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A PARK DEDICATED to the memories of the Irish volunteers who died in the 1798 Rebellion will be officially reopened today after it was closed in 2012.
The Croppies Acre Memorial Park on Wolfe Tone Quay closed to the public in 2012 after the Office of Public Works (OPW) – who maintained the park at the time – said that they couldn’t keep it safe for the public.
The park is located close Heuston Station and in front of the National Museum at Collins Barracks on the north side of the River Liffey.
It was designed and laid out in 1998, a year after the Decorative Arts section of the National Museum was opened at Collins Barracks.
However, it was a regular site of anti-social behaviour and drug use throughout the years.
Hypodermic needles were regularly found at the park, and in September 2012 the OPW said that it didn’t have the budget to keep to park safe for the public and permanently padlocked the gate.
The closure came just one year after about €35,000 had been sunk into restoring the park.
In October 2013, a volunteer society undertook a clean up of the park and found multiple used syringes.
The management of the park was handed over to Dublin City Council by the OPW in 2013 and the council’s Parks and Landscapes Services carried out extensive works on it to upgrade it and make it more accessible for the public.
The council said that in total the works cost about €120,000.
Mass grave
Matt Doyle, of the voluntary National Graves Association – which lists and maintains the graves of Irish patriots – said that the organisation was “very happy” that the park was reopening.
“The park used to function very well but then closed due to the lack of funding,” he said.
As well as being a memorial to the Irish rebels who died in the 1798 United Irishmen Rebellion, the park is also home to the Anna Livia sculpture since 2011, which used to sit on O’Connell Street in the place of the Spire.
Recent proposals for the Liffey Cycle Route – a cycle path that would cut through part of the park – have been met with protest from the NGA, which doesn’t want the area disturbed.
The path has also been objected to by a number of city councillors over the fact that a section of it would cut through the memorial park – which many organisations believe is a mass burial ground.
The NGA contend that the park is a mass burial site for rebels who fought in the failed 1798 Rebellion – commonly referred as Croppies due to their close cut hair which mimicked the style of the French revolutionaries at the time.
The NGA and others state that the site was used as a burial site for the Croppies after the rebellion. Matthew Tone, a brother of Theobald Wolfe Tone is reported to be buried there.
However, this fact is disputed by other groups. A recent report carried on behalf of Dublin City Council by Archaeology Plan – a heritage consultancy company – found that the remains may not be buried in the park at all.
The newly renovated park has a new circulatory path system, an upgrading of the existing pedestrian gates and a new pedestrian gate has been installed at the south west end.
Leslie Moore, the city park superintendent for the council said that the new renovation would “benefit the local population and visitors to the city”.
“I would like to thank all involved in making what is essentially a new park available to the people of Dublin,” he said.
Did I just read this..jasyus I did…I did need to get out more..but nobody has ever explained to me why Broccoli goes cold as soon as you cook it..I’ve never had hot Broccoli yet..
@sparky: Broccoli has a very high surface area per unit weight compared to other veg. This high surface area allows for higher rates of heat transfer to occur between the broccoli and the air. The stems of the broccoli are also a lot less dense than other vegetables too so heat transfer occurs more rapidly for that reason as well.
@sparky: always preheat your plate.
Another valuable scientific endeavour….
Thank God for religion, that’s all I can say.
Stephen Hawking must be glad he is still alive to read this. Good to know scientists have their prioritys right. Serious illnesses & research is not important if shoelaces become undone according to these scientists. This is an insult to scientists everywhere.
@Abcd: If you’d bother to actually read the article you’d see that it does have a serious side in preventing injury.
@Jack Cassady: Guess what Jack… turns out God didn’t do this either…
@Paddy Ryan: My shoelaces have not undone since i was about 6. We where taught too secure all footwear & loose clothing especially near any machinery.
@Abcd: move on to ‘é’ and the rest of the alphabet as soon as you can. Then complete your education, concentrating on logic, but not forgetting reading and comprehension. Then read this article once more. If you do not understand it differently the second time around, you are probably ineducable.
Jasus, this article had me in knots.
Double knot always works for me. Takes2 seconds longer to untie but worth it for one pair of athletic shoes with laces that untie within 10 minutes of tying the knot.
Bunny ears, bunny ears, playing by a tree. Criss-crossed the tree, trying to catch me. Bunny ears, Bunny ears, jumped into the hole, popped out the other side beautiful and bold.”
@Colleen McGovern: what you rabbitin’ on about, Willis?
“…unable to lift his foot off the gas…”
Enough of the Yankisms
Hahaha, yet you use an Americanism in your appeal to eschew a ‘Yankism’!
Enough with the Little Englander mentality. The world uses American English and in Ireland we use, increasingly, American spelling. You can color it whatever way you wish, but the English used in Ireland and in our neighboring island is moving toward the American standard.
Seriously
My guess is it’ll be a combination of vibration from the foot/shoe in normal thread action and the laces swinging. The result of both actions causing the knot to work itself loose.
@Paul Downes: My guess is its explained in the article.
Good on you journal. That’s a fine piece of copy and pasting from a piece of news that was reported on around the globe last week.
So, am I right in thinking a bunch of scientists have basically determined through scientific research that lases come undone because we/i don’t make a proper knot?? Out with lases in with velcro. I think we need a tribunal!
Ah lads, this was solved a long time ago. It’s to do with the direction in which you tie the knot. 3 min video on Ted Talks explains it.
Terry Moore: How to tie your shoes
http://go.ted.com/NQ2rKQ
I kid you knot!!!
Who the hell finds this kind of research ? The scouts ?
#Funds#
Jesus these lads are busy
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