placenamesGarristown
Baile Gháire
An antiquarian account and a parliamentary answer preserve different kinds of evidence for the district.
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
- Baile Gháire · Irish · main form · validated name
- Garristown · English · main form
Place & story
Several mills before the surviving tower
John D’Alton’s 1838 county history describes a 1607 inquisition concerning Sir John Talbot’s Garristown property. It lists a windmill on Holtrass, a disused mill called Mollinbadder and a horse mill, alongside houses and about 326 acres in the townland. This is a more varied milling landscape than the single surviving windmill suggests. The record predates the tower bearing the date 1736; the earlier windmill should not automatically be identified with that surviving structure. [2]
Oscar and Oisín in the remembered landscape
D’Alton also associated Garristown and its surroundings with the legendary struggle between the Fianna and Irish rulers. Among the traditions he cited were Oscar’s death and Oisín’s survival to recount the warriors’ deeds to Saint Patrick. He discussed differing explanations for the conflict, rather than preserving one uncontested version. These are literary and heroic traditions attached to the landscape in his nineteenth-century account, rather than documentary evidence for a battle fought at a securely identified local site. [2]
A road grant still under consideration
On 29 July 1913, John Clancy questioned delays in a grant for the Dublin–Garristown road. Charles Masterman replied that the Road Board had received the final specification on 12 July and arranged an inspection for 31 July, after which the application would be considered. The answer documents a proposal awaiting assessment. It does not establish that funding was then approved or that the work had been completed. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Garristown. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- The History of the County of Dublin1838, Garristown, pages495–499 · John D’Alton
- Dublin–Garristown Road, parliamentary question and answer29July1913, HansardVolume56 · UK Parliament, John Clancy and Charles Masterman
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2024-06-28. How this page was prepared.