Our common ancestors - Herbert - Contents

The Pembroke Estate of Dublin city

• References:
  • "Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin", Mary Bryan, Master's thesis (MUBC - Master of Urban and Building Conservation), UCD School of Architecture, 1995, [IAA].

• Sources yet to be consulted:
  • Calendar of Ancient Deeds and Muniments preserved in the Pembroke Estate Office, Dublin, pub 1891.
  • Pembroke Estate papers, which cover the development of Dublin city and county, dated c.1240-1968, [NAI] accessions 1011 and 2011 and 97/46. Index in RR.

The Pembroke Estate of Dublin city covered much of the area above.
Click to toggle map/satellite view. Click to zoom in/out. Drag to move.
From Google Maps.
See close-ups of Merrion Square and Fitzwilliam Square and Herbert Park.

The vast estates of the Fitzwilliam family began accumulating on the South side of Dublin city in the mid-1300s,
over the centuries they accumulated the lands, among others, of Dundrum, Baggotrath, Merrion, Simmonscourt and Mount Merrion,
it was the 6th Viscount Fitzwilliam who began the massive development of the area in the mid-18th cent, which soon turned it into Dublin's (indeed Ireland's) most desirable area,
this was continued by the 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam,
he left the estate to his relative the 11th Earl of Pembroke in 1816,
since known as the "Pembroke" Estate,
the Earls of Pembroke continued the development of the area,
the estate still exists in some form, though much reduced in size, see the current Earl of Pembroke.

These vast estates extended through SE Co.Dublin from Merrion Square in town along the coast through Merrion out to Blackrock, inland through Mount Merrion to Dundrum and beyond to the Dublin mountains. It was the largest family-owned estate in County Dublin, and an absolute goldmine as the city exploded southwards from the late 18th cent. onwards. Indeed cumulatively it was probably the most valuable estate in Ireland, and is still the premium location in Dublin today. The full estate no longer exists. If it did, it would today be worth over € 1 billion, perhaps as much as € 10 billion.

Placenames include:

• FITZWILLIAM
  1. Fitzwilliam Square (see building)
  2. Fitzwilliam St, Fitzwilliam Place, Fitzwilliam Lane
  3. Fitzwilliam lawn tennis club
  4. Fitzwilliam Quay, on River Dodder, Ringsend
  5. Fitzwilliam Hall
  6. The Fitzwilliam Hotel Group, 66 Fitzwilliam Square
     • The Fitzwilliam Hotel, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin
     • The Fitzwilliam International Hotel, Belfast International Airport

• MERRION
  1. Merrion Square (see building)
  2. Merrion St, Merrion Row
  3. Merrion Rd, Merrion Gates, Merrion Strand, "The Merrion Inn" (pub), Merrion Shopping Centre
  4. Merrion Cricket Club
  5. Mount Merrion, Mount Merrion Ave

• HERBERT
  1. Herbert Street, Herbert Place
  2. Herbert Park, Herbert Park Hotel
  3. Herbert Ave, Merrion Rd
  4. Herbert Rd (Sandymount), Mount Herbert Hotel
  5. There is a house called "Herberton" on Cross Ave, Booterstown, home of de Valera from c.1940.

• PEMBROKE
  1. Pembroke St, Pembroke Lane, "The Pembroke" (pub), Pembroke Row
  2. Pembroke Rd, another Pembroke Lane, Pembroke Gardens, Pembroke Park, Pembroke library
  3. Pembroke Cricket Club
  4. Pembroke St, Irishtown

  5. Various "Pembroke Cottages"
     • Pembroke Housing, off Shelbourne Road.
     • Pembroke Memorial Cottages, off Northumberland Rd.
     • Pembroke Cottages, Donnybrook.
     • Pembroke Cottages, off Booterstown Ave (beside the church).
     • Pembroke Cottages, off Main St, Dundrum village, not far from Dundrum Castle. Also on Main St is Pembroke Terrace.
     • Pembroke Cottages, a street in Ringsend, nr East Link Bridge.

  6. A whole area of South Dublin around the Canal, Ballsbridge and Sandymount (indeed probably the best area of Dublin) is known as "Pembroke" district.
     • Pembroke Town Hall
     • This whole area is also famous as Dublin 4, denoting the address (or commonly just used as shorthand for the mindset) of Ireland's liberal intelligensia. And Dublin 2, the premium office area in the city, is much of the land inside the Canal, around the two Fitzwilliam squares.

• WILTON
  1. Wilton Place and Wilton Terrace on the Grand Canal.
  2. There is a modern office block on Wilton Place strangely named "Fitzwilton House".
  3. Another office block is called Wilton Park House.

• Sidney Herbert (ultimately from SIDNEY)
  1. Sydney Ave (off Mt Merrion Ave), Sydney Terrace
  2. (probably) Sydney Parade Ave, Sandymount

• Lord Chirbury
  1. A house called "Cherbury" on Booterstown Ave (built pre-1762, also called "Herbert House", demolished mid-1970s, see [Pearson, 1998] and [Lyng, 2000]). At the site there is now Cherbury Mews, and two roads Cherbury Court and Cherbury Gardens.

Detail of John Rocque's map of Dublin, 1756 (just before the big Fitzwilliam development of the area).
St.Stephen's Green, on LHS, is still at edge of countryside.
Green spot on LHS is Duke of Leinster's house, about to begin a trend for the SE of the city.
Then moving E on Fitzwilliam land to green spot in middle, which is site of old Baggotrath Castle.
Moving to RHS to the villages of Ballsbridge and Donnybrook. Green spot on RHS is Simmonscourt Castle.

The Fitzwilliam territory of SE Dublin.
From [Ball, vol.2, 1903].
This is rather inaccurate:
Baggotrath should be a good bit nearer to the Canal.
Dundrum Castle should be on the opposite side of the road.
And Frescati should be on the opposite side of Mt Merrion Ave.

Pembroke Town Hall.
From Dublin City Public Libraries.

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• City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee
  • The Old Township of Pembroke 1863 - 1930, 1993, [Dundrum Library] 941.83 PEM.
    • Fitzwilliams of Merrion

• Dublin architecture
  • The Fitzwilliam estate

• The ESB demolitions in 1965:
  • The worst vandalism on Georgian SE Dublin was when the ESB demolished half a block of houses along the vista from Fitzwilliam Place to Holles St Hospital in 1965.
  • Neil Blaney, Minister for Local Government, pushed through the destruction against protest.
  • The 16th Earl of Pembroke, who had just sold the freehold in 1964, had wanted to save the houses, and afterwards he donated half of the proceeds of the sale to the Irish Georgian Society.
  • But despite this destruction, the area is still remarkably intact today, and the ESB have made up for their sins by restoring a Georgian house, 29 Lower Fitzwilliam Street, which is now open to the public.

• An even worse vandalism was narrowly averted: In 1930 the Catholic church purchased Merrion Square from the Pembroke Estate and planned to build a cathedral on the site. But luckily this plan was eventually scrapped.

• There is a Pembroke pew in St. Stephen's Church [the "Pepper Pot church", or the "Pepper canister", built 1821] on Mount Street Crescent, Dublin.

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"I can understand that the consortium of belted earls and their ladies and left-wing intellectuals who can afford the time to stand and contemplate in ecstasy the unparalleled man-made beauty of the two corners of Hume Street and St. Stephen's Green may well feel that the amateurish efforts of Mother Nature in the Wicklow Mountains are unworthy of their attention."
- Kevin Boland, Minister for Local Government, defending the destruction of Dublin, 1970.
Also expressing an official line of hatred of all of Ireland's actual surviving architecture, and a bleak harking back to dull nature and an imaginary Celtic past.