BROADSTONE GATE THE SIGNS ARE THERE – BUT WORK IS SUSPENDED
The area where I live has been effectively a building site and I was really hoping that all projects, that impact on me, would be completed by the end of 2020 and then a health crisis arrived. Initially the lockdowns did not shutdown all building projects and the Grangegorman Gate/Plaza project continued but stalled towards the end of 2020. Today, 27 March,2021 there is no indication as to when the project will be completed but I really do hope that it is before the end of this year.
According to the development plan that I received many years ago – The Broadstone Gate will provide a key access to the Grangegorman site once complete and is being developed as part of the Luas Cross City works. It will be finished as a public plaza and the access will provide a major linkage between Grangegorman and Dublin city. The plaza is situated off Constitution Hill on the site of the old royal canal at the former Great Western Railway Station commonly known as Broadstone, and will mark a prominent entrance to the Grangegorman urban quarter.
The Broadstone site, which borders Grangegorman on its east side, was subject to a Part VIII planning process in 2014 in order to facilitate the site development and gate access. Under the Grangegorman Masterplan, the primary urban path through Grangegorman – St Brendan’s Way will link with the Broadstone Gate which when completed will reach as far as Prussia Street. The link with Broadstone can also be seen as an extension to the 18th century historic spine of Dublin City which covered Dublin Castle across Grattan Bridge, along Capel Street/Bolton Street, Henrietta Street [where I live] and King’s Inn.
In May 2016, the boundary wall dividing Broadstone and Grangegorman was removed, creating a historic pathway joining the two sites for the first time. The Luas Cross City works are continuing to progress at Broadstone with a target completion date for the end of 2017. The Broadstone Gate entrance will mark the first access to the Grangegorman site from Constitution Hill.
Note: The Luas tram service is operational for a number of years however the St Brendan’s Way pathway is not fully operational as access to one section is limited to certain times and days. Also the entrance from Henrietta Place and Kings Inns is closed at weekends and bank holidays and at night.
THE WESTERN WAY – CONNECTING CONSTITUTION HILL TO MOUNTJOY STREET
Western Way was created as a circulation route c.1880, linking Constitution Hill to the south-west with Mountjoy Street to the east.
The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) developed a train station at Broadstone from 1841, and purchased the Royal Canal in 1845.
In 1877, the MGWR was given permission to close 150 yards of the canal branch line and to construct a new forecourt for the train station. The new approach road, Western Way, was built by way of Foster aqueduct, with Saint Mary’s Chapel of Ease, or the Black Church, as its eastern focal point. The road curves around the site of former Palmerston House at the north-west corner of Dominick Street Upper.
Dominick Street Upper was developed from the 1820s, but remained largely undeveloped until the Broadstone railway terminus was built.
Sites for villas and terraces were offered in the 1860s, and the north side was owned by the Palmerston estate, where they built Palmerston House north of the junction of Dominick Street Upper and Constitution Hill. The fine cast-iron railings and granite gate piers are indicative of the wealth of the MGWR as patron and high quality craftsmanship throughout the nineteenth century.
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