Samuel Dick
To the right of the modern Church and shown below is the little crescent of cottages on Station Road
Built by Samuel Dick 200 years ago to house senior estate workers and servants at his nearby manor house Violet Hill.
It was later renamed Edenmore House but to us kids of the 60's it was and still is St Josephs Nursing Home
The Crescent in the 1960's
Samuel Dicks will on leaving the cottages to his son Quintin on his death on 17th January 1802 stipulated that
"The eight small houses built by me upon the Corner Piece of Ground in the town of Raheny called the Crescent in Trust that he shall apply the Profits arising therefrom to the Payment of a Schoolmasters Sallary for superintending the Charity School lately established in the said Town provided however that the said school shall be carefully and properly attended by a Master capable of the Management thereof"
He went on to point out that if the income from the cottages exceeded that required to pay the Master the surplus could be applied to "clothing the children of such parents as are most in want in the parish of Raheny".
No such surplus was ever found
Samuel Dicks Charity School
The schoolhouse today
Now the exquisite Dillons Restaurant
Notice the side door where once we sat in the bay window pouring over ratty old Beanos and Dandys waiting to have our hair cut.Hours later we'd pour out with crewcuts that were the envy of Australian sheep shearers and rushed home in a futile attempt to reach sanctuary before we got "slagged"
Nice place for that reunion methinks
The school seen here at the top of Main Street as it looked in 1870
The Governors of Springdale School received the rent from the cottages for the support of that school in later years.
Just a stones throw up the hill from the cottages towards Edenmore is Raheny Railway Station or DART, if you like, aka Dublin Area Rapid Transit.
I prefer this old photo from 1964 and if the Station Master daughter is reading this I'd like to say a big hello even if she did blow me out like a candle all those years ago, de wagon.
Turning back to the village crossroads you would have found
the Manhattan Bar right on the corner where on any Friday night Snow White (Bean ui Ban agus na seachtar gurriers) and all Seven Dwarfs could be seen doing the walls of Limerick before staggering back to their adjacent cottages.This of course is long before Walt O'Disney discovered them on a trip home to see his rellies in Harmo.
No I'm not claiming Harmo is in Raheny.
......I'm not given to flights of fancy, not me.
It has sadly been replaced by the trendy facade of the Station House ...sometimes more is less.
NEXT
