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RESIDENTS OF THE West Dublin suburb of Palmerston have voted to bring back their missing ‘w’ after a local vote was held.
The plebiscite of around 600 people, which applied to the village only, took place in December.
Results were confirmed at meeting of South Dublin County Council yesterday, with the ballots overwhelmingly in favour of the change, a spokesperson said.
The surrounding area will still be referred to as ‘Palmerston’.
Why the change?
Some opposition to use of the sans-w name arose after signs for Palmerston were placed along the M50 and the N4 during construction of the road projects.
A 2009 ballot of the entire area, aimed at re-introducing the ‘w’, failed due to low turn-out.
Both names are typically used by utility companies and even Government agencies, a local resident said.
There was “very little support from council management” for another plebiscite, according to one Council source — however a plan by Independent Councillor Guss O’Connell applying to the village only was allowed to go ahead.
There had been speculation last year that the change could result in a bill for the taxpayer worth tens of thousands of euro, as a result of costs associated with replacing road signs.
However, it’s expected any changes to signs will be minimal — and that existing signage can be amended without the need for any costly replacements.
“We work off what’s the legal name for any area,” a National Roads Authority spokesperson said of the long-running dispute.
“Legally, we have to follow what’s contained in the official names and places directory.”
The plebiscite itself cost around €12,000.
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I’d imagine the residents of Gormanston are watching with interest!
Why ‘Palmerston’ in the first place? Always stuck me as odd. It’s pronounced Palmerstown when spoken and is usually written as Palmerstown when not on signage and maps.
The reason why is because they forgot the w when they made the signs so they changed it to ton
No. That’s not right. It’s always been Palmerston on records. Ordnance Survey maps from 1800s show it as Palmerston. Also, wasn’t named after Lord Palmerston, his name came because of the area. They’ve made a right mess now, fair play.
No, Barry – you’ve got it wrong! it was misnamed Palmerston in 1837 by the Ordnance Survey. In the old graveyard in Mill Lane there are four headstones with PalmerstoWn engraved on them dated 1645, 1803, 1807 and 1887. Also on maps William Petty 1683, John Roque 1750s, Duncan 1821 among others (source Hugh O’Connor, Mill Lane, local historian)
No, Barry – you’ve got it wrong! it was misnamed Palmerston in 1837 by the Ordnance Survey. In the old graveyard in Mill Lane there are four headstones with PalmerstoWn engraved on them dated 1645, 1803, 1807 and 1887. Also on maps William Petty 1683, John Roque 1750s, Duncan 1821 among others (source Hugh O’Connor, Mill Lane, local historian)
You can say that again
Of course they should care. It’s the principle of it. The spelling of the name could have been changed forever just because of some lazy council who couldn’t get the spelling right and went ahead with Anglicising it even more. They’re always doing things like this, and worse.
Who cares!
Ho cares?
You care enough comment
Well done to all in that area.
Baile Phamar is the Irish name. Baile means ToWn, not ton.
Same thing no? Ton is an old English word for town.
Same intent I suppose. I’m happy with the W being reinstated. The history is there to prove it was removed by British officers in the 19th Century. Headstones in the Mill lane cemetery from 17th century say PalmerstoWn.
How about Handjob Alley instead?
How about ballyfermot south??
Or as my mam use to call it, Upper Ballyfermot
Or West Chapelizard…
Because Palmerstown is North of Ballyfermot
Pitt the Elder!
…
..
Lord Palmerston!!
Palmerston sounds kinda British.
Thats because it is British. Lord Palmerston was Britian’s prime minister from 1855 to 1858.
It is. British officers drew up the first Ordnance Survey maps and randomly removed the W from some place names.
( 1855 to 1865 )
The place of Baile Phamar (PalmerstoWn) existed long before Lord Palmerston was even a dirty thought in his daddys mind.
It was originally called Tigh Giuire (place of the Yew). The Yew is a native tree and is what we use in Ireland for Ash Wednesday. When the pilgrims returned from the Holy lands, they wore a leaf of Palm on their lapelle, the place became known as Palmers-Town.
I sometimes have durty thoughts.
Ton and Town are both British.
it’s a good decision as the streets around South Rathmines are definitely “Palmerston”, named after the mid Victorian prime minister of the time they started to be built.
We wouldn’t want the good people of Dublin 6 to endure any more confusion with Dublin 20, now would we?
Try Ballinagh in Cavan…sign on the way in that says ‘Bellenanagh’. Seriously poor effort made for Irish signage at times!
If this Palmerson person was you,
But you wanted the W,
You’d vote for this letter,
To make you address better
And say to others “Feck you”
You’re talking about Palmerstown in Limerick.
This one’s in Dublin ;-)
A perfect demonstration of why Ireland is in a goddam mess.
Priorities
How about ballyfermot north??
Glad south Dublin county council are tackling all the big issues, can rest easy now with that gutsy name change
The same happened with Enniscrone, Co. Sligo – a plebiscite was held in the ’70s to retain the name Enniscrone, yet the powers that be keep changing the signs to Iniscrone (’80s-’90s) and Inishcrone (’00s onwards). Lots of other town names seem to change at the whims of the powers that be – Leenane/Leenaun, Ballisadare/Ballisodare for example. WTF? Leave Britney ALONE!!
This is incorrect. The original plebscite failed because those voting were asked if they wished to change the name and believed the change would be to Palmerston. The ballot paper did not state that the official name was Palmerston, contrary to what residents thought, and that to be Palmerstown they needed to vote to change. As to the surrounding area, Gus O’Connell informed me that residents there had no need to vote, as the wider area was already Palmerstown and the vote was necessary to bring the village into line with this.
So now you’ll have the rich part and the ‘ other’ part now !
Which is which?
have your say