Madam, – I have no opinion, one way or another on the merits of Ranelagh v Ranelagh Road (November 1st).
However, your readers may be interested in the circuitous route whereby Ranelagh got its name.
From about the 14th century onwards, members of the O’Byrne clan of Co Wicklow were distinguished by the names of its various branches or gabail.
By the 16th century, one of the most important of these branches was Gabhal Raghnaill or Raghnall’s Branch, from the personal name Raghnall (Old Norse Ragnaldr). A person belonging to this branch of the O’Byrnes was “called Raghnallach”. Later again, the name Raghnallach was applied to the territory occupied by the Gabhal Raghnaill, which was near Rathdrum in Co Wicklow.
Following the defeat of the O’Byrnes in the late 16th century and the confiscation of their lands, the land of Raghnallach, under the anglicised name Ranelagh, was granted to an Englishman, Sir Roger Jones. He was made a viscount and took the title Viscount Ranelagh from these lands. His son Richard became the first Earl of Ranelagh.
In 1697, Richard, Earl of Ranelagh built himself a big house, which was called Ranelagh House, in Chelsea in London, near the Chelsea Hospital, of which the earl was treasurer. In 1741, the house and its grounds were purchased by a syndicate led by the proprietor of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane in London and, in the following year, the grounds were opened as pleasure gardens, called Ranelagh Gardens. It quickly became very fashionable, quite outshining its older rival, the Vauxhall Gardens.
Meanwhile in Dublin, there were a house and grounds occupied by Dr William Barnard, Church of Ireland bishop of Raphoe (and later bishop of Derry) in the area then known as Cullenswood but now known as Ranelagh. When Dr Barnard died in 1768, the house and grounds were purchased by a member of the Hollister organ-building family – probably William Castels Hollister.
Hollister opened pleasure gardens there, which he named Ranelagh Gardens in imitation of the London gardens. In 1785, the first Irish aviator, Richard Crosbie, made the first Irish balloon flight from the gardens.
The gardens did not last long after that event, however, and in 1788 the Carmelite nuns took possession of the house, converting it into the Convent of St Joseph.
The name Ranelagh stuck, however, replacing the older name of Cullenswood. – Yours, etc,