STILLORGAN

STILLORGAN, a parish, in the barony of HALF-RATHDOWN, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 4 miles (S. E.) from Dublin, on the road by Donnybrook to Bray; containing 2001 inhabitants, of which number, 650 are in the village. This parish comprises only 648 statute acres, of which about three-fourths are meadow and pasture, chiefly demesne lands, and the remainder principally garden grounds.

There are numerous handsome seats and pleasing villas beautifully situated and commanding some fine sea views and mountain scenery, with extensive prospects over Dublin bay. The principal are Stillorgan House, the residence of J. Verschoyle, Esq., anciently the property of the Allens, ancestors of the present Viscount and Baron Allen of Stillorgan; Carysford House, the seat of the Right Hon. W. Saurin, beautifully situated in grounds tastefully laid out; Stillorgan Abbey, of A. R. Blake, Esq., a handsome residence in the Elizabethan style, built in 1833 near the site of the old abbey; Mount Eagle, of H. D. Grady, Esq.; Obelisk Park, of H. Perry, Esq., so called from a lofty obelisk erected in the grounds by Lady Pierce, for the employment of the poor during the scarcity of 1741; Thornhill, of J. George, Esq.: Carysford Lodge, of T. Goold, Esq.; Stillorgan Park, of J. Busby, Esq.; Beaufield, of H. Darley, Esq; Oatlands, of M. Pollock, Esq.; the Grove, of J. Hughes, Esq.; Woodview, of G. W. Boileau, Esq.; Riversdale, of J. W. Barlow, Esq.; Stillorgan, of R. Guinness, Esq.; Dunstaffnage Lodge, of R. H. Sheehan, Esq.; Talbot Lodge, of Captain Newenham; Limeville, of H. B. Reeves, Esq.; Rose Hill, of Mrs. Drevar; Maryville, of L. H. Thomas, Esq.; Oakley Park, of R. Everard, Esq.; Jane Villa, of Mrs. Wilson; Elm Grove, of Mrs. Richards; Littleton, of W. Wilson, Esq., M.D.; and Waltersland, of W. H. Smith, Esq.

The village is within the delivery of the Dublin twopenny post, and is a constabulary police station; there is also a constabulary police station at the village of Newtown Park. Close to it is an ale and beer brewery, which has been carried on for more than 80 years by the family of Darley: it has been for more than 40 years in the possession of the present proprietors, who have also an extensive brewery and malting concern at Bray.

This parish, together with that of Kilmacud, constitutes the perpetual curacy of Stillorgan, in the diocese of Dublin, and in the patronage of the Dean of Christ-Church, Dublin: the tithes amount to £101. 10. 9 ¼., the whole payable to the incumbent; the glebe, which is situated in the parish of Kill, comprises 9 acres. The church, a neat edifice, was enlarged in 1812 and again in 1833, for which the late Board of First Fruits, in the former instance, granted a loan of £800, and in the latter a gift of £500.

In the R. C. divisions the parish forms part of the union of Booterstown, and also part of that of Sandyford and Glancullen. About 150 children are taught in three public schools, and an infants' school is supported by Charles Doyne, Esq., of Newtown Park; there are also a dispensary in the village, and an institution for bettering the condition of the poor and suppressing mendicity. Adjoining the grounds of Waltersland is a field called Silver Park, from the great number of silver coins and ornaments found there. On clearing the rocky ground, more than 100 graves were discovered, together with numerous spear heads and other warlike instruments, confirming a tradition that a battle had been fought there; there were also discovered some urns of baked clay, containing ashes and burnt bones, and a small chamber, about a foot and a half square, formed of four upright stones, with one on the top and one at the bottom.