Tallaght ( ; , ) is a southwestern outer suburb on the southside of Dublin, Ireland, and is the county town of South Dublin. Tallaght was the site of a monastic settlement from at least the 8th century, which became one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres.
Up to the 1960s, Tallaght was a small village in County Dublin, linked to several nearby rural areas which were part of the large civil parish of the same name—the local council estimates the population then to be 2,500.Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland: County Development Plan 2004–2010, p. 78 Suburban development began in the 1970s and a "town centre" area has been developing since the late 1980s. There is no legal definition of the boundaries of Tallaght, but the 13 electoral divisions known as "Tallaght" followed by the name of a locality have, according to the 2022 census, a population of 81,022, up from 76,119 over six years. This makes Tallaght the largest settlement on the island without city status, though there have been calls for it to be declared one.
The village core of the district is located north of, and near to, the River Dodder, and parts of the broader area within South Dublin are close to the borders of the local authority areas of Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, and close to the borders of County Kildare and County Wicklow. Several streams flow through the area, notably the Jobstown or Tallaght Stream (a tributary of the Dodder), and the Fettercairn Stream (a tributary of the River Camac), while the Tymon River, the main component of the River Poddle (Liffey tributary), rises in Cookstown, near Fettercairn.
Tallaght is also the name of an extensive civil parish, which includes other areas of southern and southwestern Dublin, from Templeogue to Ballinascorney in the mountains. A book about the civil parish was published in the 19th century, The History and Antiquities of Tallaght in the County of Dublin, written by William Domville Handcock.
Etymology The place-name Tallaght is said to derive from támh-leacht, meaning "plague pit" in Irish, and consisting of "támh", meaning plague, and "leacht", meaning grave or memorial stone. The earliest mention of a Tallaght is in Lebor Gabála Érenn ("The Book Of Invasions"), and is there linked to Parthalón, said to be the leader of an early invasion of Ireland. He and many of his followers (9000) were said to have died of the plague. The burials that have been found in the Tallaght area, however, are all normal pre-historic interments, mainly from the Bronze Age, and no evidence of a mass grave has been recorded. The Annals of the Four Masters record the legendary event as follows:
In translation:
The name in Irish, Tamhlacht, is found at other places, such as Tamlaght in Magherafelt District, Northern Ireland, though the mention of Eadoir, probably Binn Éadair (Howth) in the passage below, suggests that Tallaght is the more likely location for this tale.
Places near Tallaght featured in the ancient legends of the Fianna, a band of warriors that roamed the country and fought for the High King at Tara. In Lady Gregory's Gods and Fighting Men, mention is made of, in particular, Gleann na Smól: in Chapter 12 "The Red Woman", on a misty morning, Fionn says to his Fians, "Make yourselves ready, and we will go hunting to Gleann-na-Smol". There they meet Niamh of the Golden Hair, who chose Oisín from among all the Fianna to be her husband, told him to come with her on her fairy horse, after which they rode over the land to the sea and across the waves to the land of Tír na nÓg.
History
8th to 12th centuries The monastery of Tallaght by St. Maelruain in 769 and was a centre of learning and piety, associated with the Céli Dé spiritual reform movement. This and the monastery at Finglas were known as the "two eyes of Ireland".Feastdays of the Saints, 2006; Ó Riain, Pádraig St. Aengus was one of the most notable of the Céli Dé and was devoted to the religious life. A band of followers accompanied him at all time, distracting him from his devotions. In secret, he travelled to the monastery at Tallaght where he was unknown and joined as a lay brother, remaining there many years until Maeilruain uncovered his identity. They may have written the Martyrology of Tallaght together, and St Aengus also wrote a calendar of saints known as the Félire Óengusso ("Martyrology of Aengus"). St. Maelruain died on 7 July 792 and was buried in Tallaght. The influence of the monastery continued after his death, evidenced by the ability of the monks of Tallaght to prevent the holding of the Tailteann Games in 806, owing to some infringement of their rights.
The monastery was raided by the Vikings in 811, but not destroyed, and the annals of the monastery continued to be recorded for several 100 years after. Following the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1179, Tallaght and its appurtenances became part of the Diocese of Dublin and the property of the Archbishop. No trace of the monastic settlement remains today.
13th to 20th centuries Throughout most of the 13th century Tallaght existed in a state of relative peace, until the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles, joined by many of the Archbishop's tenants, took "offensive action". This resulted in the land was not being cultivated, the pastures were not used by livestock and the holdings were deserted. The bailiffs of Tallaght received a royal grant to enclose the town of Tallaght in 1310. There are no traces of the defensive structures now, and their exact location is unknown apart from the name of the Watergate Bridge spanning the Dodder on the Oldbawn Road. In 1324, the construction of Tallaght Castle began, and it was finished sometime before 1349. It was reported as being in need of repair a century later.
The 17th and 18th centuries brought many changes to Tallaght. Many mills were built along the Dodder and this brought new prosperity to the broad area, which saw the building of many houses.
When Archbishop Hoadly replaced Archbishop King in 1729 he found the castle in ruins and had it demolished, building himself a palace at a cost of £2,500. By 1821 the palace too had fallen into ruin and an Act of Parliament was passed which stated that it was unfit for habitation. The following year it was sold to Major Palmer, Inspector General of Prisons, who pulled the palace down and used the materials to build his mansion, Tallaght House, as well as a schoolhouse and several cottages. Parts of Tallaght House, including one tower, were incorporated into St Joseph's Retreat House, situated on the grounds of St Mary's Priory; the rest was demolished. That tower contains a spiral staircase and was originally four storeys high but is now reduced internally to two. Attached to the castle was a long building that was used in the archbishop's time as a brewery and later as a granary and stables. When the Dominicans came, it was converted into a chapel and was used as such until 1883, when the new church dedicated to Fr Tom Burke (now the older part of the parish church) was built.
The Dominicans came to Tallaght in 1842 and soon established a priory that was also a seminary for the formation of Dominicans in Ireland and on missions in Trinidad and Tobago, South America, Australia, India, and elsewhere. The cramped accommodation of Tallaght house was replaced by the austere priory in phases of 1864, 1903 and 1957. The work that goes on in these buildings is varied: St Joseph's retreat house, the Tallaght parish, St Catherine's counselling centre, at least two publishing enterprises, individual writing and international research in several domains.
The grounds of the Priory, the old palace gardens, still retain older features such as the Archbishop's bathhouse, the Friar's Walk and Saint Maelruain's Tree, an 18th-century Persian walnut.
Along an old road from Clondalkin to Tallaght were the Commons of Tallaght, an area which had been enclosed in 1829. On these commons, horse races were frequently held until the mid to late 1800s.
The old constabulary barracks on the main street were the scene of the engagement known as the 'Battle of Tallaght', which occurred during the Fenian Rising on 5 March 1867. On that night the Fenians moved out to assemble at the appointed place on Tallaght Hill. The large number of armed men alarmed the police in Tallaght who sent a warning to the nearest barracks. There were fourteen constables and a head constable under Sub-inspector Burke at Tallaght, and they took up a position outside the barracks where they commanded the roads from both Greenhills and Templeogue. The first body of armed men came from Greenhills and, when they came under police fire, retreated. Next, a party came from Templeogue and was also dispersed. In 1936 a skeleton, sword-bayonet and water bottle were found in a hollow tree stump near Terenure. It is thought that these were the remains of one of the Fenians who had taken refuge there after the Battle of Tallaght and either died of his wounds or was frozen to death.
In 1888 the Dublin and Blessington Steam Tramway opened and it passed through Tallaght Village. This provided a new means of transporting goods and also brought day-trippers from the city.
Modern development
In 1821, the population of the civil parish of Tallaght was 4,348 people. By 1961, more than a century later, the population had remained practically static at 4,565.
While no plan was formally adopted, Tallaght was laid out as a new town, as set out in the 1967 Myles Wright masterplan for Greater Dublin (this proposed four self-contained "new towns" – at Tallaght, Clondalkin, Lucan and Blanchardstown – around Dublin, all of which were, at that time, villages surrounded by extensive open lands, with some small settlements). Many of the social and cultural proposals in this plan were ignored by the Dublin local authorities, and contrary to planners' suggestions, Tallaght and the other "new towns" were not provided with adequate facilities. Characterised by the same problems associated with poorly planned fringe areas of many European cities, during the 1970s and 1980s Tallaght became synonymous with suburban mismanagement.
The development of high-density housing in Tallaght began about 1969, and by 1996 had become Dublin's largest suburb with a population of 85,000, with many residents having been prompted to move to Tallaght from substandard or overcrowded conditions in inner-city areas of Dublin, whilst others moved to Dublin from rural parts of Ireland in search of better opportunities. In a Dáil Éireann debate in May 1996, it was noted that "Tallaght (was comparable with) the size of Limerick — 97,000 people live there". (See: List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland)
In January 1985, the Community Training and Employment Consortium (COMTEC) was established in Tallaght by the Youth Employment Agency, with its objective being to "to bring together and coordinate the work of manpower and education agencies in the area, and to promote community involvement in local provision of manpower services."
The lack of amenities or job prospects in Tallaght afforded to the sudden influx of newcomers was still being felt into the early 1990s, with people complaining of isolation, in an area that felt like it was composed solely of 'the houses and the mountains' according to one resident. John Reid, a staff member at Tallaght Community Workshops, spoke in 1992 of the failures of planners as he saw it: