Education Links
Leaving Cert
Maths
French
English
Chemistry
Physics
Biology
Economics
Spanish
Geography
History
Junior Cert
1. Standing on Templeogue Bridge
Standing on Templeogue Bridge (pictured above) the first thing we notice is the River Dodder, which will be with us for most of our journey. Rising on the northern slopes of Kippure mountain it has a short course (about 28 km) from there to the Grand Canal Dock at Ringsend. Although it has, in comparison to its sister river, the Liffey, a comparatively small surface catchment (just 113 square km), it is relatively steep and when the meteorological conditions obtain that is, heavy and sustained rainfall (as in August 1986), the river levels can rise dramatically and lead to flooding along its course. Because building has intruded on the river's floodplain, the consequences could be serious as the Dodder's course takes in some of the highest property values in Ireland. As we will see later on this trip, two nineteenth century reservoirs on the river's higher reaches have large volumes of water impounded so that a very real risk of flooding exists, given a conjunction of the right circumstances.
Templeogue is a name that belongs to early christian Ireland-Teampaill Og or Teach Maolog. There are explanations for both which fit but, I would be inclined to give the place to the saint Maolog - the bald young one. A couple of hundred yards beyond the bridge, on the Tallaght Road (N81), we can see the remains of his church, now a graveyard - a connection across 1400 years of history.
The remains of the Watermill
Here, close to the bridge, was the house of Austin Clarke. His poetry gave this place an honoured role in Irish literature as the subject matter of his later work included the march of suburbia, and the upper reaches of the Dodder. Geography, in its bridging role, brings all these things to bear. He lamented the change in the 1960s which, he thought, marked the end of silence. Sadly his house was demolished and we have no physical trace here of the man who ranks with Yeats as the most important poet of early twentieth century Ireland. The new bridge and road, constructed in the 1980s, also destroyed one of the last water-powered mills (pictured above) which lay between Templeogue House and St.Maolog's church. The mill, the big house and the poet's house and the new road make good subject matter for fieldwork as they demonstrate the forces changing the landscape. The remains of Domville's mansion reveals but little evidence of another, older, Templeogue as its demesne is now rather tatty.
