A History of St. Dominic’s Parish

(written in 1994 for the celebration of 21 years of the Parish)
By Mary McNally, Tallaght Historical Society

St Dominic’s Parish is triangular and is banded on one side by the Dodder, on another by the Old Bawn Road, and on the third, by the By-pass. That is not a very big area, but its history is long and rich. From the earliest times invaders settled by the Liffey and the Dodder and many of the earliest archaeoligical finds in this country have been found in the Dodder Valley and the surrounding hills. The Dodder itself, sometimes a torrent and sometimes a quiet stream has had a tremendous influence even on the life of Dublin. The hostel of Da Deargan on the Sli Cuallain at Bohemabreena in pre-Christian times, then in early Christian times the monastery further up the valley at Glenasmole were followed by the settlement of Norman farmers on the rich lands which now form St Dominic’s Parish. When Dublin City found the waters of the Poddle insufficient to their needs the weir just below Bolbrook was built in 1245 and the cutting known as the City Watercourse can still be seen beside the weir. Through it, water was channelled to join the Poddle at Templeogue. Right down the Dodder, water mills were constructed, the Parchment Mills and paper mills at Old Bawn where the millrace carried the waters first to Bella Vista Mills, opposite where Aheme’s now stands, then to Haarlem Mills which manufactured cotton, the bleaching greens extended from the present Seskin View to the Dodder. Incidentally, the old trees on Seskin View date back to Haarlem House. Further down were the Bolbrook Mills. All of these mills died out in the 19th century – perhaps because of the general decline in business which followed the Act of Union, and the land was then farmed, Bella Vista by the McArdles, Haarlem by the Neills and Muldoons, and Bolbrook by the Boardmans who were followed by the Stubbs family and later by the Nolans (many of the Nolans still live in the area). Part of the lower end of the land was acquired by the Keating family, and Justin Keating TD built Bolbrook Lodge, now known as Glenview Lodge, and used as a Day Care Centre.

In the 1960s the Corporation started to buy up land around Tallaght. Tallaght had been originally part of Rathfarnham Parish which later divided to form Bohernabreena Parish. In the early 1960s this was again divided to form Tallaght Parish and in the 1970s the Dominicans took over the running of the parish from the Diocesan priests and not long after that with the building of hundreds of new houses, it again became necessary to subdivide and form St Aengus, St Mary’s, St Martin’s and St Dominic’s Parishes.

St Dominic’s at first used the prefabricated Loretto Church, which since became Scoil Santain, and then Cumann Gaelach Hall. Incidentally, the first Gaelic League Classes and Ceilidhs were held in the old Haarlem House, later in the old Library (now knocked down), on the Greenhills Road, and now they are back again, not far from Haarlem House, in the Cumann Gaelach Hall.

Dominicans who have served in our Parish since its inception