placenamesFirhouse
Teach na Giúise
The Dodder weir links Firhouse to medieval Dublin, while schools, sculpture and a community centre record more recent local life.
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
- Teach na Giúise · Irish · main form · validated name
- Firhouse · English · main form
Place & story
Turning the Dodder towards Dublin
Firhouse Weir is also known as Balrothery Weir and the City Watercourse. In the thirteenth century, water diverted from the Dodder supplemented the Poddle’s inadequate supply to Dublin. South Dublin County Council traces the works to Saint Thomas’s Abbey and an enlargement in 1244. An open channel carried the water towards Templeogue and onward into the Poddle system. Later changes altered the river crossing: a nineteenth-century lattice footbridge was eventually replaced by a new bridge in 1995. [2]
The Carmelite school connection
Maire Uí Mhurchú’s parish history records the arrival of Carmelite sisters from Clondalkin in 1827 and the dedication of their convent chapel the following March. Education became a lasting part of their local role. A two-teacher school built in 1868 served until 1954, when the sisters provided a site for the school now called Scoil Carmel. As housing expanded, school halls also accommodated parish worship before the opening of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on 27 May 1979. [3]
Imogen Stuart’s Stations
Our Lady of Mount Carmel contains Stations of the Cross carved by sculptor Imogen Stuart. The parish identifies the artist explicitly and records that its online reproductions were made with her permission. The carvings bring a named artist’s work into a place used for ordinary parish gatherings and worship, extending the area’s heritage beyond the older convent and river structures. [4]
Residents build a centre
Firhouse Community Centre opened in 1987 after residents combined fundraising, lobbying, grants, local-authority support and a bank loan. A Millennium Wing followed in 2000, again drawing on local fundraising as well as outside support. The centre’s own history records another phase in 2016, with the opening of its Hub Café and the establishment of a Men’s Shed and a Ladies Active Age group. These developments trace the making of shared facilities alongside Firhouse’s residential growth. [5]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Dublin
- Barony
- Uppercross
- Civil parish
- Tallaght
- Within
- Knocklyon
- Within
- Tymon South
- Coordinates
- 53.27293, -6.35092 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 67278 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Firhouse. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Firhouse Weir · South Dublin County Council
- A Short History of the Parish · Maire Uí Mhurchú, Firhouse Parish
- Stations of the Cross by Imogen Stuart, About Us · Firhouse Parish
- About: Firhouse Community and Leisure Centre · Firhouse Community and Leisure Centre
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2024-06-28. How this page was prepared.