Madam, - Jenny Fitzpatrick's letter of February 5th about the Killiney Hill obelisk contains a number of inaccuracies. Her dislike of Queen Victoria seems to have blinded her to some historical facts: the obelisk was neither built in 1842, nor constructed to commemorate that monarch's visit.
The obelisk was originally constructed in 1742 by John Mapas to provide employment for the poor who had been badly affected by the severe winter of that year. In 1840, the then owner of Killiney Castle, Robert Warren, restored it. Queen Victoria's visit to Dublin was not to happen for another nine years.
As a memorial to an act of philanthropy, the monument deserves better than to be allowed to become a "pile of rubble", as Ms Fitzpatrick seems to wish. - Yours, etc,
DAVID POWER, Lucan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - The obelisk at Killiney, built by landowner John Mapas to provide employment for the local population (there being no other welfare system at the time), has been a feature of our locality for some 265 years. It may also have served as a bearing for navigators guiding their ships into treacherous Dublin Bay, so it has more to do with lifesaving than with "structural violence".
Killiney Hill (then Mapas Mount) was acquired in 1887 as a public park and renamed Victoria Hill to commemorate the queen's 50-year jubilee - nothing to do with the obelisk at all. - Yours, etc,
GERRY HARVEY, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.