placenamesFairview
Fionnradharc
Fairview’s park occupies reclaimed shoreline, while its nineteenth-century church and school mark the growth of a north Dublin suburb.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Fionnradharc · Irish · main form · validated name
- Fairview · English · main form
Place & story
Making a park from the Sloblands
Fairview Park was created from tidal mudflats bought by Dublin Corporation from the Dublin Port and Docks Board. Historian Noel Carolan traces the transformation during the first three decades of the twentieth century: land reclamation and waste disposal were followed by wartime food growing, relief work and public park development. Earlier road and railway embankments had already changed the Tolka estuary. The park is part of a landscape repeatedly reshaped for transport, housing and public use. [2]
The Church of the Visitation
Work on the Church of the Visitation began in 1847. The parish records its opening on 14 January 1855 and dedication on 12 October 1856. Patrick Byrne designed the Gothic Revival building, whose pointed windows contain intricate stone tracery. Inside, an exposed timber roof and a carved marble altar and reredos give the interior much of its character. Later porches and other additions continued the use of similar stone and detailing. [3] [4]
Saint Joseph’s and the Charlemont estate
Saint Joseph’s school records a presence on its site from 1888, when much of the surrounding Fairview and Marino area still belonged to Lord Charlemont’s estate. The estate entrance stood between the school and Marino Mart. Its gates carried the Caulfield and Charlemont family motto, part of which survives in the school’s motto, Deo Duce. This small institutional detail preserves a connection with the estate landscape that preceded the surrounding suburbs. [5]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Dublin
- Barony
- Coolock
- Civil parish
- Clonturk
- Within
- Ballybough
- Coordinates
- 53.36125, -6.24235 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1383711 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Fairview. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Fairview Park 1900–1930: forgotten achievements and landscapes · Noel Carolan, Dublin Historical Record 73, 2020
- Church of the Visitation: parish history · Fairview Parish
- St Mary’s Church, Fairview Strand, register 50120066 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- School History · Saint Joseph’s Primary School, Fairview
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2020-07-01. How this page was prepared.