This year’s Journal features local stories and people. The articles will be published online in advance and the compiled Journal will be available from September in paperback. This article is from Tommy Delaney. 1940 to 1944 The memory of first three and a half years of my life is of course a blur. However starting…
The Reverend Ernest Hamilton Whelan
This year’s Journal features local stories and people. The articles will be published online in advance and the compiled Journal will be available from September in paperback. This article is from Judy Cameron. The Reverend Ernest Hamilton Whelan began his ministry in Enniskerry in 1876, just before Christmas. He joined Powerscourt parish, (Rector, Rev Henry…
Enniskerry and the Olympic Games
Thanks to a user who posted this link over on Facebook: At the 1948 London Olympic Games, when the competition still awarded medals for music and other arts, ‘gentle Miss Ina Boyle’ narrowly missed out on a bronze medal. Ita Beausang traces the story of the composer from Enniskerry and her as yet unperformed work….
Enniskerry Memories
This year’s Journal features local stories and people. The articles will be published online in advance and the compiled Journal will be available from September in paperback. This article is from Úna Wogan, in conversation with her aunt, Angela Wogan O’Neill. I was born in Enniskerry in 1934. We lived at Church Hill House on…
Memories of Glencot, Enniskerry
This year’s Journal features local stories and people. The articles will be published online in advance and the compiled Journal will be available from September in paperback. This article is from Denise Haddon. I first went to Enniskerry before I was born! My grandmother had brought her terminally-ill daughter from England to have one last…
Enniskerry Clock Tower Romance
This year’s Journal features local stories and people. The articles will be published online in advance and the compiled Journal will be available from September in paperback. This first article is from Fr John Wall. CLOCK TOWER ROMANCE In the summer of 1932 two Belfast-born girls, Angela and Molly, had recently moved to Dublin. Their…
Tinnehinch Road, ca. 1957.
This image was uploaded by a website user and has been identified over on FaceBook as being just outside the Powerscourt Gate, on the road towards Lover’s Leap/Tinnehinch Hill. One of the signs says “The Dargle” . Does this mean the Dargle was still an (accessible) tourist attraction in 1950s?
History of Ireland in 100 objects: Act of Union Blacklist
Local boy Hugh Howard (Bushy Park) features in this week’s Irish Times’ History of Ireland in 100 objects. He was rewarded with the job of Postmaster General in return for voting for the Act of Union in 1800. Howard’s elder brothers were the Earl of Wicklow (Shelton Abbey) and Viscount Wicklow. Howard’s daughter Theodosia would…
Were your ancestors convicts?!
Another archival resource has just become available for tracing ancestors. Úna Wogan recounts what she found. The Latter Day Saints have just made available the Irish Prison Registers 1790 – 1924 (it may take a minute for page to load). It is possible to narrow the search using “Residence”, and so can be used to…
Enniskerry ca 1971
Back to history after a brief hiatus with this fantastic postcard sent in by Nivrum. It’s of Enniskerry, ca 1971. Let’s get cracking to see what can be identified. What is most striking to me is Church Hill—it’s just fields! Click on the image to get a full size version…
Wicklow Cinema Memories?
Planet Korda Pictures are currently producing a documentary for RTÉ on cinema-going in Ireland called ‘See You at the pictures!’. We’re looking for people of any age, from all over Ireland, to send us their stories / anecdotes of going to the pictures. We would love it if you had any information you could share…
Enniskerry at the Movies – 1926
Here is an incredible find. It is film released in 1926 called “Irish Destiny” which features Enniskerry as one of its locations. Can you help with other locations (details below)? Thanks to contributor Nivrum for sending this on. The film, according to the source website: is a 1926 film made in Ireland, directed by…
Licensed Premises 1890
The return of licensed premises in Enniskerry in 1890 is listed below. I’ve shown some other villages from Wicklow (Blessington, Newtown Mount Kennedy, Carnew, Rathdrum and Bray), including some of similar size and geography for comparison. It looks like we were a sober bunch. There’s evidence from earlier in the century of a resistance to…
War of Independence at Enniskerry
I don’t often stray into the 20th century here, but thanks to Judy Cameron for prompting this information, gleaned from some newspapers. They are some transcripts I found from May 1921. The Barracks was attacked on 28th May, resulting in the RIC moving temporarily into the Parochial Hall. Two articles reporting the attack are given…
Early Tourists to Powerscourt Waterfall
260 years ago, Bishop Pococke wrote about his visit to Powerscourt in 1752 which was part of his travels around Ireland: Powers Court, belonging to Lord Powerscourt… In the Park two miles from the House, is the famous fall of Water, which is a cascade that falls in one spout without breaks… the high ground…
A Letter to Henry Grattan: The life of labourers in 1796
I was quite excited to come across this letter written in 1796 by Rev Michael Sandys to Henry Grattan, who lived at Tinnehinch. Sandys was rector of the Parish of Powerscourt until about 1813. He wrote this letter in an attempt to highlight to Henry Grattan how the income of “an honest, sober, industrious labourer”…
Share your memories of Enniskerry this Summer
Have you memories of Enniskerry? This summer, the Journal of Enniskerry and Powerscourt Local History will publish a special issue containing memories and stories of people from the neighbourhood in times gone by. Do you or your relatives have any stories you would like to share? This is an opportunity to document them in written…
Hall of the Ancient Order of Hibernians
What can you tell us about this building in Enniskerry? I know very little about it: This photo is from the Buildings of Ireland website.
Touring The Scalp, Enniskerry, and Powerscourt – by Poem
Of the dozens (hundreds?) of travel narratives about touring in Wicklow and Ireland from the 19th century, here is a more unusual one from Major Cosby, who in 1835, published his tour of Wicklow in the form of a poem. A extract for our locality is below: THE SCALP, ENNISKERRY, AND POWERSCOURT. The Scalp we…
Enniskerry History Brochure
Here is a short brochure covering some of the more important aspects of Enniskerry’s history, front side and back. Click to download a PDF version. The image is used courtesy of the National Library of Ireland’s Lawrence Collection (No. 489).