Phoenix Park

About

The Phoenix Park (Irish: Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large public urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying 2–4 kilometres (1.2–2.5 mi) west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) perimeter wall encloses 707 hectares (1,750 acres) of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since the 17th century has been home to a herd of wild fallow deer. The Irish Government has lobbied UNESCO to have the park designated as a World Heritage Site.

In the Middle Ages, the land now occupied by the Phoenix Park formed part of the lands of Kilmainham Priory, the Irish headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the priory's lands came into the possession of the Crown. In 1611, that part of the estate lying north of the Liffey was granted to Sir Edward Fisher, who built a country house there named the "House of the Phoenix ". Fisher sold the estate back to the Crown in 1618, and the house he had built was subsequently used by the Viceroy. It remained standing until 1734, when it was demolished to allow for the construction of the Magazine Fort.

In 1662, the newly appointed Viceroy, the Duke of Ormond, began converting the land surrounding Phoenix House into a 2,000-acre (810 ha) hunting park. It contained pheasants and wild deer, making it necessary to enclose the entire area with a wall. The cost of building the park had amounted to £31,000 by 1669.

The park originally included the Kilmainham lands south of the Liffey. When construction of the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham began in 1680, for the use of veterans of the Irish Army, the park was reduced to its present extent, entirely north of the river. It was opened to the people of Dublin by the Earl of Chesterfield in 1745.

In the 19th century, the expanse of the park had become neglected. With management being taken over by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, the renowned English landscape architect Decimus Burton was retained to design an overall plan for the public areas of the park. The execution of the plan, which included new paths, gate-lodges (including the architecturally significant Chapelizod gate lodge), levelling and tree planting, and relocating the Phoenix Column, took almost 20 years to complete. According to the park's official site, "Burton's involvement for nearly two decades represents the greatest period of landscape change since the Park's creation by the Duke of Ormond".

In 1882, the park was the scene of the Phoenix Park Murders, the politically motivated assassinations of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke, respectively Chief Secretary and Under-Secretary for Ireland, who were stabbed to death with surgical knives while walking from Dublin Castle. A small insurgent group called the Irish National Invincibles were responsible.

On 5 August 1933, Oscar Heron, an Irish flying ace who had flown with the Royal Air Force during World War I, died in an accident at the park whilst taking part in a mock aerial combat for Irish Aviation Day.

During the Emergency (1939–1945), thousands of tons of turf were transported from the bogs to Dublin and stored in high mounds along the main road of the park.

In October 2023, the park got its first shuttle bus service with the launch of Route 99, connecting the park's visitor centre at Ashford Castle with Parkgate Street just outside the park, near Heuston Station.

The park is split between three civil parishes: Castleknock to the northwest, Chapelizod to the south and St James' to the east. The last-named is mainly centred south of the River Liffey around St James' parish church.

Main article: Áras an Uachtaráin The residence of the president of Ireland, Áras an Uachtaráin, built in 1754, is located in the park. As the Viceregal Lodge, it was the official residence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland until the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922.

- Main article: Dublin Zoo Dublin Zoo is one of Dublin's main attractions. It houses more than 700 animals and tropical birds from around the world. The Zoological Society of Ireland was established in 1830 "to form a collection of animals along the lines of London Zoo". It opened to the public on 1 September 1831 - making it the fourth oldest zoo in the world - with animals from the London Society. Within a year the zoo housed 123 species.

The Papal Cross at the edge of Fifteen Acres was erected as a backdrop for the outdoor mass celebrated there by Pope John Paul II on 29 September 1979, the first day of his pastoral visit to Ireland. The congregation numbered over one million, equal to Dublin's population. The white Latin cross, which dominates its surroundings, is 35 metres (115 ft) high and was built with steel girders. It was installed with some difficulty: after several attempts, the cross was eventually erected just a fortnight before the Pope arrived. When John Paul died in 2005, devotees gathered at the Papal Cross, praying and leaving flowers and other tokens of remembrance. Pope Francis celebrated mass here on the final day of his 2018 visit to Ireland.

The Wellington Monument is a 62 metres (203 ft) tall obelisk commemorating the victories of the Duke of Wellington. It is the largest obelisk in Europe and would have been even higher if the publicly subscribed funding had not run out. Designed by Robert Smirke, there are four bronze plaques cast from cannon captured at the Battle of Waterloo —three of which have pictorial representations of Wellington's career while the fourth has an inscription at the base of the obelisk.

A second notable monument is the Phoenix Column (shown in the header photograph above), a Corinthian column carved from Portland Stone located centrally on Chesterfield Avenue, the main thoroughfare of the park, at the junction of Acres Road and the Phoenix, the main entrance to Áras an Uachtaráin. The monument was erected in 1747. A contemporary account described it in the following terms:

"About the centre of the park is a fluted column thirty feet high, with a phoenix on the capital, which was erected by the Earl of Chesterfield during his viceregality." (1747)

There is also a monument to commemorate Lord Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke, who were killed in the park by the Irish National Invincibles. It is a 60 cm long cross, filled with a small amount of gravel and cut thinly into the grass.

The Deerfield Residence (previously the Chief Secretary's Lodge), originally built in 1776 was the former residence of the Chief Secretary for Ireland and before that was the Park Bailiff's lodge. It has been the official residence of the United States Ambassador to Ireland since February 1927, and was until the early 1960s the Embassy of the United States in Dublin.

Phoenix Park Visitor Centre and Ashtown Castle

The oldest building in the park is Ashtown Castle, a restored medieval tower house dating from the 15th century. Restoration began in 1989 and it is located beside the visitor centre which houses interpretive displays on the 5,500 years of park and area history.