Sir, – What a relief that Frank McNally has abandoned his projects a "History of Ireland in 100 Myths" and the "Geography of Ireland in 100 Mismeasurements" (An Irishman's Diary, March 25th ).
In relation to the Phoenix Park, I started to mentally list a number of such myths as the name applied to the Parkgate Street entrance to the Park where no gates now exist. These were taken down along with their supporting piers for the Eucharistic Congress in 1932 – the piers have been re-erected along with the flanking walls as part of the park’s management plan and the gates are awaited.
Another frequent query is whether a tunnel runs from the magazine fort under the river Liffey extending to the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham (now the Irish Museum of Modern Art). If it exists, the entrance is eagerly sought!
Frank hits the nail on the head when he states that “Maybe in former times, there was an identifiable 15 acres there”. In a lecture delivered by the late Brian MacCurtain on behalf of the Chapelizod Heritage Society in the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre on November 2014, he stated the following: “We don’t know when the Fifteen Acres was so called, but we do know that it was originally a small area of approximately that size immediately south of the chief secretary’s lodge, now the residence of the American ambassador [and where the papal cross is now situated]. It was used by the Dublin garrison for drills and exercises. We don’t know when this practice began but I would suggest that it was probably before the erection of the Royal Barracks in 1704. The first cartographic depiction of it is in 1772. The designation ‘Fifteen Acres’ quickly spread beyond its original size and is now used of a considerably larger area than 15 acres . . .”
Incidentally in J Sheridan Le Fanu's novel of 1863, The House by the Churchyard, he states that "You all know the artillery butt [where the playing fields are now located]. Well, that was the centre for a circular enclosure containing just fifteen acres . . . ".
However, there is no evidence to support this but one assumes that a certain artistic licence is allowed! – Yours, etc,
JOHN A McCULLEN ,
Phoenix Park,
Dublin 8.