Local history talks to uncover forgotten stories of Crumlin’s past

“IT GIVES an opportunity to bring to light a part of the history of the area which may be forgotten about,” explains Aidan Hodson, chairperson of the Crumlin & Walkinstown History Group.

The group is hosting two talks with the Dublin Festival of History with Walkinstown Library.

‘300 Years in Crumlin – The Purcell Family of Crumlin House’ will tell the story of the Purcells of Crumlin, one of the suburb’s largest landowners.

This talk will bring attendees through the different generations of Purcells who lived in Crumlin House, now a Salesians House on St Teresa’s Road.

‘Vanishing Crumlin – Before the Fire Station’ presents a rare glimpse into the area around the present-day fire station on Crumlin Road and Rutland Avenue, before the housing scheme transformed it.

See unseen photos, hear long-lost stories of people and bustling businesses, and uncover surprising literary links to Joyce, Beckett, and Shaw.

These talks are based on research which the group has carried out on these topics.

They were presented previously in the past year but were quickly booked out, and so it now provides an opportunity for those who could not attend the last time to have the opportunity to hear the talks this time.

Crumlin & Walkinstown History Group are also pleased to include these talks in the Dublin Festival of History this year.

While working on their research on aspects of local history, Aidan remarks it is “very satisfying” when they find records which “significantly add to our knowledge of people, buildings and places of the area”.

The group have come across a couple of “very interesting” records relating to these two topics and are pleased to be in a position to present this material again to the local community.

Crumlin & Walkinstown History are a group of volunteers who are interested in local history and are involved on a part-time basis, so the time available to spend on group activities is limited.

“In some situations it may take a while to progress projects to the stage when they may be ready,” Aidan explains.

Following on from this, the group will have another talk on November 11, ‘Politics, Posters and the Past’, by Alan Kinsella, who runs the Irish Election Literature site irishelectionliterature.com.

Alan has been collecting political material since the February 1982 general election. Booking for this talk will be announced in the coming weeks.

The group would like to thank the Dublin Festival of History, Dublin City Council local area offices and Walkinstown Library.

‘300 Years in Crumlin’ takes place on October 3, and ‘Vanishing Crumlin’ takes place on October 10. Both talks start at 2:30pm and end at 3:30pm in Walkinstown Library.

Free tickets can be booked from dublincitylibrariesevents.ie for the former or dublinfestivalofhistory.ie for the latter.

For more information, visit the Crumlin & Walkinstown History Group’s website, crumlinwalkinstownhistory.ie, or email them at crumlinwalkinstownhistory@gmail.com.