placenamesRathmines
Ráth Maonais
The town hall and library preserve the ambitions of a local authority that governed Rathmines before its incorporation into Dublin.
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
- Ráth Maonais · Irish · main form · validated name
- Rathmines · English · main form
Place & story
A township becomes part of the city
Rathmines became a township by Act of Parliament on 22 July 1847. Its initial purpose was sanitary administration, but its responsibilities expanded to include lighting, water supply, drainage and later housing. Rathgar and Sallymount were added in 1862, with Milltown following in 1880. An elected urban district council succeeded the commissioners under the 1898 legislation. In 1930 the district joined Dublin city, ending its separate municipal administration. [2]
The town hall and its clock
Thomas Drew designed the red sandstone and brick town hall, whose construction began in 1895. The council first met there in January 1899. Chancellor and Son made the four-faced clock, which acquired the nickname “four-faced liar” when its faces showed different times. Beyond council business, the building accommodated concerts, dances and other gatherings; Percy French performed there. It served as both a municipal headquarters and a venue for local entertainment. [2]
A Carnegie library and public lectures
The first Rathmines library opened in rented rooms in 1887. Carnegie funding supported a permanent library and technical institute, which opened on 24 October 1913. Inside, a teak staircase led to reference and lecture rooms, while the ground floor included lending and newspaper-reading spaces. Public lectures brought speakers such as W. B. Yeats into the library. Refurbishment completed in 2011 improved access while conserving features including floors, desks and the staircase. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Dublin
- Barony
- Uppercross
- Civil parish
- Saint Peter's
- Coordinates
- 53.31678, -6.27419 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 57184 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Rathmines. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- On This Day: Rathmines Township Created · Dublin City Libraries, 22 July 2015
- Rathmines Library: 100 Years at the Heart of the Community · Dublin City Libraries, 7 October 2013
- Rathmines Town Hall clock tower, Dublin illustration: based on a 440 South of the Grand Canal, Dublin (16 August 2009) by XeresNelro. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2024-06-28. How this page was prepared.