JOHN COLL’S TRIBUTE TO BRENDAN BEHAN IS LOCATED AT BINNS BRIDGE IN DRUMCONDRA
Brendan Behan was an Irish Republican, poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both English and Irish. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Irish writers and poets of all time. Behan died on 20 March 1964 at 41 years of age, when he collapsed at the Harbour Lights bar in Dublin.
In September 2003 a sculpture of Brendan Behan was unveiled at Binns Bridge on the banks of Dublin’s Royal Canal.
The sculpture incorporates four triangles because “The Auld Triangle” is a song by Dick Shannon, often attributed to Brendan Behan, who made it famous when he included it in his 1954 play The Quare Fellow. He first performed it publicly in 1952 on the RTE radio programme ‘The Ballad Maker’s Saturday Night’, produced by Mícheál Ó hAodha.
Behan’s biographer, Michael O’Sullivan, recorded, ‘It has been believed for many years that Brendan wrote that famous prison song but Mícheál Ó hAodha says he never laid claim to authorship. Indeed he asked him to send a copyright to another Dubliner, Dick Shannon.’ When he recorded the song for Brendan Behan Sings Irish Folksongs and Ballads (Spoken Arts 1960), Behan introduced it with these words: ‘This song was written by a person who will never hear it recorded, because he’s not in possession of a gramophone. He’s…he’s… pretty much of a tramp.’
As a matter of interest Binns Bridge is named after John Binns who was one of the principal supporters of the Royal Canal and had previously been a director of the Grand Canal Company.
I must admit that this is my first time to see Clonturk House and that I was not expecting to see much of interest on Ormond Road in Drumcondra.
Clonturk is an area on the Northside of Dublin, in Ireland. It is located in the south of the suburb of Drumcondra, just north of the River Tolka, but previously, Clonturk had been an alternative name for Drumcondra and the wider area.
Clonturk lies within the Dublin 9 postal district. The name Clonturk translates from the Irish as “Pasture of the boars”.There is some evidence that the name originally was Ceann Torc or the “Headland of the boars”, but had changed to Clonturk by the middle of the 16th century.
Clonturk House on Ormond Road was built in 1830 by the then City Architect, as a gentleman’s residence and was one of Drumcondra’s fashionable big houses. It was extensively renovated in 1880 and given its Georgian frontage. The carved stone balustrade which now forms its boundary came from the original Carlisle Bridge (built by James Gandon) and was moved there by the builder of the present O’Connell Bridge (who was living in Clonturk House circa 1880).
For a number of years until 1960 Clonturk House was run by The Presbyterian Church which gave accommodation to girls attending school in dublin both as fee paying and on a susidised basis.
In 1955, The Rosminians were appointed by the Archbishop of Dublin to run services for the Blind in St Joseph’s, Drumcondra, Dublin. The School which became known as St Joseph’s School for the Blind, and Visually Impaired, was residential and was officially opened in 1960 by the Dept. of Education. Until 2009 Clonturk House was a home for blind men.
A number of neighbouring streets bear the name Clonturk, including Clonturk Park, Clonturk Gardens, and Clonturk Avenue, probably as a result of their proximity to Clonturk House. There is also Clonturk Community College, further north on the Swords Road at Whitehall.
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