Roebuck, also originally known as “Rabuck”, was an estate and townland in the baronys of Dublin, Uppercross, and Rathdown.
Roebuck became established as a location shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland (from 1169). In 1261, it was owned by Fromund Le Brun, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and a castle was built there in the 13th century, which was badly damaged in the Irish Rebellion of 1641. It was pictured by Gabriel Beranger around 1768. It was sold by Nicholas Barnewall, 14th Baron Trimlestown, to James Crofton, an official of the Irish Treasury, in around 1800.
In 1466, Elizabeth le Brun married Robert Barnewall, 1st Baron of Trimlestown. The Irish Civil Survey of 1654-56 recorded that the estate consisted of around 500 acres. It remained in the hands of the Trimlestown family until the early nineteenth century when parts were sold off. The surgeon Solomon Richards acquired land in the area of the estate known as Roebuck Grove from Baron Trimlestown in 1812.
The estate was acquired by the Westby family in 1856 and from 1943 until 1985 it was owned by the Little Sisters of the Poor. It later became part of the University College Dublin campus.
Roebuck Road is in Clonskeagh a small southern suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The modern suburb lies partially within the city limits of Dublin but mostly within Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. Roebuck Road defines the southernmost end of Clonskeagh; this area is sometimes known as Roebuck and occasionally considered to be part of Windy Arbour. The area is principally defined by the Clonskeagh Road and its extension into Roebuck Road, which spans its length. The northern end of the Clonskeagh Road at the junction with Eglinton Road / Milltown Road separates it from Ranelagh to the north, and the campus of University College Dublin at Belfield is to the east while Goatstown and Dundrum lie to the south. To the west is Windy Arbour, but there is no clear point at which that boundary might be defined.
Clonskeagh is primarily a residential area, developed in the early decades of the 20th century. It has a small village green with a few local shops. The district has changed in character as population growth in greater Dublin has imposed increasingly intensive use of land and the nearby Luas light railway has improved commuter access to central Dublin.
In the mid-1970s, Clonskeagh consisted of low-density housing with significant areas of private open land, largely owned by the Catholic Church. Since then, the closure of the Masonic Boys’ School has led to commercial redevelopment north of Clonskeagh Road and former church land adjacent to Bird Avenue and Roebuck Road now has housing. Since 2000, housing development has intensified land use further by building in larger gardens, replacing houses by apartments and adding storeys to properties.
The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, which was established in 1992, is also based in Clonskeagh.
There is a mid-20th century Catholic church on Bird Avenue, and the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland and its associated primary school are on Roebuck Road.
The former Vergemount Fever Hospital at Clonskeagh is now a nursing home facility for the elderly.
There are also several green spaces, as well as a large health and fitness club, and fishing takes place on the Dodder.
St. Kilians Deutsche Schule and the secondary campus of the Lycée Français d’Irlande share a “Eurocampus” in Roebuck Road, offering private schooling in a multicultural and multilingual environment, claimed to be unique to Ireland.
SCULPTURE AT ENTRANCE TO ST KILIAN’S GERMAN SCHOOL ON ROEBUCK ROAD
The photograph is a bit confusing because a row of black and orange bollards can be seen through part of the sculpture … I am assuming that the sculpture is a representation of the saint.
St Kilian’s German School (Deutsche Schule Dublin – DSD) is an independent German international school in Dublin, Ireland.
Kilian, also spelled Killian (or alternatively Irish: Cillian; Latin: Kilianus), was an Irish missionary bishop and the Apostle of Franconia (Franconia is nowadays the northern part of Bavaria), where he began his labours towards the end of the 7th century. His feast day is 8 July.
St Kilian’s is legally a single organisation, with a primary school, offering kindergarten (junior infants) and vorschule (senior infants) and main primary school (1st to 6th classes), and a secondary school. It is open to students from ages 4 to 18.
German is taught from the start, but is not required for entry. In primary school, where relevant, input from the school programme of the German state of Baden-Württemberg is used. Depending on development of German language skills, pupils may have the option to pursue a German curriculum stream from 4th class. The school provides German language education beyond the level required by the Irish German curriculum, enabling pupils to take the German Sprachdiplom exams and qualify with the linguistic level required to enter German universities.
Some classes in the Junior Cycle (1st to 3rd years) are shared with the Lycée Français d’Irlande.
St Kilian’s was founded in the early 1950s, developing from the work of a Dublin charity, the Save the German Children Society, founded in 1945.
Since 2002, St Kilian’s has shared sites with Lycée Française d’Irlande, the combined campus known as the “Eurocampus”.
The secondary school has a typical rate of progression to third-level of 90-100%. In 2020 this reduced to 63%, following significant reduction in teacher-assigned grades, with even native German language speakers being graded H3 instead of school-assessed H1. The school and 9 pupils pursued High Court actions over this.
OPERATION SHAMROCK
Operation Shamrock was a scheme bringing refugee children from mainland Europe to Ireland in the aftermath of the Second World War. It was organised by the Irish Red Cross, and involved about 500 children, mostly from Germany, who stayed for three years before returning home.
Irish assistance to Germany reinforced in Britain the perception, fostered by wartime neutrality, that Ireland was pro-Nazi. Conversely, West Germany in the 1950s had gratitude for Ireland’s postwar relief aid, and ties grew between the countries. In January 1956 a memorial fountain sculpted by Joseph Wackerle and commissioned by the German Gratitude Fund was unveiled in St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, by the West German ambassador.
In 1961, the German war cemetery was opened near St Kevin’s Hostel, Glencree, for graves of German aviators killed in Ireland during the war. In 1974, the hostel became the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, which played a role in the Northern Ireland peace process in the 1990s.
German-language courses provided for refugees in Dublin led to the foundation of St Kilian’s German School.
In March 1997, a reunion of over 300 foster-children and families was held at the German embassy in Dublin, attended by Presidents Mary Robinson of Ireland and Roman Herzog of Germany.
As part of The Gathering Ireland 2013, 21 refugee children from Germany, France and Austria returned to Glencree.
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