placenamesFoxrock
Carraig an tSionnaigh
Foxrock developed as a nineteenth-century garden suburb. Its later heritage includes Samuel Beckett's local associations and a restored telephone kiosk given a new community use.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Carraig an tSionnaigh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Foxrock · English · main form
Place & story
The garden suburb scheme
The council's conservation-area assessment traces Foxrock's development to William and John Bentley and Edward and Anthony Fox, who leased the estate lands in 1859. William Bentley promoted a garden suburb offering large houses within commuting distance of Dublin, alongside ornamental grounds intended to attract visitors. The council's reading of the 1871 Ordnance Survey map identifies the roads laid out during the 1860s, including Torquay, Brighton and Westminster Roads. Later golf-course development truncated two other planned routes. [2]
Beckett’s Foxrock associations
Samuel Beckett was born on 13 April 1906 at the family home at the corner of Kerrymount Avenue and Brighton Road. The local community association's heritage account records his attendance with his mother at Tullow Church, where his niece Caroline Murphy unveiled a commemorative plaque in 2016. Beckett Green in the village also bears his name. These are specific links between Foxrock and the writer who later settled in Paris and received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. [3]
A telephone box becomes a library
Foxrock's concrete telephone kiosk, installed in 1926, survives in the village centre with its metal glazing bars. Foxrock Area Community and Enterprise organised its restoration by Paul Murphy in March 2024, with county-council funding. With the public telephone no longer operating, the restored box was fitted out as a small community library. The project preserved the structure while giving residents another reason to use it. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Foxrock. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Foxrock Architectural Conservation Area: Character Appraisal, historical development p6 · Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
- Foxrock heritage: Samuel Beckett and telephone box restoration · Foxrock Area Community and Enterprise; Beckett account from Feargal Whelan’s2019programme notes
- Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour near Foxrock, as photographed in 2013 illustration: based on a Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Foxrock by Darrin Antrobus. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2011-07-11. How this page was prepared.