Donnybrook, Dublin

Donnybrook castle

Donnybrook Castle was an Elizabethan mansion and residence of the Ussher family. James Ussher was appointed Archbishop of Armagh in the Church of Ireland by Queen Elizabeth I of England. The mansion was demolished in 1759 and later replaced in 1795 by the existing Georgian house. It is now occupied by the Religious Sisters of Charity.[3]

Donnybrook Cemetery dates back to the 8th century and was once the location of a church founded by St Broc. It was also the site of Catholic and Church of Ireland churches, both called St Mary's. Those buried in it include Dr Bartholomew Mosse, the founder of the Rotunda Hospital, Sir Edward Lovett Pearce, architect of the Irish Houses of Parliament on College Green and Dr Richard Madden, biographer of the United Irishmen. It is possible that the wall on the south side of the cemetery is the oldest man-made structure still existing in Donnybrook. The brick chimney behind the cemetery was built on the site of a former marble works and later served as a Magdalene laundry. Two ancestors of Meghan Markle, Mary McCue and Thomas Bird, an English soldier, were married at St Mary's Church of Ireland church, Donnybrook, in 1860.[4]

Donnybrook is a civil parish consisting of sixteen townlands.[6] All but four of these townlands are situated in the Barony of Dublin. Donnybrook is the single biggest parish in that barony. The most southerly townlands, Annefield, Simmonscourt and Priesthouse, belong to the barony of Rathdown. The smallest of these, Annefield, is itself an enclave of Simmonscourt which gives its name to a pavilion of the Royal Dublin Society. Today, the majority of Priesthouse is occupied by Elm Park Golf Club and the studios of RTÉ. The remaining townland of Sallymount - the parish's most westerly point - is in the barony of Uppercross.

Donnybrook is in the Dáil Éireann constituency of Dublin Bay South and the Pembroke local electoral area of Dublin City Council.

• Donnybrook is home to the all-girls Muckross Park College.
• St. Mary's mixed primary school is located on Belmont Avenue.
• The Teresian School is an all-girls Secondary, Junior and Pre-School in Stillorgan Rd.

• Writers

• Patrick Kavanagh
• Anthony Trollope
• Flann O'Brien aka Myles na gCopaleen aka Brian O'Nolan, lived on Belmont Avenue
• Benedict Kiely
• Padraic Colum
• Brendan Behan
• Denis Johnston and his wife, the actress/director Shelah Richards

• Others

• Jack B. Yeats
• Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
• John Boyd Dunlop (pneumatic tyre inventor)
• Guglielmo Marconi (wireless radio - lived in Montrose House, the family home of his mother's family the Jamesons of whiskey fame, now on the grounds of the national broadcaster RTÉ)
• Éamon de Valera (President of Ireland)
• Pádraig Pearse (a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising)
• The O'Rahilly (also a senior figure in the 1916 Easter Rising)
• Michael Collins (Chairman of the Provisional Government and commander-in-chief of the National Army. killed during the Irish Civil War in 1922)
• George E. H. McElroy (WWI fighter ace RFC/RAF)
• Garret FitzGerald (former Taoiseach of Ireland)
• Albert Reynolds (former Taoiseach of Ireland)
• Shane MacGowan (singer/lyricist for the Pogues)
• Méav Ní Mhaolchatha (Singer, former Celtic Woman)
• Frederick May
• William Downes, 1st Baron Downes (eminent nineteenth-century judge)
• Richard Gibson - Actor - Played part of Herr Otto Flick in sitcom series 'Allo 'Allo!
• Beatrice Doran, librarian, historian, and author

Donnybrook is the traditional home of rugby union in Leinster. The headquarters of the Irish Rugby Football Union Leinster Branch is located opposite Donnybrook Stadium, where the professional Leinster team played their home games until recently. Most games are hosted in Donnybrook Stadium. Some Junior Cup ties are also hosted on the grounds.

Rugby clubs Bective Rangers and Old Wesley have their home ground in Donnybrook Stadium. During the school year secondary schools such as St Conleth's College, Blackrock, Belvedere College, Wesley College, Clongowes, St. Michaels and many more play rugby in Donnybrook Stadium.

There are several tennis clubs in Donnybrook, Donnybrook Lawn Tennis Club (LTC), St.Marys LTC and Bective LTC.

Belmont Football Club has its home ground in Herbert Park.

Merrion Cricket Club is located in Donnybrook, off Anglesea Road and backing onto the Dodder.