Rathcoole, Dublin
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Rathcoole Rath Cúil
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| Town | |
Main Street
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 Rathcoole
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| Coordinates: 53°16′58″N 6°28′22″W / 53.2827778°N 6.4727778°WCoordinates: 53°16′58″N 6°28′22″W / 53.2827778°N 6.4727778°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | South Dublin |
| Elevation | 148 m (486 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Urban | 3,421 |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Irish Grid Reference | O019268 |
| Website | www |
Rathcoole (Irish: Rath Cúil, meaning "ringfort of Comhaill") is a suburban village, south west of the city of Dublin. It lies near Newcastle, in South Dublin, Ireland. It lies just off the N7 national primary road. It borders the nearby village of Saggart.
There is a park maintained by South Dublin County Council at the eastern end of the Village. Beechwood Lawns is located in between the main street and the park. Forest Hills is the single largest housing development in Rathcoole, lying between Beechwood Lawns and the western end of the village estate of Rathlawns and Tootenhill.
Rath is the Irish word for a ringfort, often erected by wealthy farmers or local chiefs. There are several forts in the parish of Rathcoole, and while there is no definite explanation for the name 'Rathcoole,' it could well be Rath Comhaill meaning 'the rath of Comhaill', the father of Fionn. Coole may also come from the Irish word for forest, 'coill'. The rath associated with Rathcoole is in a field between Rathcoole and Saggart.
The village was the birthplace in 1765 of the United Irishman Felix Rourke. Like nearby Newcastle and Saggart, Rathcoole was on the periphery of the Pale and was the site of many battles with mountain-based rebels, particularly the noted Lawlor clan. The Lawlors still reside in Rathcoole.
In the late 18th century Rathcoole was composed mainly of mud huts, and as late as the early 20th century it consisted of only one street. Today it is home to more than two hundred and fifty businesses.
There was the remains of a tunnel entrance found at the "Backwards House" in Rathcoole, only backwards as the road was changed from the front to the back after development of the village commenced. The tunnel which predates the house that still stands today was built before the Vikings attack of the 9th century as an escape route for the clergy residing at Mo Sacra's monastery on the Saggart towns land of Coolmine to rathcoole.
During English attacks on the Irish rebel population in Rathcoole they would use a tunnel from the village to escape to a Mo Sacra's monastery in Coolmine which was the residence of a number of French nuns. The English were very frustrated that they could not apprehend the rebels but knew Rathcoole was a rebel stronghold at the time. The English devised a plan to catch the rebels by burning the hiding places where the families of the rebels were located in Rathcoole, local historians say their screams which could be heard from the Coolmine monastery and this lead the rebells to initiate a rescue plan that ultimately failed. The nuns from the Coolmine monastery were helping the rebels to previously evade capture and when Cromwell discovered this he cut their hands off as an act of revenge, the hands were discovered approx. 50 years ago and they were laid to rest in a Dublin cemetery.
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Wikipedia