Balgriffin

Balgriffin (Irish: "Baile Ghrífín" ) is a former rural area near Dublin, Ireland, in the process of becoming a residential suburb, which lies about 6km from the city centre, in the administrative area of Fingal County Council.

Location and transportation

Balgriffin is situated on the Northside of the city, between the suburbs of Coolock, Darndale and Donaghmede, and the remoter areas of Portmarnock and Kinsealy, and with Malahide to the north (beyond Kinsealy, although developments in Balgriffin are sometimes mentioned in the context of Malahide in promotional material). Balgriffin is situated around the Malahide Road, and is served by Dublin Bus.

As of October 2007, Balgriffin is scheduled to move from the Dail constituency of Dublin North to that of Dublin North East.

History

Balgriffin is an old district, whose name can be found on maps, many held in Dublin City Archive and Dublin County Archive, going back hundreds of years. It was historically a lightly-settled area of fields, with a hamlet at a crossroads. It is reputed that St. Sampson had a monastery here, and in the Middle Ages, the De Burgo (Burke) magnates had a base here.

Features

A famous historic building, St. Doulagh's Church, is situated north of the hamlet. St. Doulagh's, which dates from the medieval period, is the last stone-roofed church still in service in Ireland, and has a holy well and baptistry complex in the grounds. It is a Church of Ireland Anglican church today.

Balgriffin has two cemeteries, the older to the west, the newer civic one to the east, and also features a pub, Campion's, and a number of businesses.

Belcamp College, a large secondary school, was a major feature of the area, but has closed, and the extensive grounds largely sold for development, one of several construction projects (with names such as Belmayne) and which will see more than 2,000 homes (a mix of apartments, maisonettes and houses) built in an area which held fewer than 200 until recently. Among other recent developments is a Hilton Hotel, the "Dublin Airport Hilton" just north of the border with Darndale, and alongside apartments and a creche.