Northside, Dublin

Traffic passing the Independent Bridge at Drumcondra, north Dublin

The Northside is the area in Dublin City, Ireland bounded to the south by the River Liffey, to the east by Dublin Bay and to the north and west by the M50 motorway.

Introduction

Northside is not an official administrative area but more a colloquial term. The Northside is traditionally viewed as being more working class than its counterpart across the river, the Southside, and there is something of a rivalry between the two. This was not always the case - for much of the 18th century the wealthiest part of the city was centred around Parnell Square and Bolton Street. Looking objectively, wealth is relatively evenly distributed throughout the city, with the Southside being home to both the wealthiest and the poorest areas of the country, but that doesn't prevent some Dubliners affecting 'post-code snobbery' or 'reverse post-code snobbery', and refusing to cross the river to the opposing half, even to shop.

Several of the books written by the Booker Prize winning author Roddy Doyle, are set in the fictional Northside area of Barrytown, (which is believed to be a thinly disguised Kilbarrack, where he worked as a school teacher). Popular RTE television soap opera, Fair City, is set in the fictional northside suburb of Carrickstown.

Areas of the Northside

Areas of the Northside include Artane, Baldoyle, Ballymun, Beaumont, Broadstone, Cabra, Castleknock, Clontarf, Coolock, Donnycarney, Drumcondra, East Wall, Fairview, Finglas, Glasnevin, Grangegorman, Howth, Kilbarrack, Killester, Marino, North Wall, Phibsboro, Raheny, Santry, Smithfield, Stoneybatter, Sutton, Whitehall. The 'area' is administered both by Dublin City Council (formerly Dublin Corporation) and Fingal County Council, each responsible for 84% and 16% of the land area which lies inside the M50 motorway (excluding the Howth peninsula) and north of the river Liffey respectively. The Fingal/Dublin city boundary, when drawn up in 1985, was viewed as the edge of all Northside development from Dublin City at that time.

Postcodes

In general, postal code areas in the Northside are odd, while Southside codes are even. One exception is the Phoenix Park, which is on the Northside but has an even postal code (8). Anecdotally this is thought to be because the park is home to the official residence of the President of Ireland, and it was thought unsuitable for the President to live on the unfashionable Northside when the numbering system was being introduced. However the real reason behind this, as explained by eminent Dublin historian Pat Liddy.

"There is a very simple, practical reason why the Phoenix Park is in Dublin 8 and it has nothing whatever to do with snobbery but with practicality.

Long before there were postal codes the James's St Postal Sorting Office looked after the Phoenix Park because it was considered to be closer and more convenient than Phibsborough (Dublin 7). James's St continued in this role when the postal codes were introduced so Dublin 8 it had to be."

This system will be abolished on the 1 January 2008 with the introduction of an Irish postal code system, of which the primary identifier digit(s) will be the relevant administrative county or city as opposed to An Post geographical divides.

Landmarks

Famous places on the Northside include the city's main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street, home to the GPO and the Spire of Dublin. Off O'Connell Street are the Abbey Theatre and Garden of Remembrance at Parnell Square. Along the north quays of the Liffey are the Customs House, the International Financial Services Centre, The Point Theatre and the Four Courts. Away from the river important locations include Mountjoy Jail, the Royal Canal, the National Wax Museum, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin Writers Museum, Croke Park, Dublin City University, The Helix, the SFX City Theatre, the Gate Theatre, King's Inns, the Mater Hospital and the Decorative Arts and History site of the National Museum of Ireland. Major transport hubs include Connelly Station, Bus Aras and Dublin Airport. Tourist attractions include the Old Jameson Whiskey Distillery, Smithfield Plaza and Observation Tower, the Phoenix Park, Dublin Zoo, the National Botanic Gardens and the Casino at Marino. Three of the four city centre shopping malls are located on the Northside, just off O'Connell street. These are the Jervis Centre, the Ilac Shopping Centre and the Irish Life Shopping Mall. The UGC cinema on Parnell Street is the largest cinema in Ireland with seventeen screens, the other notable north inner city cinema, the savoy is located on O'Connell street and is one of Ireland's oldest cinemas. The Rotunda Hospital, the oldest maternity hospital in the world.

Famous Northsiders

Bram Stoker lived in Marino and wrote his most famous novel, Dracula, while living in a house on Marino Crescent, a curved terrace of houses reminiscent of the Royal Crescent in Bath. Legend has it that the terrace was built where it is deliberately to block the seaviews of the builder's rival, a rich landowner, from his estate the Casino at Marino.

Two Taoisigh, Bertie Ahern and Charles Haughey are from the Northside - Ahern from Drumcondra and Haughey from Donnycarney. Perhaps the most famous Northsiders are the rock group U2, which formed at Mount Temple secondary school on the Malahide Road.

Dublin City University, Dublin's newest university, is located on the Northside, in the Glasnevin area.

Northside is also the name of a shopping centre in Coolock, Dublin.

External links

• Dublin City University
• Old Jameson Whiskey Distillery