Donnybrook

On our last night in Ireland, it was decided that we would have a special dinner, one that gave us a chance to spend time together without any real rush. This event took place in the community of Donnybrook.

Donnybrook is a district of Dublin which is in the south side. It has an interesting history that goes back to the 12^h century. At the beginning of the 13^th century, King John signed a charter for the Donnybrook Fair which existed until 1866. It started off as an agricultural fair, but degraded into a fair that promoted “fun” and drunkenness. Things got to be so bad that the local people raised money and prominent citizens and clergy purchased the rights to the fair. The fair had been held on the property that is now used as the Donnybrook Rugby Ground and the Ever Ready Garage. The name, Donnybrook, came to describe a rowdy brawl.

Donnybrook is a civil parish that consists of sixteen townlands. Twelve of the townlands belong to the Barony of Dublin. Three of the remaining townlands belong to the Barony of Rathdown. The final townland, Sallymount, is in the Barony of Uppercross.

On Morehampton Road, you will find a small establishment that looks like a pub from the outside. I’m not sure what the main floor of the restaurant looks like as we were ushered upstairs to the Belmont Room which is designed to host parties up to 90 participants. It has its own bar and washrooms, as well as a lounge area and fireplace. The dining area is split into two areas, upper and lower. There is also a fairly large reception area as you enter from the stairwell. Entertainment had also been arranged for us, we were treated to a final night of Irish music.

When we arrived, we were presented with a demonstration of how to make Irish soda bread. We were even given a copy of the recipe and told about possible pitfalls. After this, we then sat down to a very good meal. I believe that there were either three or four choices which were made before we even arrived in Ireland. The food was delicious and plentiful. I cannot for the life of me what I had as we have been back for three months now and a great deal has happened since then.

Once the food was out of the way, we had a bit of an appreciation party, giving thanks to Lesley Anderson for all of the work that she had done for us both before and during the tour. We also showed our appreciation to our bus driver and guide, Austin, from CIE Tours in Ireland.

The time came that we had to vacate the restaurant and travel back to our hotel for our last night in Ireland. We had a long day ahead of us with our travel back to Canada and to our various homes, mostly in Ottawa, but a couple from Alberta, three or four from the States, and myself currently living in Newfoundland.

It was a good trip. I plan to go back to Ireland to visit the places that I want to get to know better and to do some research that I can’t do in Canada. Who knows, this might happen sooner than later. We will see.

I am sure that Lesley Anderson will appreciate the following picture. My brother and I had gone for a walk on our last night in Belfast so that I could get some pictures. I came across this one during that time. Lesley, if you are reading this, please enjoy: