Editing Ballsbridge (section)

==History==
18th-century maps show that the area of Dublin that is now Ballsbridge was originally mud flats and marsh, with many roads converging on a small village located around the bridge, and known already as Ballsbridge. Situated on the Dodder, this village had a ready source of power for small industries, including by the 1720s, a linen and cotton printers, and, by the 1750s, a paper mill and a gunpowder factory.<ref name="Eneclann">Eneclann Irish Genealogy and History Research Services, [http://www.sherryfitz.ie/media/BallsbridgeAHistory1.pdf "History of Ballsbridge"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202023207/http://www.sherryfitz.ie/media/BallsbridgeAHistory1.pdf |date=2017-02-02 }}, published by Sherry Fitzgerald realtors, accessed 23 January 2017.</ref>

The land around Ballsbridge was rural and mostly belonged to the [[Earl of Pembroke]]. After the [[Royal Dublin Society]] (RDS) moved into its present site near Ballsbridge in 1879, the Earl of Pembroke began to develop these lands into suburban residential housing. The RDS held their first show on their new premises in the early 1880s.<ref name = "Eneclann"/>  In 1903, the land formerly known as the 'Forty Acres' was given to the city by the Earl of Pembroke to establish [[Herbert Park]].(The Earl of Pembroke's surname was Herbert.)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clerkin |first=Paul |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48467800 |title=Dublin street names |date=2001 |publisher=Gill & Macmillan |isbn=0-7171-3204-8 |location=Dublin |pages=90 |oclc=48467800}}</ref>

Until 1965, there was a well-known botanical garden on Landsdowne Road near Ballsbridge. The garden belonged to [[Trinity College Dublin|Trinity College]], which had leased land from the Earl of Pembroke. In 1960, the original lease from the Pembroke Estate expired and was not renewed. After reducing their size considerably, Trinity decided, in 1965, to close the botanical gardens at that location and to open a new garden at [[Dartry]]. Two hotels now stand on the site.<ref name = "Eneclann"/>

In 1916, the Mount Street bridge, which spans the Grand Canal at the foot of [[Northumberland Road]], was the site of an important battle during the [[Easter Rising]].<ref name = "Eneclann"/><ref>Paul O'Brien, ''Blood on the Streets, the Battle for Mount Street Bridge'', pp.22-23; Max Caulfield, ''The Easter Rebellion, Dublin 1916'', p. 196.</ref> [[The O'Rahilly]], one of the leaders of the Rising, lived at 40 Herbert Park. Another resistance leader, [[Eoin MacNeill]], who refused to participate in the Rising, lived down the road at 19 Herbert Park.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-1916/1916irl/cpr/coir/em/|title=Eoin MacNeill|publisher=Central Statistics Office|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref>