Historical Page

Tour of St Pappins | Historical Tour- Feb'09 | History of Santry

Tour Of St Pappans With Historian Gerry Cooley

Here is a photo taken during the Historical tour of St Pappan's Church during Heritage Week.

The photo was taken by Norma McClure who travelled from northern Ireland for the event to hear about her great grandfather, Henry Harris who, according to the census of 1901/1911, was the owner of the Swiss Village in Santry!...

Watch this space for details of "Christmas in Santry", which will include the traditional Christmas historical walk of Santry Demesne followed by mulled wine and mince pies. Sir Charles Domvile will be toasted by Walk participants! after a few sips of Wine! also there will be a Christmas edition of "Images and Voices of Santry" incuding festive stories and music from Voices of Santry.

Watch the YouTube video of the Historical Tour with Gerry Cooley, local Historian and resident of Santry which took place on 1st February 2009

If the video fails to play please click here

Santry (Irish: Seantrabh, meaning Old tribe) is a suburb on the Northside of Dublin, bordering Coolock, Glasnevin and Ballymun. Today it straddles the boundary of Dublin City and the new Fingal County Council area.

The character of the area has changed in the last 100 years, from a district centred on a large estate, and later small village, to a modern, mixed-use suburb. Much of the old village is gone and where there were once fields full of crops, and wild woodlands of all sorts there are now housing estates, an athletics stadium, a shopping complex, industrial parks and busy roads leading to Dublin Airport.

Where the new Santry Demesne public park is situated was once a palatial old house and gardens, built in the 1700s. This was once the largest house in North County Dublin and people traveled from far and wide to be received by the owners - the Barry Family. Many clues of the house still exist and the park is worth visiting to find the house foundations, front steps, tree-avenue and walled garden. A small bend in the Santry River (which forms the boundary of the park today) was widened to create a small pond for the boating pleasure of Georgian Ladies and Gentlemen who resided at, and visited the house.

The ancient history of the area is just as interesting. Santry is an anglicisation of the Irish placename Shean Triabh (pronounced Shan-treev) which literally means "old tribe". Although nobody can be quite sure, the book of Leccan refers to a tribe called the Almanii who inhabited the area, who might have been the source of the name.

During the Viking invasions a number of peaceful Norse farmers moved into the North Dublin area, which proved to be excellent farmland. These Norsemen were famous for their agricultural prowess, crafts and fishing skills. They also brought new pastimes and strange Scandinavian phrases which are thought to survive to today further away from the city. The gregarious, direct, rogueish and outgoing character of the Norsemen may be something that endures with what Dublin people understand as a "Northsider".

After this time people began to refer to the area from Santry and North to Swords, Lusk, the Naul and beyond as "Fingal", which translates as Fair-Haired Foreigner. The name was confined to songs, poems, folk memory and some antiquarian titles until a re-organization of Local Government in the 1990s set up County Fingal and Fingal County Council.

Swiss Cottages

The expansion of Santry was inevitable given the northward sprawl of Dublin City. The Swiss Cottages that are still associated with Santry no longer exist.

The Cottages were built in 1840's by Lady Domville who, after a visit to Switzerland, decided to build 11 Swiss style cottages for visiting gentry. Most were demolished in 1968 to enlarge the Swiss Cottage public house which was one of the original Cottages itself.

While the last remaining cottage still stands in Santry, it isn’t in its original conception. The building was adapted into an office block in 1984 and today houses a pharmacy. Morton Stadium now stands on the site of the Barry gardens of the Barry mansion. The only contemporary reminder of the Swiss Cottages is found on the name of a local pub, ‘The Swiss Cottage’.