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PLANS TO DEVELOP a €19 million visitors centre at the Hellfire Club has been defended by Coillte and said it will ”bring the Dublin mountains to life”.
The flagship visitor facility has come in for criticism from some local groups who claim the development will damage the natural environment of the mountains.
However, Coillte is understood to have told Agriculture Minister Michael Creed that the centre will be of benefit to the city’s residents and visitors from overseas.
The ambitious plans submitted by South Dublin County Council, supported by Coillte, will see a series of attractions put in place. They include:
The proposed flagship Visitor’s Centre would feature its own viewing terraces offering views of Dublin, and of the Wicklow Mountains, and would be on the eastern side of Montpelier Hill.
Coillte have pointed out that there is currently no orientation facility for visitors to the Dublin Mountains and said the development will make the trails, heritage and landscapes of the mountains far more accessible to those who are visiting for the first time, both from Ireland and overseas.
“I understand that many people enjoy forest recreation and that it enhances both physical and mental wellbeing. Coillte further advise that this development will bring the Dublin mountains to life for many of the city’s residents and visitors from overseas,” said the minister.
Creed said there has been extensive consultations with the local community.
He said that Massey’s wood is being retained in its entirety, adding that the project will also see the removal of laurel and invasive species from along the stream and river edges, opening up the vistas along the watercourses enjoyed many years ago.
“I am advised, in relation to the Hellfire property, it is proposed to change more than twenty hectares of conifer forest to native mixed broadleaves over a ten to twenty year period and therefore to grow the biodiversity of this area also, he said.
The minister said the trail around the top of Montpelier Hill will give a 360-degree panorama over Dublin City and Bay and south to the Wicklow Mountains, “all brought to life with information panels as the breath-taking views change along the route”.
The planning application for the development is yet to be lodged with An Bord Pleanala. Following that, Creed said there will be further consultations with the local community and businesses in the area.
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Soon as it’s finished.it will be pay for parking .pay into the visiting centre or what ever else they can screw you for.
Take cliffs of moher as a example.
@arkle212:
Then don’t go there
@arkle212: They have a great system at the Lough Key forest park near Boyle, Co. Roscommon where it is free to drive in but you pay to leave. Works a treat whereby if you spend ssome money in the visitor centre they will give you a free token for the automatic barrier.
What about the rare birds and animals that have made this area their home such as the Irish red squirrel, woodpeckers and hen harriers. The construction of a treetop walkway (that will look like the pedestrian bridge at The Square in Tallaght) will have no small impact on the red squirrel as they live in the tree tops. The people of the area do not want this development which is designed to make money. Take a stand to save Hellfire Club and Massy’s Wood, Sunday 28th May1pm. Assemble at the carpark Event supported by Frances Black, Keep Ireland Open, Save the Hellfire https://www.facebook.com/SavetheHellfire/, People Before Profit and many other NGOs, artists and local groups.
@Eithne Brew: Obviously some people don’t want it and BTW squirrels forrage for food on the ground too and won’t be put off by visitors at night or early in the morning I can assure you. As for the Hellfire Club this is just a relatively recent build ruin and archealogists digging there last Autumn found practically nothing more than many people would find in their own back gardens.
If the people of Dublin don’t want the money spent on a local community project then there are plenty of other places around the country crying out for funding.
@Chris Kirk: Again, that is a very misinformed comment Chris. As the archaeologist who carried out the excavation I can tell you that we found megalithic art, a beautiful polished stone axehead, debitage from the production of lithic tools amongst other artefacts. More importantly, we found that part of the cairn remained intact, and other significant archaeological features that point towards the remains as being a Neolithic passage tomb of some significance. I don’t know many people with one of those in their back garden.
@Neil Jackman: As you know Neil we have a rath in our virtual back garden with a church built upon it. If we had some serious archealogy done around Gartnanoul megalithic tomb for example then who knows what you might find there just beneath the surface. Why do we assume that places are only special after digging takes place. History is al around us from the dawn of time and certainly in our location from the ice-age.
@Chris Kirk: “Why do we assume that places are only special after digging takes place” – I’m not sure what you mean by that, I certainly dont assume that and nor does anybody else.
The site at the Hellfire Club was recorded as a possible passage tomb, therefore it was already considered significant. The excavation proved that it is a Neolithic passage tomb, and discovered key additional information. You just wrote it off in your previous comment as being “nothing more than someone would find in their garden”.
Both Gortnanoul and the Church of the Rath are very interesting sites indeed, but it isn’t appropriate to archaeologically excavate every site. Excavation is usually a last resort (the Hellfire Project has been ongoing for four years through research and non-invasive techniques prior to the dig). You need to have a clear research question that only excavation can answer after exhausting all other possibilities. We don’t dig just for the sake of digging.
@Neil Jackman: Tongue in cheek, I can’t argue enough the value of what you do as an archaeologist. Some of us would say that digging up what other people have thrown away helps us to understand how people lived their lives centuries ago. Finding a polished stone axe for example is important to your knowledge of the site and perhaps what you expected to find as proof of habitation, or ceremonial burial perhaps. For me in my garden to dig up a couple of broken clay pipes these days is proof enough to me that somebody was here before me. But if I dig deeper and unearth a lump of jurasic mud stone with embedded seashells dating from before the ice-age. Whatever it is, surely must come down to interpretation of where we live rather than what we throw away.
@Neil Jackman: There were 42 mills along the Dodder at one stage. There are a lot more artefacts from the Dodder at Firhouse already in the National Museum than what you found up at the Hellfire club. Our Community Council put forward a plan to restore one of the Old Mills and Waterwheel into a bakery/coffee shop and electric car charging station. The Victory Centre is an empty building providing an ideal Heritage Centre instead of the empty eye sore it is for the last years. Our plan also included the provision of a trout hatchery with its educational benifits added to the fact that it would be located between at least 10 schools. The proposal would have attracted far more tourists who would spend far more money for a proposal that would have actually made profits instead of costing over 20 Million – and if you want to see how visit Lough Currane in Waterville and see how a huge industry was created in exactly the same way. This proposal at the hellfire club comes from the heads of pure looneys.
@Tom Fennelly: I’ve nothing to do at all with the proposed development Tom. The archaeological project has been going on for years and predates the idea for a new interpretative centre.
I’m currently neither for nor against the proposed centre, and I’d like more information about the proposed development before condemning or supporting. The Hellfire Club is a remarkable place with an incredible story, and I would like to see that free public access to the site continues, and that it’s heritage (both natural and archaeological) continues to be protected, and if possible, enhanced.
Your project sounds really interesting and sounds like it would be a great fit for Leader funding. I wish you every success with it.
This is Ireland. Unless it’s a four storey office block or two up two down you won’t be building it anywhere. To add insult to injury if you stand on top of the Hellfire Club with a pair of binoculars you can see the outline of the Clontarf sea wall which is totally not on.
When completed it will be handed
Over to the nuns
How about expand the carpark (it’s full by 9am on a Sunday), build the visitor centre near the carpark, provide maps and signs along the paths and, most importantly of all, keep it all free of charge.
@Martin Flood
I want it but I don’t want to pay for it
@P.J. Nolan: The idea is it encourages people to get off their arses and exercise. This benefits everyone in the longterm, including narrow-minded, greedy government bodies.
@Martin Flood:
So the only thing stopping people from exercising is the entry fee.
How do gyms survive?
@P.J. Nolan: Stopping people, no. Discouraging people, yes. Cost is always a factor when making decisions. Gyms would be a lot more popular if they were free, no? But sticking to the point, I feel it’s the duty of the government to provide health and education for free whenever possible. In the case of the Hell Fire Club, they own the land, so the initial cost of the project would be relatively minor.
@Martin Flood: Cost doesn’t stop people from visiting the Cliffs of Moher, in fact overseas visitors appreciate it even more when they have to put their hand in pocket. Good facilities people look for these days don’t come cheap but there is value when it is done properly.
@Chris Kirk: Actually good facilities can come cheap, depending on what’s required. In this case a simple café, a larger carpark, toilet facilities and a few decent signs. Hardly comparable with The Cliffs of Moher visitors centre (which can be accessed for free by non-motorists). My concern is that the powers-that-be will be greedy and try to profit from what should be a simple family day out.
Fantastic
They could tone it back a bit, its all a bit much and the figure will likely rise mid-development
Looks good if it ever gets built. But they need to sort out the parking situation up there asap. Not a weekend goes by without several cars being broken into.
Coilte land should be returned to normal agriculture so that we can replace food imports
and/or export more food.
@Moorooka Mick:
Have you any idea of the cost of doing that? Stump removed and then how long before the land is fertile again?
Considering the , generally speaking, poor quality of Coillte lands it would be completely uneconomical.
@Moorooka Mick: Ah yeah, give it to the farmers and let their cows graze and fart. Great idea to protect the environment .
@Just Me:
Ha ha nice one didn’t think of that angle
@Moorooka Mick: You could say that about a lot of land around the country which is totally neglected. Trees are equally important to the eco system.
@Chris Kirk:
Good quality land should not be planted, in fairness it rarely is, but there is plenty of very poor land that would produce a lot more in timber than it ever will in food.
As a local a lot of what this project is proposing is badly needed up there. The parking situation is dreadful and on weekends with fine weather causes dangerous blockages along one side of the road up there. Also from my perspective the so called local protest groups seem to be heavily influenced by the serial objectors from PBP.
I believe the HellFire Club is the wrong place for this whole investment. Three Rock/Faircastle would be a much better place with amazing views in comparison to HTC so why not there?
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