| < previous | - Don Conlan kindly sent me information about Carol and Jonathan Bardon's book, If ever you go to Dublin town, a historic guide to the city's street names. They state that Temple Bar, off Fleet Street, is named after the Temple Family, forebears of Lord Palmerston, whose house and gardens were there. Sir William Temple, the first member of the family to live in Dublin, was provost of Trinity College in 1609.
- Nelson's Pillar was blown up by persons unknown (but always assumed to be the IRA) in 1966 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the 1916 rising. It now lies in a heap in a valley in County Wicklow.
- The statue in Dublin's O'Connell Street is commonly known as the 'Floozy in the Jacuzzi' [statue presently in store - Jan 2002] while the one at the bottom of Grafton Street is best known as the 'Tart with the Cart'. The women at the Ha'Penny bridge are the 'Hags with the bags', James Joyce's statue is called the 'Dick with the stick' and the Chimney Stack with the new lift in Smithfield Village is now called the 'Flue with the View'. The representation of the poet Patrick Cavanagh near Mespil Road on the Grand Canal is the 'bench with the stench!'
- The headquarters of the national broadcaster RTE in Montrose was originally built for use as an abattoir.
- Saint Valentine was martyred in Rome on February 28th eighteen centuries ago. He was the Bishop of Terni. His remains are in a cask in White Friar Street Church, Dublin. He is no longer recognised as a Saint by the Vatican.
- Henry Moore, Earl of Drogheda lived in Dublin in the eighteenth century. His job was naming streets. He called several after himself. Henry Street, Moore Street, Earl Street, Drogheda Street. later became Sackville Street and is now O'Connell Street. He didn't like to see the 'of' from his name left out so when he was naming a small lane (off O'Connell Street) he called it "Of Lane" (it's gone now).
- The day following Christmas day is traditionally known in Ireland as Stephen's day, named after the Saint, rather than the English 'Boxing day'. It is a day for physical persuits in a desperate attempt to rid the body of the previous day's food and drink excesses!
- The destination blinds of Dublin-bound buses rarely state "Dublin" as their destination; rather the mystical "An Lar'. This Irish word roughly translates as the city centre
- According to Matthew Byrne's 1987 book, it was Jonathan Swift, erstwhile Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral and author of Gulliver's Travels, who coined the phrase "burn everything English except their coal"!
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