Find history by Dublin area

A guide to finding the history of individual Dublin parishes, suburbs and villages on Chapters of Dublin History, arranged by part of the county.

Where to start

Most of the local history on this site comes from a handful of books that work through Dublin district by district. The fullest is F. Elrington Ball’s History of County Dublin, published in six volumes between 1902 and 1920, which takes the county parish by parish; its list of chapters is a good place to begin. Other books cover a single district in more depth. The sections below group the main chapters by area.

South-east: the coast and the hills

Ball’s first volume covers Monkstown, Kill-of-the-Grange, Dalkey, Killiney, Tully, Stillorgan and Kilmacud. His second volume moves inland to Donnybrook, Taney, the parish that includes Dundrum, and Rathfarnham. The History of the Pembroke Township deals with Baggotrath, Ballsbridge, Merrion, Ringsend and Donnybrook Fair.

South and south-west: Tallaght and the mountains

Ball’s third volume includes Tallaght, Whitechurch, Kilgobbin, Kiltiernan, Rathmichael, Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle. For Tallaght in more detail, Handcock’s History of Tallaght has chapters on Old Bawn, Tymon Castle, Firhouse, Templeogue and the River Dodder.

West: the Liffey valley

Ball’s fourth volume covers Lucan, Leixlip, Clondalkin, Ballyfermot, Crumlin, Drimnagh, Chapelizod and the Phoenix Park. Lucania adds a parish history of Lucan and its neighbours, including Clondalkin, Palmerstown and Esker.

North: Fingal, Howth and the north city

Ball’s fifth volume is devoted to Howth, beginning with an introduction, and his sixth covers Castleknock, Finglas, Glasnevin and Clonturk, the old parish around Drumcondra. Dillon Cosgrave’s North Dublin works outwards from the north city to Fairview and Marino, Clontarf and Howth. D’Alton’s History of County Dublin includes chapters on north county places such as Swords, Lusk, Balbriggan and Lambay.

Within the old city

For the city itself, see D. A. Chart’s Story of Dublin, which is arranged as a series of walks, C. T. M’Cready’s Dublin Street Names, Dated and Explained, and the Short Histories of Dublin Parishes, which cover Catholic parishes such as St Michan’s and St Audoen’s. The original entry on this page follows.

Kill-of-the-Grange/Dean’s GrangeParish of Kill-of-the-Grange