This valuable collection of essays focuses on the role of the south Dublin suburb of Rathfarnham in the revolutionary period 1913-1923. There are informative chapters on Eoin MacNeill, who lived at Woodtown Park, and WT Cosgrave who lived at Beechpark, Scholarstown Road. Patrick Pearse, whose St Enda’s school was at The Hermitage, Rathfarnham, receives three chapters. Robert Emmet had close links with The Hermitage and two chapters focus on how Pearse was inspired and, indeed, haunted by Emmet’s spirit; the third explores the activity of the Rathfarnham branch of the Irish Volunteers, known as “Pearse’s Own”, in the Easter Rising. An engaging family insight is given into the role of a less well-known son of the area, FX Coghlan, who lived on Taylor’s Lane. An insightful art-history perspective comes in a chapter on artists May Guinness, Willie Pearse, Seán Keating and Patrick Tuohy. Chapters on the Jesuits at Rathfarnham Castle, the Fetherstonhaugh Convalescent Home, Bulmer Hobson, and FX Martin’s contribution to the historiography of 1916 conclude this multifaceted volume for which South Dublin Co. Council deserve praise.
