Clancy Quay () is a residential development of houses and apartments in

Islandbridge Island Bridge (), formerly Sarah or Sarah's Bridge, is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey, in Dublin, Ireland which joins the South Circular Road to Conyngham Road at the Phoenix Park. Island Bridge and the surrounding area (often known ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. The development and surrounds originally housed an

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

, known as Islandbridge Barracks and later Clancy Barracks, before closing in 1998. Although it has a "quay" designation, it does not form one of the

Dublin quays The Dublin quays () refers to the two roadways and quays that run along the north and south banks of the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. The stretches of the two continuous streets have several different names. However, all but two of the nam ...

proper. The Clancy Quay development includes protected structures from the original barracks converted into residences, as well as new

apartment buildings An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement ( Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) t ...

. In 2021 it was the largest private rental complex in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

with over 845 units.

Barracks

The Islandbridge Barracks was established in 1798. Samuel Lewis' ''Topological Dictionary of Ireland'' in 1837 described it as follows: The

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

left the Islandbridge Barracks on 14 December 1922, following the establishment of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

, and the barracks was handed over to the

Irish Army The Irish Army () is the land component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. ...

. It was renamed Clancy Barracks after

Peadar Clancy Peadar Clancy (; 9 November 1888 – 21 November 1920) was an Irish republican who served with the Irish Volunteers in the Four Courts garrison during the 1916 Easter Rising and was second-in-command of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Repub ...

in 1942.

Redevelopment

The Irish Army closed Clancy Barracks in 1998, and the State sold the premises to David Kennedy's Florence Properties in 2002. The redevelopment plan was approved in 2006. In this time period, the former barracks also functioned as a major counting centre for the ''Pennies from Heaven'' appeal, which asked people across Ireland to donate old and foreign coinage, which was then sorted by volunteers. Over 7 million euro was donated, benefiting 11 charities. Over 120,000 euro was stolen in a raid, but partly recovered thereafter. Kennedy lost the project during the

Celtic Tiger The "Celtic Tiger" () is a term referring to the economy of the Republic of Ireland, economy of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment. The boom was dampened by ...

bust, with the partially-completed development eventually being acquired by US-based Kennedy Wilson and

Axa Investment Managers Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) is a global investment management firm. It operates as the investment arm for Axa, a global insurance and reinsurance company. History In 1994, Axa created an investment management subsidiary under the name, ...

in 2013. The third and final phase of construction was completed in 2020.

Popular culture

The area was a popular

filming location A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, instead of or in addition to using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film crew wi ...

until redevelopment, including the film ''

Lassie Lassie is a fictional female Rough Collie dog and is featured in a 1938 short story by Eric Knight that was later expanded to a 1940 full-length novel, '' Lassie Come-Home''. Knight's portrayal of Lassie bears some features in common with anot ...

'' (released 2005) and TV series' ''

Ripper Street ''Ripper Street'' is a British mystery drama television series set in Whitechapel in the East End of London starring Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, and MyAnna Buring. It begins in 1889, six months after the infamous Jack t ...

'' and '' Quirke'' (filming in 2012–2013).

Barracks

Redevelopment

Popular culture

References

Further reading