Fitzwilliam Square ( ga, Cearnóg Mhic Liam) is a
Georgian garden square
A garden square is a type of communal garden in an urban area wholly or substantially surrounded by buildings; commonly, it continues to be applied to public and private parks formed after such a garden becomes accessible to the public at large. T ...
in the south of central
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. It was the last of the five Georgian squares in Dublin to be built, and is the smallest.
The middle of the square is composed of a private park, which for more than 200 years has been accessible only to keyholders, mostly the residents and owners of the 69 houses on the square, some of whom pay almost €1,000 a year for the privilege. Fitzwilliam Square East makes up part of Dublin's
Georgian mile.
History
The square was developed by
Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam
Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam (1 August 1745 – 4 February 1816) of Mount Merrion, Dublin, Ireland, and of FitzWilliam House in the parish of Richmond in Surrey, England, was an Anglo-Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland ...
, hence the name. It was designed from 1789 and laid out in 1792. The centre of the square was enclosed in 1813 through an Act of the
Parliament of Ireland
The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two cham ...
. To the north is the much larger
Merrion Square
Merrion Square () is a Georgian garden square on the southside of Dublin city centre.
History
The square was laid out in 1752 by the estate of Viscount FitzWilliam and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. The demand fo ...
, with which Richard FitzWilliam was also involved. The square was a popular place for the
Irish Social Season
The Irish Social Season was a period of aristocratic entertainment and social functions that stretched from January to St. Patrick's Day of a given year. During this period, the major and minor nobility left their country residences and lived in G ...
of aristocrats entertaining in Dublin between January and
Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...
each year.
Shootings took place in the square during
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday may refer to:
Historical events Canada
* Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
* Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...
of 1920. Sir
Thomas O'Shaughnessy (1850–1933), the last
Recorder of Dublin
Recorder or The Recorder may refer to:
Newspapers
* '' Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper
* ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US
* ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a new ...
, lived in Fitzwilliam Square and died there on 7 March 1933.
In 1975,
Bord na Móna were granted permission to demolish five early 19th-century houses on the edge of the square, with plans to construct a modern office block on the site. The plans were later dropped.
See also
*
List of streets and squares in Dublin
References
External links
Irish architecture information(including photographs of doorways)
DublinTourist.com information
Squares in Dublin (city)
1792 establishments in Ireland
Georgian architecture in Ireland
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