Хэрольдс-Кросс: История и география ирландского пригорода Дублина

Suburb of Dublin, Ireland

Harold's Cross is an affluent urban village and inner suburb on the south side of Dublin, Ireland in the postal district D6W. The River Poddle runs through it, though largely in an underground culvert, and it holds a major cemetery, Mount Jerome, and Our Lady's Hospice.

Harold's Cross is situated north of Terenure and Rathgar, west of Rathmines, east of Crumlin and Kimmage, and directly south from the Grand Canal at Clanbrassil Street. It lies within the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council, and straddles the boundary of Dublin 6, Dublin 6W and Dublin 12 postal districts.

The River Poddle runs south to north through the area. At the southern end of the district, the river's course splits at the centuries old "Tongue" or "Stone Boat" with part of its flow diverted underground into the "City Watercourse" culvert, while the mainline continues overground, passing through ponds. The Poddle goes underground between Mount Argus and Mount Jerome, then flows along the cemetery boundary, including the Islamic plot, before going into a culvert at Greenmount, heading for the Grand Canal.

There are a number of competing explanations for the name of Harold's Cross, which has been extant for a very long time, at least several centuries, and indeed whether there was an eponymous Harold, or whether the name referred to a class or group of "Haralds," or where precisely and what form the “Cross” took. Debating the question is considered a good way to start an argument in the area, since there is no clear or contemporaneously recorded answer, with many authoritatively and insistently stated, albeit significantly different explanations since the 19th century, with at least some tenuous justification to each. An aspect of the name theories is that Harold’s Cross lies on the ancient Slíghe Chualann, a major South to North route and one of the ‘Five Great Roads’ of medieval Ireland and a key southern entry point into Dublin City via Clanbrassil Street. One explanation of the origin of the name is that it is derived from the name given to a gallows, which had been placed where the current Harold's Cross Park is situated; however, gallows in medieval times were primarily used to support weighing scales for markets and toll/tax collection and less for executions (see the discussion below.) It is the case that Harold's Cross was an execution ground for the city of Dublin up to the 18th century, but it also was a key entry point to the greater city where tolls might have been collected. In the 14th century a gallows there was maintained by the Archbishop. Another explanation is that Harold's Cross stands on lands which formed, like those of Rathmines, part of the Manor of St. Sepulchre, and its name is said to have originated in a cross which marked the boundary of the lands of the Archbishop of Dublin, and warned the Harolds (or Haralds/Harrals/Harrels), the wild guardians of the border of the Pale near Whitechurch that they must not encroach beyond that point. The De Meones family, who gave their name to Rathmines, also owned lands at Harold's Cross in the fourteenth century. Yet another explanation is that it is derived from a stone cross that marked the boundary of lands held by the Danish Viking Harold family of Rathfarnham in early medieval times, reputedly located at what is now the five road Kenilworth junction on Harold's Cross Road. A variation on these explanations is derived from the traditional use of gallows as public weighing scales (and not just a means of public execution) and suggests that the cross was used to weigh certain goods entering or exiting the city of Dublin by this boundary, so as to charge a tax or tariff, or that a fee was charged by weight for goods crossing a ford over one of the watercourses that predated the Grand Canal by one or more of the families, groups or individuals described as controlling the area above, or alternatively that the cross[ing] was that ford over the river Poddle.

At one side of Harold's Cross is Mount Jerome Cemetery, as mentioned in Joyce's Ulysses, originally one of the residences of an extensive family named Shaw. It is considered Dublin's most gothic cemetery. People buried there include Thomas Davis, George Russell (AE), and Oscar Wilde's father, William Wilde, and mother, in addition to members of the Guinness family and deceased members of the Royal Irish Constabulary. The remains of French Huguenots once buried in St. Peter's Churchyard, Peter's Row (now the location of the Dublin YMCA), which was demolished in the 1980s, are interred here. Other famous graves include those of mathematician William Rowan Hamilton and playwright John Millington Synge. The cemetery was operated from 1837 to 1984 by a private company and now belongs to the Massey family. The creation of the cemetery at Mount Jerome in 1836 by the Protestant Church of Ireland was to counteract the popularity of burials, even among people of their own fraternity at that time, for the new Glasnevin Cemetery opened in 1832. Initially Mount Jerome was an exclusively Protestant cemetery but was later opened up to Catholic burials. There is now also a distinct Islamic plot, to the right near the entrance.

The suburb is also home to Dublin's first hospice, Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross. This palliative care facility was founded in 1879 in a house called Our Lady's Mount (formerly Greenmount), which was previously the Mother House of the Religious Sisters of Charity. Mary Aikenhead, founder of the Sisters of Charity order, lived in Our Lady's Mount from 1845 onwards. She bought a large Georgian house at Greenmount from a famous abolitionist family called Webb who were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers), after she offered more than a rival bid from Mount Jerome cemetery. A new Hospice building was commenced in 1886, and many more buildings followed.

Harold's Cross is well served by public transport; Dublin Bus routes 9, 16, 49, 54a, 83, 83a and S2 pass through it. Dublin Bus also provides a Dublin Bus Nitelink service (49N) that operates the same route as the 49 on Friday, Saturday nights and on public holidays at 00:00, 02:00 and 04:00.

As part of the wider National Transport Authority Bus network redesign program (Bus Connect) Harold Cross will be served by the High frequency Bus Connect Spine F, with up to 5 Minute frequency to the city centre.

The area holds Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic parish church, Mount Argus Monastery and church, Saint Clare's Convent and primary school, and the base of Dublin's Russian Orthodox community. Mount Argus was the official home of Saint Charles of Mount Argus who was a well known Passionist priest in 19th century Ireland, mentioned as a miracle worker in the book Ulysses, Circe chapter. It also has long established links with the Garda Síochána and it was officially the church of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. The first Rector of Mount Argus was Fr. Paul Mary Pakenham who was the son of the Earl of Longford and nephew of Kitty Pakenham (Duchess of Wellington). His first mass took place in a house at the time on 15 August 1856. Irish architect J. J. McCarthy was commissioned to design the new monastery. The Roman Catholic parish church is the Church of the Holy Rosary. The parish is an active one with many contributing to its attendant organisations. The church was built on top of the remains of an old stately house called Mount Harold House at the end of the 19th century. Original floor tiles of the house can still be seen on the chapel floor to this day. Harold's Cross Green was a key meeting point for members of the Society of United Irishmen just before the 1798 Rebellion, rebels such as Thomas Cloney and Myles Byrne meet the commander Robert Emmet to discuss tactics for the pending uprising. Irish Nationalist leader Robert Emmet was captured near Harold's Cross. He lived for a period in a house in Harold's Cross so he could be near his sweetheart Sarah Curran of Rathfarnham. He led an abortive rebellion against British rule in 1803 and was captured, tried and executed. The Grand Canal bridge linking Harold's Cross Road and Clanbrassil Street was named in his honour and a plaque there commemorates him (the bridge was formerly called Clanbrassil Bridge, and is known locally as Harold's Cross Bridge). The father of Patrick Pearse (Pádraic Mac Piarais), James, was a stonemason for Mount Argus Church. The Pearse family had a long association with the Passionists and Mount Argus. Both Patrick and Willie Pearse came for confessions on the day of the Easter Rising. Mrs Pearse and Patrick himself also taught Irish language lessons in the community Scout Hall next to the church. The 1916 Volunteers, who had a training ground in nearby Kimmage, are said to have paid a visit to Mount Argus Church to pray just before taking part in the 1916 Easter Rising. O'Connor's Jewellers on Harold's Cross Road is noted for being the victim of one of the two famous robberies carried out by the notorious Dublin criminal Martin Cahill, "The General" (who is also buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery). Honour Bright, a prostitute (real name Elizabeth (Lily) O'Neill) was murdered in June 1925, and her body found in the mountains. Witnesses last saw her alive at Leonards' Corner, just to the north of Harolds' Cross. Among these industries was the Greenmount Spinning manufacturing powered by the River Poddle, owned by the well known Pim family. James Pim was commonly known as the "Quaker father of Irish railways. Quaker brothers Thomas Pim and Robert Goodbody decided to relocate Goodbody Tobacco manufacturing to Greenville near Harolds Cross after a disastrous fire in their Tullamore premises in 1886; as a result, most of their employees were also relocated to the area, where red brick terrace housing was built in the area by the Dublin Artizans' Dwellings Company, in which the Pim family were prominent members.