Lusk, County Dublin

Lusk (Irish: "Lusca" ) is a large village in Ireland located km to mi | 23 | abbr=yes | precision=0 north of Dublin city centre. The name Lusk dates back to the time of Saint MacCullin, who founded a church there in the 450s. He is reputed to have either lived or been buried in a cave, hence the name Lusk from the Gaelic word Lusca meaning a cave or underground chamber.Lusk is now caught up in the development of greater Dublin and has a growing population. The Central Statistical Office estimates that 62% of all private dwellings in Lusk were built in the five years up to 2006. Educational facilities include an Educate Together primary school. There is a railway station shared with the coastal settlement of Rush.

History

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Lusk is Situated 13 miles north of Dublin City. Fingal is the name given to North County Dublin bounded by the Tolka River to the south and the Delvin River to the north. Fingal is a very old district being about 4 thousand years older than Dublin City. Lusk was the capital of Fingal and was an important village over a very long period. There were originally five provinces in Ireland, the four current ones being Leinster, situated on the eastern area of the island, Munster to the south, Ulster to the north and Connaught to the west. The fifth province was royal Meath, so called because the high king of Ireland had his castle in Meath.

The flag of Fingal is a black raven on a white background. This emblem was adopted as Fingal’s flag after the Battle of Clontarf, now part of Dublin City, in 1014. Brian Boru the king of Munster gathered an army from all over Ireland and finally defeated the Vikings. The black raven standard was captured at the battle, and this was a decisive act in ending the battle. Alas, as one Viking, “Brudar” by name, was leaving the battlefield he saw King Brian praying in his tent and the last to die was the king. Brudar hit him on the head with a battle-axe.

Lusk was a very old religious area with a round tower built circa 9th century. This round tower was built to look out to sea as Vikings raided Lusk on many occasions and burned the Village. The pickings were good in Lusk as the monks had gold and silver chalices and other religious objects. The round tower built of stone could not be burned. The monks would take refuge in this tower with their valuables. The entrance to the tower was 15 feet above ground level. Ladders were used to reach the entrance and pulled up by the monks.

Lusk had a monastery founded by St MacCullin, which was older than St Mobhi’s monastery in Glasnevin. At one time, Rush, now a much bigger town, did not exist but was part of the parish of Lusk.

Lusk was also a port in olden days, which surprises most people, as it is not on the coast. This came about as the boats then were very small and could sail into Rogerstown estuary. When a boat was spotted with a black raven on the sails the alarm would be raised. The Vikings were here. Panic would ensue and the monks would take their valuables up into the tower, pull up the ladder and sit it out. As long as their food and water supply lasted they stayed put until the marauders left. From the top of their tower the monks could see them sail out past Lamb Bay Island on their way to pillage either further along the east coast of Ireland, or the Isle of Man, Wales or the west coast of England.

There was a strong culture in Lusk from the turn of the century and one man who was foremost in promoting this was Thomas Ashe. Thomas was from Lispole, Dingle, Co Kerry and he came to Lusk as headmaster of Corduff primary school. There are 3 schools in Lusk, “Lusk primary, Corduff primary and Hedgestown primary.” Thomas was founder member of the round towers GAA football and hurling clubs founded in 1906 and the Black Raven pipe band in 1910.

Thomas Ashe should have been executed in 1916 as he commanded the Fingal Brigade (old IRA). It has not been established why he was not executed and there are various theories as to this. Just two leaders were not shot, Eamon De Valera and Thomas Ashe. The reason De Valera was not executed was because he was born in New York USA and had a dual passport. Being a citizen of both countries the British thought that it would be unwise to shoot an American Citizen.

However Thomas Ashe did not live out his life expectancy but died in 1917. Thomas, who had continued to fight the British, was jailed in Mountjoy jail. He demanded that he and the other rebels be treated as Prisoners of War and not criminals. This was not granted and he then went on hunger strike. As his condition deteriorated, the British feared he would die, and ordered that he be force-fed. The method used was a tube inserted into the gullet and a funnel attached to the outer end. A sloppy type of food would be poured down into the stomach. However, the tube was not inserted into the gullet but into the windpipe, and his lungs were filled with slop. This killed him (RIP). The football and hurling club and the band he founded still carry his memory and are stronger now than ever before. The GAA club celebrated their centenary a couple of years ago and the band will celebrate theirs in 2010.

Lusk today is a village parish which is growing bigger and bigger each year. It is a town now and this has changed the quiet, sleepy, rural village into an urbanised town. However it is lacking some of the facilities needed to smooth this transition. There is a severe traffic problem, which is compounded by the growth of Skerries and Rush. As the route from these two towns to Dublin is through Lusk, the ring road is essential. However, only half of this road has been built and as a result, motorists trying to get to work in Dublin, Swords, and all the suburbs of Dublin City use every possible detour route through the town. Parking is also a problem as there are no car parks except private parks owned by local taverns and clubs, which do not welcome parkers other than their patrons.

The population has quadrupled in the last 5 years and is set to continue with new people from the EU, Africa, South America and many parts of Asia. These people are all made welcome in Lusk.

There are a good range of clubs and groups in the town. There is a soccer club, a GAA club, a judo club, motorcycle club, pipe band, ladies kickboxing club and card players (i.e. whist, bridge, and poker). Other clubs include a Farmers club, heritage group, historical society, tidy towns, golf societies, vintage cars tractors and machinery groups, photography club, kennel club, huntsmen on horseback, darts clubs, pool clubs, senior citizens groups, ballet dancing, Irish dancing, amateur dramatics, ballroom dancing group, a chess club, scouts, horse and dog racing groups, St Vincent de Paul society, meals on wheels etc. Lusk Community Council Ltd was set up to look after the village (as it was then) and liaise with the local government and their reps. LCC is a voluntary organisation and give their time free of charge to the community. Their main responsibility has been to manage the Carnegie Library hall and the old church hall attached to the round tower. They also run the St Patrick’s Day parade each year.

Now there is a lot of building work going on and the LCC is trying to preserve the very old archaeological area in the centre of the village and save some of our Heritage. A new juvenile school-prison for young offenders is to be built in the near future to replace the existing complex. Also a new landfill garbage disposal site is planned to replace the existing site. All of this means that the LCC is stretched to breaking point. A secondary school and an educate together school have to be built; also the 3 primary schools must be enlarged. The educate together school has about 25 different language speaking children on the roll book. This is a major change for Lusk as there had been very few foreign nationals living in the village previously. There are many more in the primary schools and most of these children can speak some English.

All of this means Lusk is changing from a small quiet rural village of about 200 people to a town of about 20,000 or 30,000 people over the next ten years or so. Lets hope it retains some of its heritage, traditions, musical and sporting cultures and mostly the friendly welcome which has been given to all who came to live with us and to all who may yet, may they feel at home in Lusk. (Submitted by Liam Clare)

ee also

* List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Dublin)
* List of towns and villages in Ireland

External links

* [http://www.dublintourist.com/towns/rush_and_lusk/ Tourist Website]
* [http://www.luskunited.com Lusk United Football Club]
* [http://roundtowers-l.dublin.gaa.ie/ Round Towers Lusk GAA]