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Templeogue (Dublin 6W) is a suburb of southwest Dublin, in Ireland. Its name derives from the Irish Teach Mealóg, meaning St. Melog's house or church - a mediaeval monastery, in fact. It is part of the 6 West post code and part of the Dublin South West constituency.

Contents 1 Location 2 Estates 3 Development 4 Homes 5 Amenities 6 James Joyce 7 External links

Templeogue lies between the surrounding suburbs of Terenure, Rathfarnham, Knocklyon, Kimmage, Walkinstown and Tallaght. It is also on the N81 national primary road.

Historically it is separated from Tallaght by the River Dodder, though it once was part of the Parish of Tallaght^{[citation needed]}. A series of pedestrian bridges provide cyclists and pedestrians access to Tallaght Village via the M50.

It is well situated, being 4 miles (6 km) from the city centre and equally close to the Dublin Mountains, and to the coast at Dublin Bay on the Irish Sea. It is 180 feet (55 m) above sea level at 53° 18' north and 6° 18' west. The River Dodder forms the southern border with Rathfarnham while the River Poddle forms the northern border.

Templeogue Village does not constitute the centre of the district, instead the Orwell Shopping Centre in front of the large recreational field, Orwell Green, does^{[citation needed]}. One of the most prominent views is of Montpelier Hill to the southwest, topped by the ruin of the Hellfire Club at 1,250 feet (380 m).

Templeogue comprises many housing estates. These include Cypress Downs, Cypress Grove Road/North/South, Ashfield, Orwell Park, Rossmore, Kennington/Wilderwood/Rushbrook, Willington, The Water Course, Osprey, Glendown, Domville, Templeogue Lodge and Templeogue Wood, Templeogue Village.

The suburb also has many open fields (such as the colloquially known Orwell Green and Glendown Green), sports clubs - Faugh's GAA Club, St. Judes GAA Club, St. Mary's Rugby Club and Templeogue United FC, as well as schools - St. MacDara's CC, Templeogue College, St. Pius X NS, Bishop Galvin NS and Bishop Shanahan NS primary schools.

The Water Course is known for once backing onto the river Poddle which, according to local legend, "disappeared" overnight. In reality, it was made into an underground river to allow expansion of the St Judes Parish Church. It was also the site of a murder in 2000. Along with the nearby Greenhills church, St. Judes Parish church has striking architecture not found on typical Irish churches (slanty roof).

The estates of Cypress Grove North, Cypress Grove South, Ashfield, Cypress Grove Road, Corrybeg, Hilcrest, Springfield, Knocklyon Road and Templeogue Village make up what is known as the "Village". Most of these estates are located on the N81. The "Village" houses landmarks such as the Morgue Pub, Templeogue Bridge, the Templeogue Mansions, The Spawell Dome and a large motorway Junction. The Spawell is a sports recreation centre with tennis courts, indoor badminton and football pitches and squash courts, as well as a Pitch and Putt Club. It also has a night club, restaurant, arcade, snooker room and bar. The Cheeverstown Centre is a home for people with learning or physical disabilities and is across the road from another centre for people with (less severe) learning disabilities - St. Michael's House. The River Dodder is the local river on this side. This side of Templeogue borders Rathfarnam, Knocklyon, Terenure and Tallaght.

Formerly, Templeogue was a small village isolated from the city until 1801 when the Templeogue Road was constructed, originally as a toll road.

Urban expansion of Dublin in the late 1950s and early 1960s promoted residential development of the countryside and the population of Templeogue grew quickly. A further wave of home building followed in the 1970s and 80s by which time most open land in the neighbourhood was developed to capacity.

Templeogue was one of the first neighbourhoods in Ireland to enjoy access to a shopping centre when the Rathfarnham Shopping Centre was completed in the early 1970s, just across the River Dodder. It was the second supermarket built in Ireland, after Cornelscourt Shopping Centre.

The arrival of the centre displaced established grocery home-delivery services.

The first Dodder bridge in Templeogue, Templeogue Bridge, was built in about 1800. When the Rathfarnham Shopping Centre was constructed half a mile downstream from there, a second bridge was added, right behind the centre.

Templeogue was also one of the first Irish neighbourhoods to benefit from cable television service in 1971-2, when a 125-foot television mast (known as the communal aerial) was erected on vacant ground, normally occupied by unsupervised children, between Templeville Road and Fortfield Drive (in nearby Terenure). Previously, Irish television and weak British television signals were received on large rooftop aerials and viewed on black and white receivers. British transmissions were sometimes further spoiled by transient atmospheric degradations, especially under strong anticyclonic conditions during summer evenings. Good weather–bad television pictures.

Elaborate antennas on the new mast received and amplified struggling British UHF colour television signals (BBC 1, BBC 2, UTV and Harlech–HTV) transmitted from Northern Ireland and Wales.

The northern signals spilled into the Republic and stretched into Dublin City through a convenient gap in the Naul Hills in north County Dublin while the Welsh signals came in clearly across the Irish Sea. The signals were fed into local homes by coaxial cable, the system being referred to at the time as piped TV or the pipe.

The mast has since been dismantled as signals are now collected on a mountaintop.

The arrival of amplified British colour television signals promoted sales of colour television receivers in the neighbourhood. Colour television was a recent development and, prior to the erection of the community mast, a mere handful of people had made the costly investment in colour receivers and the special tall rooftop antennas needed to intercept useful colour signals that had travelled many miles, far beyond their intended service area.

Templeogue is mostly populated by middle class residents—native Dubliners and former rural dwellers. It is a safe area to raise a family and has plenty of necessary amenities close to hand. Though regarded by many as a desirable address, the original housing as built in the early 1960s was equal to homes in other less desired areas in the city, most houses being ordinary, semi-detached, pebble-dashed dwellings.

Corrections to the original specifications have been applied by the residents, most vitally to the heating. Over the years many have retired the original coal-fuelled fireplaces, downstairs, and installed oil- or gas-fuelled central heating systems. Some have also fitted double-glazed windows and attic insulation to improve comfort in winter. The houses were so dreadfully insulated that new heating systems would have failed unless winter draughts were repelled also.

In many cases, showers have been installed to replace the original bathtubs, or have been added to the baths. Other popular improvements include building one or two extra rooms on top of garages and adding enclosed porches at the front doors.

Perhaps the best feature of some of these houses is the relatively generous size of the rear gardens which are often notably spacious compared to similar houses in other areas of the city, and which are appreciated by adults and children, alike.

In 1965, a three-bedroomed home cost £4,000. By 2005, in the wake of the Irish economic boom (the Celtic Tiger), typical homes in the suburb could fetch €800,000.

Templeogue achieved suburban maturity by the mid-1970s with most desirable facilities in place, or easy access to them nearby, including schools, swimming pools, shopping, pubs, an excellent public park, sports grounds, and a modest neighbourhood newsletter, The Templeogue Telegraph.

Originally a quiet area, traffic through Templeogue increased sharply through the 1980s and congestion became normal.

Although surrounded by pubs in adjacent neighbourhoods, Templeogue has only one pub inside its boundaries, The Templeogue Inn, better known throughout Dublin as The Morgue. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the number 15 Blessington steam tram passed through Templeogue so close to the road that many deaths occurred. Corpses were often sheltered in the pub until taken away and the pub acquired the permanent, morbid nickname relished by the locals.

The Morgue was the most expensive pub in Ireland for a time during the 1980s when it changed hands for £660,000, a remarkable sum at the time. Inflation of property values has driven pub prices far higher since then.

No discussion of Dublin, or of even a portion of Dublin, is finished until her most attentive potrait-painter has been considered. He mentions Templeogue only once, in Finnegans Wake, Book III, Episode 3, page 553, line 12:

4	...and I did spread before my Livvy,
5	where Lord street lolls and ladies linger and Cammomile Pass
6	cuts Primrose Rise and Coney Bend bounds Mulbreys Island but
7	never a blid had bledded or bludded since long agore when the
8	whole blighty acre was bladey well pessovered, my selvage mats
9	of lecheworked lawn, my carpet gardens of Guerdon City, with
10	chopes pyramidous and mousselimes and beaconphires and colos-
11	sets and pensilled turisses for the busspleaches of the summira-
12	mies and esplanadas and statuesques and templeogues, the Par-
13	donell of Maynooth, Fra Teobaldo, Nielsen, rare admirable, Jean
14	de Porteleau, Conall Gretecloke, Guglielmus Caulis and the eiligh
15	ediculous Passivucant (glorietta's inexcellsiored!)...

• Map of Templeogue

• Templeogue Girl Guides

Coordinates: 53°18′N, 6°19′W