Mount Argus
The original Mount Argus was a tall, red-brick building on a few acres of land through which the River Poddle lazed, owned by a Mrs. Elizabeth Byrne, a widow, and a cousin of Cardinal Cullen. Through the suggestion of Father Matthew Collier, then a curate in Rathmines with the consent of Cardinal Cullen and the co-operation of Very Rev. Father Meagher, Parish Priest of Rathmines, the Passionists established their new retreat there in 1856. The original house and temporary church stood on what is now the Cemetery for Religious at Mount Argus.
The first Mass was celebrated there on August 1856 by Father Paul Mary Pakenham, born in Dublin in 1821, son of the second Earl of Longford, who had been a Captain in the British Army up to the time of his conversion.
Source: Irish Independent 16 Oct 1956
Association with Poddle
The original course of the Poddle after it had given up one third of its water at the Tongue continued its course to Dublin City, flowing through the grounds of the present Mount Argus Church and the former Loaders Park Mills there, then along the present Lower Kimmage Road (flowing under the front gardens of some houses there) and Harold’s Cross Road where it flowed under the Grand Canal and along Clanbrassil Street, Blackpitts, New Row and Patrick Street…
Source: Finola Watchorn – “Crumlin and the Way it Was”
What the Newspapers Say
- Irish Independent 21 Feb 1910: Some remarkable scenes were witnessed in the Harold’s Cross district of suburban Dublin on Saturday owing to the little River Poddle overflowing its banks on high grounds near Mount Argus. The water rushed in a torrent down the upper and lower Kimmage roads, the water in some places being three or four feet deep. Residents in Mount Argus had to travel round by Terenure from the Rathmines district, but fortunately none of the houses were inundated. During the afternoon a “float,” provided by the Rathmines Township’ authorities, arrived on the scene, and was kept busily engaged all through the evening in ferrying passengers from “shore to shore” along the Kimmage roads.
- Irish Press 13 Mar 1937: Dublin Fire Brigade was called out yesterday to pump water from houses in low-lying parts where flooding had occurred, in Rutland Avenue, Larklield Road, Kimmage, Harold’s Cross Green, Mount Argus, and Ashtown. Water entered cottages in Rutland Avenue to a depth of three feet, when the small River Poddle, where it passes underground at Dolphin’s Barn, became choked up about midnight on Thursday. Residents remained up all night endeavouring to make passages for the water to escape. A workman had to climb through a window to get to his work yesterday morning.