One of Rathfarnham's best known residents, Dr Joe McGough, has lived with his wife, Nancy, in St Bridget's, a gracious Georgian listed house on Willbrook Road, since 1948. He is a former general manager of An Bord Bainne, Senior Counsel and retired army lieutenant-colonel.

"Rathfarnham was quaint in 1948, with an old-world atmosphere, just part of the run-up to the mountains. The village was just one narrow street and the shops were long-standing. The golf club was on the edge of the village, on Butterfield Lane, and Nancy and I were members. "You could walk over to the Bottle Tower on The Narrows, a winding stone-walled road built as a "folly" to give employment. Our house was built by the owner of the pub, which I think was where the church is now. It was on a five acre site and he divided it in two and built St Bridget's to give to his two daughters. The son got the pub.

"The Yellow House pub has connections with Robert Emmet. They say Anne Devlin's uncle, Michael Dwyer, came down from the mountains and arranged to meet Emmet to harass the Redcoats.

"The artist Sean Keating lived up towards the mountains and William Cosgrave and his family came from Stocking Lane to Mass on Sundays. He sat on one side of the church, his wife on the other and their son would sit at the back.

"During the war, we had a turf clamp up the mountains. We cut turf and brought it home and racked it - my dad used to come with us.

"The whole area got exited when the ICA was founded here - Nancy was a committed member and became president. Both my children had their wedding receptions in the house and my son has built in the garden.

I'm terribly proud of our Rathfarnham house and its heritage and proud of the locals' concern to save W.B. Yeats's last home."