Editing Finglas (section)

==History==
===Early history===
Finglas was originally the site of an [[Early Christian]] abbey, the origin of which has been associated, from early times, with the name of [[Cainnech of Aghaboe|St. Cainnech]], or Canice, the patron of [[Kilkenny]], said to have founded it in 560 A.D. According to an ancient legend, the ground on which Finglas stands had been sanctified by [[St. Patrick]], who is said to have uttered a [[prophecy]] that a great town would arise at the ford of hurdles in the vale beneath.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sexton|first1=Peter|title=History of St. Margarets and Finglas|date=2000|page=62}}</ref> The Nethercross from the first abbey can be seen today in the old graveyard.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.stcanices.com/canweb_034.htm | title = Parish of St. Canice - The Cross of Nethercross | publisher = StCanices.com | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130208192838/http://www.stcanices.com/canweb_034.htm |archive-date = 8 February 2013 }}</ref>

St. Canice is said to have been born at Glengiven near [[Derry]]. Several primary schools and churches in the area have been named after Canice, including the local [[Church of Ireland]] church (built in 1843) and [[Roman Catholic]] church (built in 1920 on the site of a much earlier mass house).<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/50130008/st-canices-church-of-ireland-church-street-finglas-dublin-11-dublin | publisher = National Inventory of Architectural Heritage | website = buildingsofireland.ie | title = St. Canice's Church of Ireland, Church Street, Finglas, Dublin 11 | access-date = 9 March 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/50130028/st-canices-church-main-street-finglas-dublin-11-co-dublin | publisher = National Inventory of Architectural Heritage | website = buildingsofireland.ie | title = St. Canice's Church, Main Street, Finglas, Dublin 11 | access-date = 9 March 2021 }}</ref>

===Early modern period===
{{further|History of Ireland#Early modern Ireland (1536–1691)}}
The Finglas or Finglass family,  who were prominent in the legal profession and in politics in the sixteenth century, took their name from the district. The family were recorded in Termonfeckin and Dublin but many of them had by the mid-1700s taken up residence in Drogheda (where they participated in the 1798 Rebellion); newspaper accounts report their opening up the Boyne River for salmon fishing.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In 1649, the [[James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond|Duke of Ormonde]] used Finglas as a staging post for his army before launching an unsuccessful [[Siege of Dublin (1649)|Siege of Dublin]].

Following the [[Battle of the Boyne]] in 1690, Finglas was used as a camp for four days by [[William III of England|William of Orange]] en route to Dublin city. While there he issued the [[Declaration of Finglas]], offering a pardon for many of [[James II of Ireland|James II]]'s defeated supporters.

For almost two centuries, Finglas was well known for its "[[May Day|May Games]]" to celebrate May Day and the coming of spring, and its [[maypole]] "was one of the last to survive in Dublin", according to historian Michael J. Tutty.{{sfn|Tutty|1973|page=70}}
Throughout the eighteenth century, the Finglas
maypole was at the centre of a week of festivity which included "the playing of games, various competitions, and, according to one
account the crowning of 'Queen of the May'."{{sfn|Tutty|1973|page=70}} In a letter written by [[Henry Charles Sirr (town major)|Major Sirr]] dated 2 May 1803, he writes:
:'' "Godfrey and I went to Finglass and found everything in order. Major Wilkinson, who resides, there, waited upon me... and told me there was not the smallest occasion for military aid nor was there the least possibility of any disturbance... I ordered the guard to return to Dublin and these gentlemen and their families seemed quite rejoiced that the old custom of Maying was not to be interrupted in Finglass where that amusement has been kept up for a century past without ever being curbed before".''{{sfn|Tutty|1973|page=70}}

===20th century onwards===
[[File:Finglasstream.jpg|thumb|The Finglas River, for which the area is named; a tributary of the Tolka]]
In 1932, Ireland's first commercial airport was set up at Kildonan in Finglas.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.historicalaviationireland.com/site/kildonan.htm | publisher = The Historical Aviation Society Of Ireland | title = Sites - Kildonan | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110711171841/http://www.historicalaviationireland.com/site/kildonan.htm |archive-date=11 July 2011 }}</ref> It was the site for the first Irish commercial aircraft, a [[Desoutter Mk.II|Desoutter Mark II]] aircraft "EI-AAD", and the first commercial air taxi service, the [[Iona National Airways|Iona National Air Taxis and Flying School]].<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.chaptersofdublin.com/books/General/kildonan.htm | publisher = Chapters of Dublin | title = The Story of Kildonan Aerodrome|url-status = usurped | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071022111731/http://www.chaptersofdublin.com/books/General/kildonan.htm | archive-date = 22 October 2007 }}</ref>

In the 1950s, Finglas was developed with extensive housing estates, to rehouse many north inner-city Dublin residents. Many of these estates, particularly in Finglas West, were named after prominent [[Irish republicanism|Irish republicans]] from early 20th-century Irish history, including [[Kevin Barry|Barry]], [[Roger Casement|Casement]], [[Joseph Mary Plunkett|Plunkett]], [[Liam Mellows|Mellows]], [[Dick McKee|McKee]], [[Conor Clune|Clune]] and [[Peadar Clancy|Clancy]].