Killiney Historical Society Newsletter January/February 2025
Welcome
Happy New Year to all our readers. We look forward to another event filled year and below we highlight some of the upcoming events which are already planned for the Winter/Spring season. Please check back here for updates.
The talks and meetings will take place in the upstairs lounge of the Druid’s Chair pub on the first Tuesday of each month at 8.00pm. Admission is €5 and all are welcome.
4th February. A Trip through the History of Dalkey Island by Peadar Curran
The talk will cover the historical aspects of the Island from the first settlers in the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age periods through to the early Christian and Viking eras and the later fortifications of the Napoleonic times. Click HERE for further details.
4th March. KHS Open Night
We will have an informal meeting where guests can come and share any memorabilia, photos, stories etc. We will also be available to answer Killiney/Ballybrack related historical queries (where possible). Details to follow. Attendees can avail of the Druid’s Chair facilities and join us for a coffee or a pint!
Update on KHS January talk by Billy Saunderson
Billy Saunderson gave an excellent talk on 7th January on the topic of researching a family history. There was considerable interest in the various sources for family history which were covered during the talk and Billy has kindly shared the list of sources below which he found to be most useful in his County Cavan family research.
Resource | Website |
---|---|
Cavan Townlands | www.cavantownlands.ie |
Census Records 1821-1911 | www.census.nationalarchives.ie |
Civil War Post Truce Compensation Files, 1921-23 | www.nai.adlibhosting.com/results |
Church/Civil Records-Birth, Marriage, Deaths | www.irishgenealogy.ie |
Court Registers, Ireland Petty Session 1818-1919 | www.nationalarchives.ie/article/guide-court-records-ireland-pre-1922/ |
Dog Registrations-Ireland, 1810-1926 | www.ancestry.com |
Griffiths Valuation 1848-64 | www.nationalarchives.ie/article/valuation-office-records |
Graveyards-Ireland | www.irishgraveyards.ie/search_page |
Hearth Money Rolls | www.nidirect.gov.uk |
Irish Newspapers | www.irishnewsarchive.com |
Local Libraries -Genealogy | www.libraryassociation.ie/genealogy-and-local-studies-group |
Military Records, Ireland | www.militaryarchives.ie |
National Archives Ireland | www.nationalarchives.ie |
National Folklore Collection 1937-39 | www.duchas.ie |
National Library, Ireland | www.nli.ie |
New Zealand Records | www.archives.govt.nz |
Nursing Registers-UK & Ireland, 1898-1968 | www.ancestry.co.uk |
Ordnance Survey Maps | www.osi.ie |
Placenames, Ireland | www.logainm.ie |
Royal Irish Constabulary 1836-1922 | www.ancestry.co.uk |
Tithe Applotment Books 1823-37 | www.titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie |
Townlands, Ireland | www.townlands.ie |
Placenames Database of Ireland | www.logainm.ie |
Willis and Administration | www.nationalarchives.ie |
WWI Soldiers Wills | www.nationalarchives.ie |
Enrolling members for 2025
Killiney Historical Society is now enrolling members for 2025. You can join online HERE Thank you to those who have already joined and we look forward to seeing you all at our upcoming events.
Killiney Historical Society Journal
Our first Journal which celebrates the theme of transport in Killiney is now available to purchase at The Red Shop, (Dalkey News) for €10.

Calling for Contributors for KHS Journal 2025
We are looking for articles to include in our 2025 Journal. If you have an idea for a piece, no matter how brief or detailed, which is relevant to the history of Killiney and environs please email michael@killineyhistory.ie to discuss.
KHS is now affiliated with The Federation of Local History Societies
We are delighted to announce that we have joined the Federation of Local History Societies.
The Federation of Local History Societies was established in 1981 to promote the interests of amateur historians and voluntary museums and to represent their views. In the intervening years the number of societies has grown to more than one hundred.
The aims of the Federation are:
To encourage research in the fields of history, archaeology, folk life and folk lore.
To exchange information among affiliated societies through the medium of newsletters, publications, seminars etc.
To develop mutual support among affiliated societies.
To encourage the publication of information of historical interest and the better utilisation of archives.
Members outing to Howth to visit the National Transport Museum of Ireland

Following on from our successful ‘Killiney on the Move’ event which took place last May KHS members have been invited on a private guided tour of the Transport Museum by John Kelleher, Chairman of the NTM. John gave us a talk on the history of Dublin Southern Districts Tramway Company and contributed an article on the topic for our Journal. John and his team also brought along R1, the oldest double deck bus in the country, and our very own’ Honey Cart’ which were the star attractions over the weekend. Dates and further details to follow.
If you would be interested in joining this outing please register your interest by email to: michael@killineyhistory.ie
Other News
Dublin. The Irish Revolution, 1912-23
We would like to bring your attention to an upcoming talk by Brian Hughes on ‘Dublin. The Irish Revolution, 1912-23’ in Pearse Street Library on Wednesday 22nd January at 6.30pm.
Dublin – capital of Ireland and, to some at least, the ‘second city of the Empire’ – was central to the Irish Revolution. But there were many different ‘Dublins’, including the city borough and its suburban townships, picturesque seaside settlements and the Dublin and Wicklow mountains to the south, and a rural hinterland to the north and west. The city was a hub for the development of the suffrage and republican movements. It also witnessed the largest industrial dispute in the history of the island in 1913, the bulk of the fighting at Easter 1916, and some of the most famous (and infamous) moments of the War of Independence and Civil War. There was also a relatively large and well-organized unionist minority, chiefly centred around the southside townships. The north and west of the county, meanwhile, shared more in common with neighbouring counties than with the city.
The book upon which the talk is based provides a rounded and original overview of revolution in both Dublin city and county. It highlights the sometimes vast differences in experience in urban and rural Dublin, and the wide range of political and military activity undertaken by Dubliners. In particular, the book focusses on ‘ordinary’ or rank-and-file participants alongside those who took no part at all but witnessed seminal – and not so seminal – moments in Irish history as they happened around them.
Brian Hughes, a native of west Dublin, lectures in the Department of History at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.
Further information is available here: CLICK
Cockney Rebels – Dún Laoghaire’s connection to the assassination of Field Marshal Henry Wilson
Cockney Rebels is a documentary, from Michael Nolan and DigitalDub.ie, telling the story of the 1922 assassination in London of Irish-born British Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson by two London-born Irish Republicans. It is an event that many believe triggered the start of the Irish Civil War. The main purpose of the film is to explore the connections between that event and the Irish harbour town of Dún Laoghaire on Dublin’s southside.
Watch the trailer here: CLICK
You can watch the full length film The Brack which Michael made with keith Kelly in 2023. The Brack is a social history of the south county Dublin suburb of Ballybrack. It tells the story of its people from the time it was a small rural village on the edge of Dublin through the development of the thousands of local authority houses in the 1970s and 80s. The film was made by Michael Nolan and Keith Kelly and was released on 3rd February 2023. Watch here: CLICK