Dundrum

1. Dundrum Our local area

2. Where is Dundrum? • Dundrum is situated in South Dublin and is part of the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. It is approximately six kilometres from Dublin city centre making it a suburb of the city. It is situated at the foot of the Dublin Mountains. To the west is Rathfarnham, to the east is Sandyford. Dundrum is also situated beside Marley Park.

3. Change in the area • However things have been changing over the past couple of years. There has been huge increase in the building of apartments in the area. This meant that a lot of young couples and single people have come to live here. Some of these blocks include Wycham Point, Ballintyre Apartments, Grange Hall and Rockview. These were built during the Celtic Tiger era and there was an increase in the population.

4. Transport • There is a good transport system running through Dundrum although most people choose to commute by car. Dublin Bus has many services running through the village. These can take you from Dun Laoghaire all the way to Santry on the northside of the city. The easiest and quickest way to get to the city centre is by using the Luas Green Line in Dundrum or Balally. The Luas opened in 2004 and has been very successful with most people finding it more reliable than the bus. • Ballinteer/Dundrum is also an exit off the M50 making it an excellent place to live for commuters. The transport system is a huge benefit to living here. It is easy to travel around the city to visit friends and to get to work or college. The M50 means the trip to Dublin airport does not take as long as it once did!

5. Garda Station • Dundrum Garda station serves the population of Ballinteer and Dundrum. The DundrumLuas is served by everyone in Ballinteer. In 2005 the Dundrum Town Centre opened, it increased population, jobs and the amenities in the area.

6. Schools • With a large number of families living here there is a need for schools. There are five main primary schools in the local area; Our Lady’s Boys National School, Our Lady’s Girls National School, St. Attracta’s, the GaelscoilScoilNaithi and Balinteer Educate Together national school. Our Lady’s schools are connected to the Church of St. John, Ballinteer and ScoilNaithi and St. Attracta’s are linked to the Oratory in Meadowbrook Parish. The schools play a major role in the community and the parishes of Dundrum. With a young population living in the area, the schools are very important in providing children with education and after school activities.

7. Secondary schools • There are two main secondary schools in the area. Wesley College which is situated at the roundabout at Ballinteer Avenue. It is a mixed boarding and day school. The other main school is Ballinteer Community School or BCS. This is also a mixed school. BCS opened a new school building six years ago and the entire school has been reformed, this has brought in new students from the surrounding areas like Whitechurch and Rathfarnham. The new building was opened in 2009 and is a lovely modern two story building. This is a huge change from the old storey building that was very much in need of repair. There are more primary than secondary schools here so most people do travel to other places like Rathfarnham or Stillorgan to go to secondary school.

8. Churches • There are two main parishes in the area. Meadowbrook parish is the oratory and Ballinteer parish in the church of St. John the Evangelist. The majority of the population in Dundrum are Roman Catholic.

9. Recreation and Leisure • In 2009 a brand new swimming pool and leisure centre opened beside St. Attracta’s school in Meadowbrook. There is a 25 metre swimming pool and new gym in the leisure centre. The schools use the swimming pool on a regular basis and different classes and lessons are held in the centre every week. This has brought a huge change to the area as for the last 10 years or so people have had to travel to other swimming pools.

10. The new Town Centre • There are a wide range of restaurants available in the Dundrum town centre which is a 10 minute walk from the centre of Ballinteer. The Town centre has brought a lot of business and jobs to the area. It is one of the biggest shopping centres in Europe and there is not much that isn’t available in the Centre. There is a cinema, shop, restaurants, a theatre, pubs and a nightclub. There have been huge changes to the area over the past 6 or 7 years and this is all down to the opening of the shopping centre in 2005. Some local businesses have suffered but some have also noticed a rise in their sales for example the local petrol stations due to the influx of traffic into the shopping centre. The opening of Dundrum Town centre has given young people in Dundrum plenty to do with hundreds of shops and a cinema. The town centre has brought many changes to this area and most people agree that these are good changes.

11. Work • The main kind of jobs available here in the area are jobs working in retail or in pubs/restaurants. Dundrum Shopping Centre brought a lot of jobs and business to Dundrum. A lot of people work in shops. There is a small shopping centre in Ballinteer with a Supervalu and a few small shops. There are some small offices in the area also. There are teachers living in the area with so many schools in the vicinity. There are a few postmen and milkmen required to work in the area with so many houses in Dundrum. There is one large factory in Ballinteer and that is Glaxo Smith Kline Company located on Stonemason’s Way near the main Grange Road.

12. Campbells Repair Shop • Campbell’s shoe repair shop is the oldest shop in Dundrum village. • It was built in the early 1900s. • Today the shop is run by Paul Campbell and is open just two hours per day for shoe repairs. • 100 years ago Dundrum village had a population of 500. Today it has the largest shopping centre in Ireland.

13. Marley Park • Ballinteer/Dundrum has become a very built-up area in the past 10 to 12 years but long before this Ballinteer was acres of farmland. Marley Park is now the only park in this area. It is situated off the Grange Road and is surrounded by busy roads, housing estates and local shops. The park has lovely ponds and woodlands. There is also a playground, tennis courts, a golf course, football pitches and it is the home of Ballinteer St. John’s GAA home grounds. For years concerts were held in Marley park during the summer months. Some of the acts that have played there include Coldplay, Greenday and Radiohead.

14. Rivers • The Little Dargle rises in the valley between the Two Rock and Three Rock mountains. It runs through Marley, is piped under Grange Wood and along the edge of the Broadford Rover’s pitches. It crosses Stonemason’s Way twice and meanders through parkland until it crosses Barton Road West from where it finds its way through Loreto Park. A small tributary to this stream rises near a Holy Well called Grumley’s Well in Ticknoc; this crosses the Grange Road near Kingston and carries on between the Kingston and Pine Valley estates from where it is largely underground to rise again between the Glaxo Laboratory and the Broadford Rover’s clubhouse. There are two natural streams with a number of small tributaries which have been draining this area for centuries. These are the Little Dargle and the Slang.

15. The Slang • The Slang rises in a little valley in Ticknock Wood and flows underground near the apartments on the opposite side of the motorway. It appears at the waterfall on the motorway roundabout and again goes underground. It flows along the edge of the Old Ballinteer Road and turns right at Lynwood where it is joined by a branch which flows behind the houses on Acorn Road. This branch originated as part of the field drainage system and it was connected to the Little Dargle near ScoilNaithi. The connection to the Little Dargle was closed off during the development of the area because it sometimes contributed to flooding which used to be a problem in the Dundrum area. It is now piped under the playing fields in Meadowbrook Park. It joins the stream just beside the bottle bank where you can also see the end of the pipe draining the pitches and taking the surface water from Hillview.

16. Famous people who reside in or are from Dundrum/Ballinteer Danny O’Donoghue The Script David Gillick Richard Sadlier Soccer International Kevin Horan, The Thrills

17. Our school and parish • Due to a large number of young families in the 1970s, a Mass centre was set up in Meadowbrook and Mass was celebrated in a hall in Ballinteer Community School. St. Attracta’s Oratory grew from that development as did St. Attracta’s Junior and Senior Schools. • ScoilNaithi is the oldest school in the parish of Meadowbrook, opening in 1973 in a single prefab building. • In 1974 the BCS was opened and in 1977 St. Attracta’s Junior School was opened. Angela Lee was the first Principal, followed by Gertie Foley. Ms. Roycroft was appointed in 2002 when Mrs. Foley retired. • The Senior School was opened in 1980. The school crest was designed in 1996 by a student, Clare Fitzpatrick. • Our school in Meadowbrook was dedicated to St. Attracta in 1977 and our oratory was dedicated to her in 1981. • St. Nathy is also associated with the area. He was a student at Tallaght and established a cell in Dundrum. This house was called ‘Teach nDaithi’ which evolved to “Teaa Nay” and eventually the name of the parish became known as “Taney”.

18. Changes in our school • In 2007 an extension was built on to St. Attracta’s SNS. Five extra classrooms and a Curriculum Room were built. • The staffroom changed from being beside the secretaries’ office to its present location.