Introduction

Tracing the names of the owners and occupiers of the larger houses of Killiney and Ballybrack is greatly helped by the listings provided in Thom’s and other Directories. Thom’s Irish Almanac and Official Directory was first published in 1844 and grew over time to include among others, a street directory for Dublin, a wide variety of information, events, listings and statistics on the United Kingdom and Ireland. Along with other similar directories, including The Post Office Directory and Pettigrew & Oulton’s Dublin Directory, we are provided with a rich and detailed annual listing for the districts of Killiney and Ballybrack.

A typical listing, as per the example shown here from 1852, sets out the names of the owner/occupiers of the principal houses and public buildings in alphabetical order. These listings were typically updated annually allowing for the tracing of the comings and goings of the residents in the area.

This information is very useful in determining when a house was first built and the gradual increase in the housing stock can be determined with some level of accuracy. However as we analysed the listings over time certain anomalies began to appear as some houses inexplicably vanished from one year to the next without explanation. The reason for this was not necessarily that the house had been demolished, although this was sometimes the case, but it was simply down to a new owner putting their own stamp on the property by changing its name.

This became a challenge at times as linking new names to those no longer being used required a wider knowledge of the subject in order to ascertain the correct result. Fortunately the mapping of both districts is very comprehensive and was updated on a fairly regular basis, roughly every 20 years or so. This allowed for a comparison of house names based on location which was highly accurate. The end result is that we now have a detailed list of about 80 houses which have changed name since first being built. Many on the list no longer exist but gave their names to new housing developments which began to replace the larger estates over the years. This information has allowed us to trace the owners/occupiers of a house, even where a name has changed, and has proved very useful in establishing the year in which the house was first built, which otherwise would be lost.

An interesting example of a house which has changed names many times is a residence which was once called The Whins This proved to be an elusive property to identify in it’s current iteration. When first built in 1912 for J.M. Mitchell, it’s architect owner, it’s exact location was not identified in the street directories or other available records. From c.1913 to 1940 it was called The Whins but the name disappeared from the listings around this time. The Ordnance Survey map of c.1935-38 records the name as Maryknoll although we have found no other instance of this name being used. In the mid forties it was renamed Far Hills by its then owners, The Misses Malone. We were fortunate to come across a deeds map of a nearby house which located Far Hills at the very end of Glenalua Road. A close examination of a set of architectural drawings for The Whins, dated 1912 and obtained from The Irish Architectural Archive, confirmed it to be the same house and the link was established. Given its siting on a rocky outcrop overgrown with furze the choice of name made complete sense and the mystery was solved. It was later, c.1980, to be called Knockbrack until it was more recently renamed as The Rocks.

The listings

Below we provide the list which we have compiled which we hope will be of use to anyone tracing the history of a particular house or those who are trying to identify a house name which no longer exists. Names which are highlighted have dedicated articles providing further information on their history. Use the search box on the right to find the house you are looking for. Enter the new or the old name and if a match is available it will appear below.

Current name	Location	Previous names	Status
Abberley	Shanganagh Road	Farm Lodge	House no longer exists
Abbey Lea	Marino Avenue West	Marino	Original house exists
Aghern, Eversley, Lotherien (Wingfield)	Military Road	Marine/Marino Terrace	#
Albany Court	Shanganagh Road	Albany	#
Anglesey Park	Killiney Road	Mountain View & Anglesea House	House no longer exists
Annabeg	Wyattville Road	Laurelville	#
Ashurst	Military Road	Notre Dame des Bois	Original house exists
Ballinacor House	Church Road	Ballybrack Lodge, Egremont	#
Ballybrack Grove	Wyattville Road	Shanganagh Grove	#
Ballycarbery	Killiney Hill Road	Merton Lodge (demolished)	House no longer exists
Balure	Church Road	Wellington House (1866)
Beech Court Estate	Avondale Road	Beechwood House, Beechwood Hotel	House no longer exists
Belfort	Strathmore Road	Montreale (1866), Monreale (1888), Ardkill	Original house exists
Breffni House	Wyattville Road	Fernmore	#
Buona Vista (demolished)	Killiney Hill Road	Bella Vista & Buona Vista. Tower Hall & Tower Cottage. All now demolished	House no longer exists
Campanella	Marino Avenue West	Campaville	#
Casa Sara	Strand Road	Super Mare	Original house exists
Cliff House	Killiney Hill Road	Greenhill	Original house exists
Comeragh	Claremont Road	Claremount	Original house exists
Deanery, The	Church Road	Obelisk Cottage (1866), St. Germains (site of)	House no longer exists
Donard	Kilmore Avenue	Lecarrow	Original house exists
Dorset Lodge	Killiney Hill Road	Dorset Lodge, St. Declan's	Original house exists
Dun Mhuire	Seafield Road	Inveruisk	Original house exists
Evergreen Lodge	Military Road	Marchington, Cedar Lodge	Original house exists
Eyrefield	Killiney Hill Road	Clooneveen	Original house exists
Galleen	Marino Avenue East	Otago	#
Gayfield	Killiney Hill Road	Clonkeeve	#
Glen Druid Estate	Shanganagh Road	Druid Cottage (1837), Glen Druid	House no longer exists
Glenalua Lodge	Glenalua Road	Derrynane Lodge, Glenalua	Original house exists
Gleneagles	Killiney Road	Urney, Coolmeen, Eagle Lodge	Original house exists
Glenmalure	Kilmore Avenue	Mon Abri	#
Gortnamona	Killiney Hill Road	Cappagh	#
Grove, The	Killiney Hill Road	Glenfield	Original house exists
Haecombe Park?	Killiney Avenue	Cloneevin
Hall, The	Killiney Hill Road	Killiney & Ballybrack Town Hall (1872/1888), Killiney National School	Original house exists
Hamp House	Killiney Hill Road	Kennanmore	#
Holy Child Convent	Military Road	Killacoona, Kildimo	Original house exists
Kenah Hill	St. George's Avenue	Stoneleigh, Frankfort	Original house exists
Kilda Lodge	St. George's Avenue	Drum-Goibhneann	Original house exists
Killiney Castle	Killiney Hill Road	Loftus Hill, Roxboro, Mount Mapas	Original house exists
Killiney Court	Seafield Road	Williams Park	House no longer exists
Kilmarnock	Military Road	Kilmarnock Manor/House, Haldane Grange, Cenacle Convent	Original house exists
Kilmuire	Military Road	Martello Cottage, Little Anstice	Original house exists
Kylemore House	Church Road	Gortmore (1866), Caerleon	#
Lalezar	Killiney Hill Road	Snowdon House (1874), Mount Druid, Marathon?	Original house exists
Lismellow	Killiney Hill Road	Calton House, The Rectory, The Vicarage	Original house exists
Lissadrone	Killiney Hill Road	Clarinda Cottage, Shanganagh Cottage	#
Mafra	Church Road	Edwardville	#
Manderley Castle	Victoria Road	Victoria Castle, Ayesha Castle	Original house exists
Maraviglia	Vico Road	Walton	Original house exists
Maryvale	Church Road	Mafra
Mentone	Military Road	Villa Franca (1866)	Original house exists
Moorfield	Church Road	Sarahville (Saraville on map)	#
Mount Eagle	Vico Road	Coburg Lodge	Original house exists
Mount Mapas	Vico Road	Mount Mapas Cottage	Original house exists
Mount Prospect	Killiney Village	Glenalua House	Original house exists
Mountain View	Killiney Avenue	Mr. Farrell’s Yard and Forge	House no longer exists
Oakdene	Kilmore Avenue	Saintville	#
One Vico	Vico Road	Losset	House no longer exists
Padua	Killiney Hill Road	Desmond	Original house exists
Park House	Killiney Heath	Killiney Park	#
Pink House, The	Strand Road	Dunromin	Original house exists
Rochestown Lodge Hotel	Rochestown Avenue	Stone Ville, Laughton, Benburb Hotel, Victor Hotel	House no longer exists
Rock Lodge	Claremont Road	Plasnewyd	House no longer exists
Rocks, The*	Glenalua Road	The Whins, Far Hills, Maryknoll, Knockbrack	Original house exists
Sea Lodge	Strand Road	Juan	Original house exists
Seafield Court	Seafield Road	Killiney Tennis Ground	#
Shottery, The	Kilmore Avenue	Siotaire	#
St. Mary's	Killiney Village	The Cottage	Original house exists
Stonehenge	Killiney Avenue	Susquehanna	Original house exists
Straide	Military Road	Eden Cottage (1866), Eden Hill (1888), Land League Cottage, Poverty Hall, Roselawn
Summerhill	Marino Avenue West	Santa Severina	#
Violet Hill	Church Road	Violet Hill, Corrig More	#
Weisford	Marino Avenue West	Ardmore	Original house exists
Yellow House, The	Strand Road	Ard na Greine	Original house exists