Editing Ballsbridge

{{short description|Southside suburb of Dublin city, Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox settlement
| settlement_type          = Suburb
| name                     = Ballsbridge
| other_name               = {{Pad top italic|Droichead na Dothra}}
| image_skyline            = Herbert_Park,_Ballsbridge.jpg
| image_caption            = [[Herbert Park]] is a prominent local amenity
| pushpin_map              = Dublin
| pushpin_label_position   = left
| pushpin_map_caption      = Location in Dublin
| coordinates              = {{coord|53.329|-6.231|region:IE|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type         = Country
| subdivision_name         = Ireland
| subdivision_type1        = [[Provinces of Ireland|Province]]
| subdivision_name1        = [[Leinster]]
| subdivision_type2        = [[Local government in the Republic of Ireland|County]]
| subdivision_name2        = 
| subdivision_type3        = Local authority
| subdivision_name3        = [[Dublin City Council]]
| subdivision_type4        = Dáil Éireann Constituency
| subdivision_name4        = 
| subdivision_type5        = EU Parliament Constituency
| subdivision_name5        = [[Dublin (European Parliament constituency)|Dublin]]
| unit_pref                = Metric
| area_code_type           = Dialing code
| area_code                = 01, +353 1
| postal_code_type         = [[Postal codes in the Republic of Ireland|Postal district(s)]]
| postal_code              = [[Dublin 4|D4]]
| population_as_of         = 
| population_urban         = 
}}
[[File:Ballsbridge In Dublin (Ireland) - Ball's Bridge - panoramio.jpg|thumb|250x250px|The bridge referred to as Ball's Bridge. This is not the original bridge of that name.]]
[[File:U.S. Embassy Chancery Building in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Embassy of the United States in Dublin|American embassy]] (Chancery), 2018]]
'''Ballsbridge''' ({{irish place name|Droichead na Dothra|[[River Dodder|Dodder]] bridge}}) (from historic '''Ball's Bridge''') is an affluent neighbourhood of the city of [[Dublin]], the capital of Ireland. The area is largely situated north and west of a three-arch stone bridge across the [[River Dodder]], on the south side of the city. The sign on the bridge still proclaims it as "Ball's Bridge", in recognition of the fact that the original bridge on that location was built and owned by the Ball family, a well-known Dublin merchant family in the 1500s and the 1600s.<ref>At least three generations of the Ball family were elected mayors and sheriffs of Dublin, including [[Walter Ball (alderman)|Walter Ball]]. See 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 current bridge was built in 1791.

Ballsbridge was once part of the [[Pembroke, Dublin|Pembroke Township]].

==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>

==Popular culture==
The date of 16 June 1904, now commemorated as [[Bloomsday]], was chosen by the writer [[James Joyce]] for the setting of his novel [[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]] because it was the date on which he lost his virginity to his girlfriend [[Nora Barnacle]] - Joyce was renting a room at the time in a house at 60 Shelbourne Road.

In the 1940s and 50s, the writer [[Brendan Behan]] lived in Ballsbridge, as did the poet [[Patrick Kavanagh]], who lived at 62 Pembroke Road. Busts of Behan and Kavanagh are on display at two pubs along Pembroke Road, Searson's and the Wellington. Kavanagh wrote his famous poem [[On Raglan Road]] about a girl he met on that street in 1944.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/the-beauty-who-inspired-kavanaghs-raglan-road-25912242.html|title=The beauty who inspired Kavanagh's "Raglan Road"|date=29 June 2004|work=The Independent}}</ref>

==Buildings, structures and parks==
The bridge itself forms the heart of the Ballsbridge suburb which extends northwards towards the Grand Canal along Northumberland Road up to Haddington Road and Shelbourne Road, southwards along the [[Merrion Road]] towards Merrion and along [[Anglesea Road]] towards [[Donnybrook, Dublin|Donnybrook]], and westwards to encompass the area around Pembroke Road, [[Clyde Road (Dublin)|Clyde Road]], Elgin Road and [[Herbert Park]]. The bridge was extensively modernised and widened by 24 feet in 1900 by [[William Kaye-Parry]].<ref>{{cite web |title=CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BALLSBRIDGE Dictionary of Irish Architects - |url=https://www.dia.ie/works/view/33175/CO.+DUBLIN%2C+DUBLIN%2C+BALLSBRIDGE |website=www.dia.ie |access-date=11 September 2023}}</ref>

[[Herbert Park]], a public park, is thirty-two acres in size and is divided by a road, also called Herbert Park, and forms part of Ballsbridge's nebulous border with [[Donnybrook, Dublin|Donnybrook]].

The [[Royal Dublin Society]] (RDS) has its grounds here, and the [[Lansdowne Road]] headquarters of the [[Irish Rugby Football Union]] (IRFU) is on the boundary between Ballsbridge and [[Irishtown, Dublin|Irishtown]]. The corporate headquarters of [[Allied Irish Banks]] (AIB) are also located in Ballsbridge. The former [[Pembroke Town Hall, Dublin|Pembroke Town Hall]] is located to the immediate northwest of the RDS.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.patrickcomerford.com/2015/10/pembroke-town-hall-and-library.html|title=Pemroke Town Hall and Library|publisher=Patrick Comerford|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref>
[[File:Ballsbridge (Dublin) - panoramio (2).jpg|thumb|250x250px|Ballsbridge features architecture from the [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]], [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]], and [[Edwardian architecture|Edwardian]] periods and is known for its high property prices<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ireland's most expensive home: Seeking €14m for the finest house on Ailesbury Road|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/new-to-market/ireland-s-most-expensive-home-seeking-14m-for-the-finest-house-on-ailesbury-road-1.4672741|access-date=2022-01-30|website=The Irish Times|language=en}}</ref> ]]
Ailesbury Road, along with adjacent [[Shrewsbury Road]], contains the most expensive properties in [[Dublin]], and the roads are featured in the  Irish edition of the board game ''[[Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]''. Shrewsbury Road was the sixth most expensive street in the world in 2007.<ref>{{cite news|first=Andrew|last=Clark|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/05/dublin-housing-market-crisis-bailout|title=The roof falls in on Ireland's Millionaires Row|newspaper=The Observer|publisher=Guardian Media Group|date=5 December 2010|access-date=5 December 2010}}</ref>

Many of Dublin's embassies and diplomatic residences are located in the southern part of Ballsbridge on and around [[Ailesbury Road]]. The [[Embassy of the United Kingdom, Dublin|British]], American, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Israeli embassies are all located in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0821/viable-explosive-made-safe-in-tallaght-dublin.html|title=Four call outs for Army Bomb Disposal Team|work=RTÉ News|publisher=RTÉ|date=21 August 2012|access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref>

The U.S. embassy, an iconic cylindrical building, is a major landmark in present-day Ballsbridge. It was designed in 1955 by [[John M. Johansen]], Professor of Architecture at [[Yale University]]. The project was 9 years in incubation and the building was inaugurated in 1964.<ref name = "Eneclann"/>

[[Gurunanak Darbar, Ireland|Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar]], the place of assembly and [[place of worship|worship]] for the Irish [[Sikh]] community, is located on Serpentine Avenue. It is located on the site of the old Oscar Cinema which the community purchased in 1987.<ref>{{Cite web|last=McGuire|first=Erin|date=2019-10-23|title=Sikh Dubliners Dream of a Bus Route That Would Connect Their Community|url=https://dublininquirer.com/2019/10/23/sikh-dubliners-dream-of-a-bus-route-that-would-connect-their-community|access-date=2022-06-13|website=Dublin Inquirer|language=en}}</ref>

==Transport==
The [[Dublin Area Rapid Transit|DART]] train passes nearby, stopping at [[Lansdowne Road railway station|Lansdowne Road]] (which is also frequently served by [[Commuter (Iarnród Éireann)|commuter]] services) and [[Sandymount railway station|Sandymount stations]].[[File:DART Lansdowne-Road RFG - LV - Stn.jpg|250px|right|thumb|A DART train passes under the [[Lansdowne Road|Lansdowne Road Rugby Stadium]] (since demolished and replaced by [[Aviva Stadium]]) and over the level crossing as it enters [[Lansdowne Road railway station]], 2005]]

Ballsbridge used to be served by the [[Dublin tramways]] 6, 7 and 8, and also served as the terminus for tram line 5 back when Ballsbridge was still known as [[Pembroke, Dublin|Pembroke]]. The tram lines were closed throughout the 1930s and 1940s and the 6, 7 and 8 were the last to close, with all three ending on 9 July 1949.

Ballsbridge is serviced by the following bus routes: 
* 4 [[Ballymun]] to [[Monkstown, County Dublin|Monkstown]]
* 7 [[Cherrywood, Dublin|Cherrywood]] to [[Dublin]]
* 7a [[Loughlinstown]] to Dublin
* 18 [[Palmerstown]] to [[Sandymount]]
* 27X [[Coolock#Clare Hall|Clare Hall]] to [[Belfield, Dublin|Belfield]]

A number of services have been withdrawn due to [[Dublin Bus]]' ''Network Direct'' route restructuring programme.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/News-Centre/Archive/Routes-5-7-7a-7b-7d-7e-8-11a-and-11b-changes/ |title=Routes |work=Dublin Bus }}{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Aviva Stadium]]
* [[Marian College (Dublin)|Marian College]]
* [[Sandymount]]
* [[St Bartholomew's Church, Dublin]]
* [[List of towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland|List of towns and villages in Ireland]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Dublin residential areas}}

[[Category:Ballsbridge| ]]
[[Category:Towns and villages in Dublin (city)]]
[[Category:Townlands of County Dublin]]
[[Category:Dublin (barony)]]