Stephen Street, Dublin

Stephen Street (Irish: Sráid Stiabhna)[1] is a street on the southside of Dublin, Ireland.

Stephen Street
Stephen's Street
The Hairy Lemon pub, on Stephen Street Lower
Stephen Street, Dublin is located in Central Dublin
Stephen Street, Dublin
Native nameSráid Stiabhna (Irish)
NamesakeMedieval religious foundation named for Saint Stephen
Length300 m (980 ft)
Width10 metres (33 ft)
LocationDublin, Ireland
Postal codeD02
Coordinates53°20′29″N 6°15′54″W / 53.3414176°N 6.2650914°W / 53.3414176; -6.2650914
west endGolden Lane
Major
junctions
Aungier Street
east endJohnson Place
Other
Known forpubs, Dunlop factory

It is divided into Stephen Street Upper (western part), connecting Golden Lane to Aungier Street, and Stephen Street Lower (eastern part), running from Aungier Street to Johnson Place.

History

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Plaque on the site of the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Factory.

Medieval Dublin

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Stephen Street takes its name from the medieval church and later leper hospital of Saint Stephen, located on the site of present-day Mercer's Hospital which was converted from use as a poorhouse around 1709. It was referred to as being used as St Stephen's Hospital from at least 1612.[2] Nearby St Stephen's Green also gets its name from the same source.[3]

The church and churchyard disappeared following the uniting of the parish of St Stephen with that of St Michael Le Pole and St. Bride's to form the new parish of St Brides in 1684.[4]

The street is believed to derive its curved shape from the embankment that stood outside Dublin's city walls in the medieval period; the modern streets still follow the line of this earthen ridge that was built sometime in the 12th or 13th century.[5]

Georgian Dublin

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During the Georgian period, the street formed a major ring road of the city proper and became a fashionable location for city dwellers. Leitrim House, the best surviving 18th-century building on the street was built during this period around 1760.[6]

One of the oldest structures on the street is the Central Dairy at 19 Stephen Street Upper, a two-bay four-storey former house dating to c. 1725. It would have originally had a "Dutch Billy" style roof but was refaced in machine-made brick in c1890.[7]

Modern Dublin

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The Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Factory, the world's first pneumatic tyre factory, was built in the area in 1889.[8][9]

A fire broke out at Moore & Co's garage on Stephen Street on 15 July 1970, one of the 1970 arson attacks thought to have been carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force.[10]

The Leinster School of Music & Drama was based on Stephen Street between 1982 and 1998.[11]

Notable residents

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Sráid Stiabhna Íochtarach/Stephen Street Lower". logainm.ie. Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  2. ^ "Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA), no. 19, Dublin, Part II, 1610 to 1756" (PDF). Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Cultural Heritage | St Stephen's Green Park". ststephensgreenpark.ie. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  4. ^ "1684 - St. Bride's Church, Bride St., Dublin". Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  5. ^ Ramsey-Brimberg, D. (2024), Viking and Ecclesiastical Interactions in the Irish Sea Area from the 9th to 11th Centuries, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, doi:10.4324/9781003336273
  6. ^ "Leitrim House, Stephen Street Upper, Dublin 2, DUBLIN". Buildings of Ireland. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  7. ^ "The Central Dairy, 19 Stephen's Street Upper, Dublin 2, Dublin". Buildings of Ireland. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  8. ^ "1930 – Dunlop Building, Stephen St., Dublin". archiseek.com. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  9. ^ "Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Factory, Stephen Street Upper, Dublin 2, Dublin". Buildings of Ireland. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  10. ^ "Another big city fire". Irish Independent. 16 July 1970. p. 1. Retrieved 2 August 2023 – via Irish Newspaper Archives.
  11. ^ "The Leinster School of Music & Drama - Griffith College Dublin · 2018-01-22 · Speech & Drama 2 The Leinster School of Music & Drama Speech, Drama & Communications Syllabus". Leinster School of Music & Drama – via dokumen.tips.
  12. ^ Hely Hutchinson, John (1882). Carroll, W. G. (ed.). The Commercial Restraints Of Ireland – via gutenberg.org.