Our Lady's Park, Drumcondra

53°22′04″N 6°15′23″W / 53.3678°N 6.2563°W / 53.3678; -6.2563Area0.37 hectares (0.91 acres)Createdpost-1954^[1]Operated byDublin City Council^[2]OpenAll year

Our Lady's Park (Irish: Páirc Mhuire) is a small 0.37-hectare (0.91-acre) boomerang-shaped park located on the banks of the River Tolka in Dublin city next to Frank Flood Bridge in Drumcondra^[3] (previously known as 'Drumcondra Bridge' prior to 2018).^[4] The park is notable for its statue of the Virgin Mary, presumably erected in 1954 for the Marian Year which had been declared by Pope John XXIII.^[1]

History

The triangular portion of the park opposite Fagan's public house was once a collection of single-storeyed dwellings known as Tolka Cottages (or Botanic Cottages)^[5] which were constructed pre-1890 to house mill workers employed at a local flour mill (now the site of the Millmount House pub).^[2][6] Due to the proximity of the houses to the River Tolka, they were prone to flooding, and suffered much damage during a particularly bad event in December 1954 when the river broke its banks and flooded parts of Glasnevin, Drumcondra, Fairview, Ballybough, North Strand and East Wall.^[7] The houses were cleared from the area as a safety liability after this event. A factory owned by Irish confectioners Lemon’s Pure Sweets existed close to the site of the present-day park for many years, and the park became colloquially known as Lemon's Park.^[2] Lemon's ceased trading in 1983.^[5] In the summer of 2012, Dublin City Council erected a sign officially naming the park as 'Our Lady's Park'.^[2]

Statue

There has been a statue of the Virgin Mary present within the grounds of the present-park since at least the early twentieth century,^[1] as James Joyce, in his 1916 novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, recounts how the character of Stephen Dedalus turned his gaze "towards the faded blue shrine of the Blessed Virgin" before crossing the bridge over the River Tolka.^[1] It is possible that the statue had been erected by the inhabitants of Tolka Cottages as a protection against flooding.^[2] The present statue, a freestanding 'cast-stone' depiction of Mary (credited to 'Leo Broe & Sons, 94 Harold's Cross Rd'),^[1] was presumably erected in 1954 for the Marian Year, an event which mobilised many working-class communities across Dublin to erect statues of Our Lady.^[1] As a result, the statue has been dated by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage to between 1950 and 1955.^[1] In the 1960s, amateur Dublin film-maker Leslie Crowe captured footage of the annual procession held around the park to commemorate the statue's vigil.^[8]

Amenities

The park is maintained by Dublin City Council who change the flower beds seasonally, and the flags sporadically.^[2] The park is located adjacent to the N1, the main Dublin to Belfast road, which witnesses heavy vehicular traffic on a daily basis. The park is also within walking distance of Croke Park, a major Gaelic games stadium, which attracts thousands of visitors during the sporting season. As of October 2022, there are six benches in the park.

'Drumcondra Storm Water Pumping Station' is a rectangular red-brick building located within the grounds of the park close to Botanic Avenue.^[5] It was completed in June 2009 to protect the N1 road and Botanic Avenue from surface-water flooding events and consists of three pumps with a maximum pumping rate of 800 litres per second via a flapped outlet / rising main into the river. Almost immediately after its installation, it served to pump 3,000 m³ of water off adjacent roads during a pluvial rainfall event that occurred between 3 and 4am in the early hours of 2 July 2009.^[9]

References