount Road towards Ballymount and the M50
M50 motorway (Ireland)
The M50 motorway is a motorway in Ireland running in a C-shaped ring around the north-eastern, northern, western and southern sides of the capital city, Dublin. The northern end of the route is located at the entrance to the Dublin Port Tunnel. Anti-clockwise it heads northwest through the tunnel...

 and Walkinstown Avenue towards Ballyfermot
Ballyfermot
Ballyfermot is a suburb in the city of Dublin.Celebrities such as the famous Furey Brothers and the brilliant Keenan family have all resided in Ballyfermot.Ireland, located 7 kilometres due west from the city centre, and to the south of the Phoenix Park...

,

An area of Walkinstown north of Cromwellsfort Road is known as the Musical Roads. Roads in this area are named after prominent figures of Irish music - examples include the tenor Count John McCormack and composers Michael William Balfe
Michael William Balfe
Michael William Balfe was an Irish composer, best-remembered for his opera The Bohemian Girl.After a short career as a violinist, Balfe pursued an operatic singing career, while he began to compose. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he composed 38 operas, almost 250 songs and other works...

, Percy French and Edward Bunting
Edward Bunting
Edward Bunting was an Irish musician and folk music collector.-Life:Bunting was born in County Armagh, Ireland. At the age of seven he was sent to study music at Drogheda and at eleven he was apprenticed to William Ware, organist at St. Anne's church in Belfast and lived with the family of Henry...

.

The Superquinn supermarket on Walkinstown Road was once the site of Walkinstown House, a distinctive country house and the family home of the Flanagan family, including the infamous "The Bird Flanagan", a well-know Dublin character and infamous practical joker of the early 20th century. It is said that The Long Mile Road was named after a mile long horse race along this route by the Bird Flanagan. However it was later argued that it was a long mile.

Politics

Walkinstown is in the extreme south-west of the Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council is the local authority for the city of Dublin in Ireland. It has 52 members and is the largest local authority in Ireland. Until 2001, it was known as Dublin Corporation.-Legal status:...

 area and in local government elections is part of the Crumlin/Kimmage Ward. Since the last local elections in 2009
Irish local elections, 2009
The 2009 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on Friday, 5 June 2009, on the same day as the European Parliament election and two by-elections .-Overview:...

, the local elected representatives on Dublin City Council are:
  • Henry Upton (Labour)
  • Michael O'Sullivan (Labour)
  • Pat Dunne (PBPA
    People Before Profit Alliance
    The People Before Profit Alliance is an Irish political party formed in October 2005. It is active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.-Overview:It was established by the Socialist Workers Party...

    )
  • Ruairi McGinley (Fine Gael
    Fine Gael
    Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...

    )


Walkinstown is part of the Dublin South Central Dáil constituency. The elected TD's for the current 31st Dáil Éireann
Members of the 31st Dáil
This is a list of the members who were elected to the 31st Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas of Ireland. These TDs were elected at the 2011 general election on 25 February 2011 and met at midday on 9 March 2011...

 are:
  • Catherine Byrne
    Catherine Byrne
    Catherine Byrne is an Irish Fine Gael politician. She has been a Teachta Dála for the Dublin South Central constituency since May 2007. She stood unsuccessfully as a candidate at the 2002 general election, she was elected on her next attempt at the 2007 general election...

     (Fine Gael
    Fine Gael
    Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...

    )
  • Eric Byrne
    Eric Byrne
    Eric Byrne is an Irish Labour Party politician and is currently a Teachta Dála for the Dublin South Central constituency.He was formerly a member of Sinn Féin the Workers Party, the Workers' Party and Democratic Left...

     (Labour)
  • Joan Collins
    Joan Collins
    Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...

     (PBPA
    People Before Profit Alliance
    The People Before Profit Alliance is an Irish political party formed in October 2005. It is active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.-Overview:It was established by the Socialist Workers Party...

    )
  • Aengus Ó Snodaigh
    Aengus Ó Snodaigh
    Aengus Ó Snodaigh is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He has been a Teachta Dála for the Dublin South Central constituency since May 2002, and is party spokesperson for Housing, Justice, Equality and Human Rights, and International Affairs.-Early and private life:A Dubliner and Irish language...

     (Sinn Féin
    Sinn Féin
    Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

    )
  • Michael Conaghan
    Michael Conaghan
    Michael Conaghan is an Irish Labour Party politician. He was elected as a Teachta Dála for the Dublin South Central constituency at the 2011 general election....

     (Labour)

Sport

The first local GAA club was set up in the 1950s in part to help give the new suburb of Walkinstown an identity, in addition to providing a sports outlet for the newly arrived residents. That club has since morphed, changed name and amalgamated with others to form the current St James' Gaels GAA club which is still charged with the promotion of Gaelic Games in the Walkinstown area.

Walkinstown Athletic FC is the local soccer team. W.S.A.F. - Walkinstown Sports and Athletic Association - meet at Moeran Community Hall on Summerville Drive. Mooney's Field, the local name given to the largest green open space in the Walkinstown area (situated on Bunting Road), is used for many field sports. The nearest municipal swimming pool is located in Crumlin village.

Walkinstown United Football Club is the leading football team based in Walkinstown, Dublin 12. The home ground is Walkinstown Park, which is located in the heart of Walkinstown. Established in 1978, the club has had much success with honours such as league promotion and league cup wins.

Transportation

Walkinstown is well served by Dublin Bus
Dublin Bus
Dublin Bus is a public transport operator in Ireland. It operates an extensive bus network of 172 radial, cross-city and peripheral routes and 18 night routes in the city of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area. The company, established in 1987, is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann which is...

 both in terms of number of routes and frequency. The following routes service the suburb:

9,
17,
18,
27,
77A,
56A,
122,
123,
150,
151

Route numbers 18, 27, 77A, 56A, 123 and 151 all pass by, or very near to, the Halfway House pub. The 9, 17 & 150 pass the Ashleaf Shopping Centre/Submarine Bar while the 122 has it's terminus at Our Lady's Hospital (Crumlin), approximately 5 minutes walk east of the Halfway House pub. Typical bus journey time to the city centre is 25 minutes, and a little longer than this during peak periods.

The Dublin Bus Nitelink 77N service provides a one-way link from Dublin city centre to Walkinstown until late at night after regular bus services finish at 23:30. This route departs from a bus stop on College Green opposite Doyle's pub in the city centre.

Although the Luas
Luas
Luas , also promoted in the development stage as the Dublin Light Rail System, is a tram or light rail system serving Dublin, the first such system in the decades since the closure of the last of the Dublin tramways. In 2007, the system carried 28.4 million passengers, a growth of 10% since...

 does not serve Walkinstown, the route of the Red Line takes it to within walking distance of the suburb. The nearest stops are Bluebell and Kylemore, approximately 10 minutes north of the intersection of the Walkinstown and Drimnagh roads.

Famous Names

  • Dean Delaney
    Dean Delaney
    Dean Delany is an Irish football goalkeeper who plays for League of Ireland First Division club Shelbourne.Beginning his career in England with Everton in 1998, two years later he moved on to Port Vale, having never turned out for the first team at Everton despite winning caps for the Republic of...

     - Goalkeeper/Musician Shelbourne FC and The Novas.
  • Eamonn Coughlan - 4-time Olympian
    Olympic Games
    The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

  • Kevin Moran - GAA
    Gaelic Athletic Association
    The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...

     and soccer star
  • Gabriel Byrne
    Gabriel Byrne
    Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...

     - Hollywood actor
  • Eamonn Campbell
    Eamonn Campbell
    Eamonn Campbell in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, has been a member of The Dubliners since 1987. He was also in the Dubliners when they recorded their 25th anniversary show on The Late Late Show hosted by Gay Byrne. He is known as a guitarist and has a very rough voice very similar to the former...

     of The Dubliners
    The Dubliners
    The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...

    lives in Walkinstown

External links

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