Rathgar

Rathgar ("Ráth Garbh" in Irish, meaning "Rough Ringfort") is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, lying about 3 kilometres south of the city centre.

Amenities

Rathgar is largely a quiet, upper middle class suburb with good amenities, including primary and secondary schools, nursing homes, child-care and sports facilities, and good public transport to the city centre. The housing stock largely comprises red-brick late Georgian and Victorian era terraces and much of the area lies within an architectural conservation zone.

Business

It has a variety of retail outlets as well as a good choice of pubs in the village including the 108 Bar and Comans Bar, which run a strict and controversial clamping operation in their carpark. The controversey surrounds Comans' failure to acccept personal checks in return for their unclaming service. Rathgar maintains a nice village feel as it has a bakery, a delicatessen, a butchers, a bike shop and a nice wine shop all within 20 yards of the main cross. A small scale supermarket 'Superquinn' has been started where an old furniture shop was located and is due to be finished by Summer 2008. Good restaurants include Poppadoms (Indian), Bijou (French Style), Monty's (Nepalese) and TK II (Thai).

Also in the area is the Russian Embassy at which many locals left wreaths after the Beslan atrocities.

Health care

Saint Lukes Hospital, Highfield Road, specialises in cancer treatments. This is currently under threat of closure and many of the local residents are opposed to this. Mount Carmel General and Maternity hospital is at the end of Orwell Road.

Churches

Rathgar has a number of fine architectural features, notably Christ Church Rathgar [http://www.christchurchrathgar.org] (part of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland) at the junction of Rathgar Road and Highfield Road in the village centre. The Roman Catholic Church of The Three Patrons (The three patrons referred to are the Patron Saints of Ireland: St Patrick, St. Bridget and St. Columba) on Rathgar Road is known as "The Servants' Church" because in the late 19th and early 20th century it was the place of worship for the large number of servants who worked and lived in the large houses in the area. While externally the church is of little note internally it has a warm and peaceful feel. Both can be seen in the external links section below.

Famous people associated with Rathgar

*James Joyce
*Jack Lynch
*Bram Stoker
*J.M. Synge
*George William Russell

The suburb's most famous son is James Joyce, who was born in Brighton Square. Mr. Jack Lynch, who was Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland intermittently from 1966 to 1979 had his home at Garville Avenue, Rathgar. Also Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, lived in Rathgar on Orwell Park in the later part of his life.

Nearby suburbs

*Rathmines
*Terenure
*Ranelagh

References

O'Connell, Angela. The Servants' Church: history of the Church of the Three Patrons in the Parish of Rathgar. Dublin: Parish Development and Renewal Core Group, Church of the Three Patrons, 2004. 106p. Class no. 29 L.H. (Dublin) / 129

ee also

*List of towns in the Republic of Ireland

External links

* [http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/rathgar/ Irish Architecture - Buildings of interest in Rathgar]
*http://www.christchurchrathgar.org (Christ Church Rathgar, Presbyterian church)
*http://www.dublintourist.com/towns/rathgar/ (Tourist Information)
*http://rathgarresidentsassociation.ie/ (Residents Association)
*http://pix.ie/explore/tag/rathgar (Some pictures of the area)