Blackrock and Frank Kelly go back a long way. More widely-known as Father Jack in the popular BBC series Father Ted and lately as Maurice, the chef in RTE's Glenroe, the actor was brought as a new-born baby to Mount Merrion Avenue and hasn't moved far from the village since.
"There were six of us and a little river running behind the house was one of the attractions when my parents bought it - now you'd run a thousand miles from it! I remember this river bursting its banks and running down Mount Merrion Avenue taking up great wedges of asphalt.
There was no Mount Merrion when I was a small boy. My mother brought us blackberry-picking from the top of the avenue through muddy fields and over turnstiles. There was the remains of an old house in the woods which we called "the dungeons". There were very few cars in the years after the war and the place was full of horse transport. You felt you were back in the times of James Joyce with horse-drawn carts from Mooney's Dairy and Johnson Mooney & O'Brien.
Blackrock was a real village. I remember when the first set of traffic lights went in. A local man called Tommy appointed himself operator of the lights, pressing all the buttons for us. His father collected slops from a horse and cart and kept his horse at the back of his house on George's Avenue. And there was an eccentric mechanic called George Broadford in Willoughby's bicycle shop on George's Avenue who used to address the village in a loud theatrical voice from the door of the shop.
Swimming at the Blackrock Baths was a big part of our lives. Entire summers were spent there, falling in love with a different girl every day. I still swim at the Forty Foot every day. In the village, McKinley's hardware store took up half the street. Parke's chemist was the first of the little shops and Mrs O'Byrne's Wee Shop sold sweets.
Mrs Bennet's opposite the library was famous for brown bread and O'Leary's bakery was where the Central Cafe is now. Mr O'Neill, the chemist, Mr O'Leary and Mr Parke used to meet for a midday drink at O'Rourke's pub.
We moved to Rosemount in Avoca Avenue, a beautiful house on Lord Proby's estate looking out over Carysfort to the Dublin mountains. There was open land and an old priory at the top of Avoca Avenue and we used to play there. When we got a car we all drove to Mass in the old Stillorgan church where swallows flew inside in the summer.
Later we moved again to the only detached house on Frascati Park, number 27. When Bairbre and I got married we found a house on Richmond Park in Monkstown. We moved back to Stradbrook in 1981. I never imagined in my wildest dreams I'd afford to live in a house like this.
I wouldn't move from Blackrock - except perhaps to Dalkey, because I'm a passionate swimmer. You can eat in nice restaurants nearby and it has everything you want."
Frank Kelly - Actor
Plus - Good choice of schools and shops
- Good stock of period homes
Minus - Poor parking facilities
- Traffic congestion
