I have never been able to decide if there are three distinct lakes or one lake divided into three sections by walls and waterfalls but there are two separate bridges. To the best of my knowledge, the water for the lake(s) is fed from an underground supply and flows downhill [of course] in the same direction as the River Dodder.
Bushy Park dates back to 1700 when Arthur Bushe, Secretary to the Revenue Commissioners, built the house known as “Bushes House” on a site of four hectares. The property was obtained by John Hobson in 1772. He changed the name to Bushy Park.
In 1791, the park was purchased by Abraham Wilkinson who added almost 40 hectares to the estate. He gave it as a dowry to his daughter Maria when she married Robert Shaw in 1796. The Shaws (distant relatives of George Bernard Shaw) remained connected with Bushy Park until 1951, when they sold the estate to Dublin Corporation.
OLD BANDSTAND AT BUSHY PARK – IN A SORRY STATE WHEN I VISITED
Towards the east of the park, not far from the duck pond, there is a bandstand. It’s fan-shaped in plan and opens out at the base of a slope, like a natural amphitheatre set into the landscape.
Back in 2019 the structure was transformed by street artists but it looks a bit worn and sad when I visited on the morning after Christmas [2021]. Recently I came across the following online review “This defunct bandstand is the stage in the park’s natural amphitheatre. In recent years it has unfortunately become a haven for drug addicts and alcoholics from nearby Crumlin and Mount Tallant.”
Dublin City Council Community, Culture, Recreation and Economic Services has commissioned Howley Hayes Architects to develop a design for a contemporary tearoom with careful consideration of placement, scale, materials and proportions and its relationship within Bushy Park, the proposed Dodder Cycle way and the wider Terenure/Rathfarnham/Rathgar areas. In addition, the development of a design for the currently redundant bandstand.
Bushy Park covers a 20.5 hectare (51 acre) site that lies approx. 7km (4.3 miles) south-west of Dublin city centre. Owned and operated by Dublin City Council, it is located in Terenure and borders the neighbouring suburbs of Rathfarnham and Templeogue. Irregularly shaped, it lies between Templeogue Road, Springfield Road, Dodder View Road, Rathfarnham Road and Rathdown Park / Avenue. The River Dodder flows along the park’s boundary from west to east, with its southern bank forming part of the Dodder Valley Linear Park which stretches discontinuously from Glenasmole in the Dublin Mountains to Ringsend, where the Dodder flows into the River Liffey.
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