Dundrum

1
Dundrum

• Our local area

2
Where is Dundrum?

• Dundrum is situated in South Dublin and is part
  of the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. It
  is approximately six kilometres from Dublin city
  centre making it a suburb of the city. It is
  situated at the foot of the Dublin Mountains. To
  the west is Rathfarnham, to the east is
  Sandyford. Dundrum is also situated beside Marley
  Park.

3
Change in the area

• However things have been changing over the past
  couple of years. There has been huge increase in
  the building of apartments in the area. This
  meant that a lot of young couples and single
  people have come to live here. Some of these
  blocks include Wycham Point, Ballintyre
  Apartments, Grange Hall and Rockview. These were
  built during the Celtic Tiger era and there was
  an increase in the population.

4
Transport

• There is a good transport system running through
  Dundrum although most people choose to commute by
  car. Dublin Bus has many services running
  through the village. These can take you from Dun
  Laoghaire all the way to Santry on the northside
  of the city. The easiest and quickest way to get
  to the city centre is by using the Luas Green
  Line in Dundrum or Balally. The Luas opened in
  2004 and has been very successful with most
  people finding it more reliable than the bus.
• Ballinteer/Dundrum is also an exit off the M50
  making it an excellent place to live for
  commuters. The transport system is a huge
  benefit to living here. It is easy to travel
  around the city to visit friends and to get to
  work or college. The M50 means the trip to
  Dublin airport does not take as long as it once
  did!

5
Garda Station

• Dundrum Garda station serves the population of
  Ballinteer and Dundrum. The Dundrum Luas is
  served by everyone in Ballinteer. In 2005 the
  Dundrum Town Centre opened, it increased
  population, jobs and the amenities in the area.

6
Schools

• With a large number of families living here there
  is a need for schools. There are five main
  primary schools in the local area Our Ladys
  Boys National School, Our Ladys Girls National
  School, St. Attractas, the Gaelscoil Scoil
  Naithi and Balinteer Educate Together national
  school. Our Ladys schools are connected to the
  Church of St. John, Ballinteer and Scoil Naithi
  and St. Attractas are linked to the Oratory in
  Meadowbrook Parish. The schools play a major role
  in the community and the parishes of Dundrum.
  With a young population living in the area, the
  schools are very important in providing children
  with education and after school activities.

7
Secondary schools

• There are two main secondary schools in the area.
  Wesley College which is situated at the
  roundabout at Ballinteer Avenue. It is a mixed
  boarding and day school. The other main school
  is Ballinteer Community School or BCS. This is
  also a mixed school. BCS opened a new school
  building six years ago and the entire school has
  been reformed, this has brought in new students
  from the surrounding areas like Whitechurch and
  Rathfarnham. The new building was opened in 2009
  and is a lovely modern two story building. This
  is a huge change from the old storey building
  that was very much in need of repair. There are
  more primary than secondary schools here so most
  people do travel to other places like Rathfarnham
  or Stillorgan to go to secondary school.

8
Churches

• There are two main parishes in the area.
  Meadowbrook parish is the oratory and Ballinteer
  parish in the church of St. John the Evangelist.
  The majority of the population in Dundrum are
  Roman Catholic.

9
Recreation and Leisure

• In 2009 a brand new swimming pool and leisure
  centre opened beside St. Attractas school in
  Meadowbrook. There is a 25 metre swimming pool
  and new gym in the leisure centre. The schools
  use the swimming pool on a regular basis and
  different classes and lessons are held in the
  centre every week. This has brought a huge
  change to the area as for the last 10 years or so
  people have had to travel to other swimming
  pools.

10
The new Town Centre

• There are a wide range of restaurants available
  in the Dundrum town centre which is a 10 minute
  walk from the centre of Ballinteer. The Town
  centre has brought a lot of business and jobs to
  the area. It is one of the biggest shopping
  centres in Europe and there is not much that
  isnt available in the Centre. There is a
  cinema, shop, restaurants, a theatre, pubs and a
  nightclub. There have been huge changes to the
  area over the past 6 or 7 years and this is all
  down to the opening of the shopping centre in
  2005. Some local businesses have suffered but
  some have also noticed a rise in their sales for
  example the local petrol stations due to the
  influx of traffic into the shopping centre. The
  opening of Dundrum Town centre has given young
  people in Dundrum plenty to do with hundreds of
  shops and a cinema. The town centre has brought
  many changes to this area and most people agree
  that these are good changes.

11
Work

• The main kind of jobs available here in the area
  are jobs working in retail or in
  pubs/restaurants. Dundrum Shopping Centre
  brought a lot of jobs and business to Dundrum. A
  lot of people work in shops. There is a small
  shopping centre in Ballinteer with a Supervalu
  and a few small shops. There are some small
  offices in the area also. There are teachers
  living in the area with so many schools in the
  vicinity. There are a few postmen and milkmen
  required to work in the area with so many houses
  in Dundrum. There is one large factory in
  Ballinteer and that is Glaxo Smith Kline Company
  located on Stonemasons Way near the main Grange
  Road.

12
Campbells Repair Shop

• Campbells shoe repair shop is the oldest shop in
  Dundrum village.
• It was built in the early 1900s.
• Today the shop is run by Paul Campbell and is
  open just two hours per day for shoe repairs.
• 100 years ago Dundrum village had a population of
  500. Today it has the largest shopping centre in
  Ireland.

13
Marley Park

• Ballinteer/Dundrum has become a very built-up
  area in the past 10 to 12 years but long before
  this Ballinteer was acres of farmland. Marley
  Park is now the only park in this area. It is
  situated off the Grange Road and is surrounded by
  busy roads, housing estates and local shops. The
  park has lovely ponds and woodlands. There is
  also a playground, tennis courts, a golf course,
  football pitches and it is the home of Ballinteer
  St. Johns GAA home grounds. For years concerts
  were held in Marley park during the summer
  months. Some of the acts that have played there
  include Coldplay, Greenday and Radiohead.

14
Rivers

• The Little Dargle rises in the valley between the
  Two Rock and Three Rock mountains. It runs
  through Marley, is piped under Grange Wood and
  along the edge of the Broadford Rovers pitches.
  It crosses Stonemasons Way twice and meanders
  through parkland until it crosses Barton Road
  West from where it finds its way through Loreto
  Park. A small tributary to this stream rises near
  a Holy Well called Grumleys Well in Ticknoc
  this crosses the Grange Road near Kingston and
  carries on between the Kingston and Pine Valley
  estates from where it is largely underground to
  rise again between the Glaxo Laboratory and the
  Broadford Rovers clubhouse. There are two
  natural streams with a number of small
  tributaries which have been draining this area
  for centuries. These are the Little Dargle and
  the Slang.

15
The Slang

• The Slang rises in a little valley in Ticknock
  Wood and flows underground near the apartments on
  the opposite side of the motorway. It appears at
  the waterfall on the motorway roundabout and
  again goes underground. It flows along the edge
  of the Old Ballinteer Road and turns right at
  Lynwood where it is joined by a branch which
  flows behind the houses on Acorn Road. This
  branch originated as part of the field drainage
  system and it was connected to the Little Dargle
  near Scoil Naithi. The connection to the Little
  Dargle was closed off during the development of
  the area because it sometimes contributed to
  flooding which used to be a problem in the
  Dundrum area. It is now piped under the playing
  fields in Meadowbrook Park. It joins the stream
  just beside the bottle bank where you can also
  see the end of the pipe draining the pitches and
  taking the surface water from Hillview.

16
Famous people who reside in or are from
Dundrum/Ballinteer
Danny ODonoghue The Script
David Gillick
Richard Sadlier Soccer International
Kevin Horan, The Thrills
17
Our school and parish

• Due to a large number of young families in the
  1970s, a Mass centre was set up in Meadowbrook
  and Mass was celebrated in a hall in Ballinteer
  Community School. St. Attractas Oratory grew
  from that development as did St. Attractas
  Junior and Senior Schools.
• Scoil Naithi is the oldest school in the parish
  of Meadowbrook, opening in 1973 in a single
  prefab building.
• In 1974 the BCS was opened and in 1977 St.
  Attractas Junior School was opened. Angela Lee
  was the first Principal, followed by Gertie
  Foley. Ms. Roycroft was appointed in 2002 when
  Mrs. Foley retired.
• The Senior School was opened in 1980. The school
  crest was designed in 1996 by a student, Clare
  Fitzpatrick.
• Our school in Meadowbrook was dedicated to St.
  Attracta in 1977 and our oratory was dedicated to
  her in 1981.
• St. Nathy is also associated with the area. He
  was a student at Tallaght and established a cell
  in Dundrum. This house was called Teach nDaithi
  which evolved to Teaa Nay and eventually the
  name of the parish became known as Taney.

18
Changes in our school

• In 2007 an extension was built on to St.
  Attractas SNS. Five extra classrooms and a
  Curriculum Room were built.
• The staffroom changed from being beside the
  secretaries office to its present location.