Stoneybatter: Dublin's Inner Urban Village

by Kevin C. Kearns

The oldest settled community on the north side of Dublin, Stoneybatter comprises the ancient Viking settlement of Oxmantown. This northwest frontier of Dublin was a major trading hub for over a thousand years. Because of its sprawling cattle markets it became known as ""Cowtown"", a maelstrom of animals, drovers, horse dealers, farmers and traders. Stoneybatter stands uniquely as a truly living community. It has the largest elderly population in the city, an invaluable repository of local oral history and urban lore. ""This book is redolent of the spicy smells of old family grocers, of the sanctity of the snugs in Mulligan's renowned public house, of big families pulling happily enough together against familiar storms of poverty and illness meticulously recorded and fascinating.""-The Irish Times. ""A unique local study of a proud community, but also a fascinating record of the lives of extraordinary people in their own words scholarship with immense affection.""-Books Ireland.

264 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2011

Reviews

[Nancy Wilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nostalgically bittersweet memoirs of a community I call home. Infinite stories documenting a past and a reality still present, however fading away in one of the most historical, evocative and bursting-with-character neighbourhoods of Dublin - gradually gentrified and hipsterised with coffee shops charging 7.50 for a toastie but still defiantly triumphant in its timeless glory and charismatic charm.