Much to discover on the Historic Dundrum Tour!

If you’re looking for a fascinating way to spend a couple of hours this Saturday, the ‘Historic Dundrum’ tour could be just the thing.

John Lennon from the Dundrum Historical Society has been giving the tour every Saturday afternoon as part of the Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown Summer of Heritage. John clearly has deep affection for Dundrum and a matching deep knowledge of the place, it’s past, it’s people, it’s story.

I went on John’s Saturday tour recently and listened in awe to stories of Dundrum spanning a thousand years. We began at Dundrum Castle, which is privately owned still as it has always been, and heard the 600 year adventure of the current building.

We heard of the time when records showed there were 8 families in Dundrum and 2 in Churchtown, of the murders that decimated that tiny population and kept Dundrum as a fearful place for settlers from the city.

We heard the fascinating story of the Dun Emer Craft Guild, whose founder members included the Yeats sisters. The account of the eventually successful efforts to secure the set up of the present library just one hundred years ago this month will surely interest everyone in our area. A highlight of the tour is St. Nahi’s Church, it’s fascinating interior and the many stories of those buried in the Churchyard. For me, seeing the embroidered panels by Lily Yeats in the church and learning for the first time about the Yeats sisters’ links to Dundrum were highlights of a most enjoyable afternoon.