Is this where the “blood ran in the leas”? That unsettling phrase, whispered by locals for centuries, refers to Ranelagh. Ranelagh wasn’t always the fashionable Dublin suburb you see today. It began as the village of Cullenswood, a name that conjures more peaceful images. But history, as we know, is rarely peaceful. On Easter Monday, 1207, English settlers celebrating in Cullenswood were brutally attacked by Irish raiders from County Wicklow. It’s said 300 souls perished that day, staining the very ground we stand on. Thus, “blood ran in the leas” became a chilling reminder of the massacre. Centuries later, the Irish Confederate Wars brought renewed conflict to Ranelagh. The Battle of Rathmines in 1649 left the fields between here and Rathmines littered with the dead, forever known as the “Bloody Fields”. Yet, from these dark beginnings, Ranelagh rose again. By the 18th century, it shed its violent past and embraced a new identity. It was named after Ranelagh Gardens, a pleasure garden inspired by a similar one in London. That garden, long gone, lives on in the name “Ranelagh”, a testament to the area’s resilience and transformation.
Центральный дом работников искусств
Step through the grand wooden doors of the Central House of the Workers of Art, and you’ll be transported to