When Senator David Norris visited Our Lady’s Hospice recently, he and I had a brief conversation regarding the village of Sandymount. He reminisced about several of the lovely old shops.

Our family moved to Sandymount in 1939. We came from the Liberties, where we lived in a small cottage in South Earl Street. We moved into Seafort Gardens– Sandymount was a real rural village back then. It has still retained some aspects of life back in those days.

I am led to believe there was a huge butchers where Books on the Green now is, an old friend of mine, Jimmy Dunne who grew up in Seafort Villas, remembers this place well. It took up the entire block– they brought the cattle in through the gate still there beside the kitchen shop.

The Paisleys’ shop was further on up Seafort Avenue, now called ‘Second Avenue’. They had a brother Ernie who made deliveries on an old-fashioned delivery bike.

Where the supermarket is was Dr Denholm’s, another kind of farm yard where he grew lots of vegetables. Mr Jackson owned the garage and bicycle shop and facing this was the Monument Creamery, where they cut up pounds of butter on a marbled slab and sold beautiful buttered eggs. The bank was next door is now O’Brien’s off-licence.

Miss Milligan’s hardware shop, with its lovely curved window, was on the corner of the Green, where Sarah Smith worked. It smelt of paraffin oil and sold everything you might need to clean the house or do any DIY.

A small bakery, ‘The Gem’, was situated where a clothes shop is now. On the other side of the Green there was the old post office, now Bennett’s auctioneers. Leverette & Frye was a big grocery store where Spar is now and where the bank now stands was Batt’s chemist shop.

There were several butchers in the village Ryan’s, Dowling’s and Hayden’s. All these butchers killed their own animals. Hayden’s kept their own livestock and it was renowned for its buttermilk parlour where one could go and enjoy a nice pint of buttermilk on Sunday mornings. Where these premises once stood now houses the tax office on Claremont Rd.

There was several dairies in the area. ‘Merry Bush’ on Tritonville Road once took in Farney Park and Tritonville Court as part of their lands. Leo O’Brien also had a dairy farm on Tritonville Road, later to become a printing works.

Miss Roddy’s, now ‘Mira Mira’, was a grocery shop and Miss Roddy’s brother Benny used to keep pigs. He would often go into Heelan’s (now ‘Sandymount House’) to call out the number of the car that was blocking the entrance to the piggery. Nearby was Findlater’s and Prescott’s dry cleaners.

Mr McDonald had a shop and dairy on Seafort Avenue. In the middle of the road on Seafort Avenue there once stood a monument of some description. On Gilford Road there was a tram station and there were lovely cottages for the workers which are still there today.

I am almost 80 years old and came into Our Lady’s Hospice as I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. This is a great place, we do lots of activities have all sorts of entertainment and the staff are fantastic, always eager to help, and I am very happy to be here.

I was away in Lourdes in early September and it was a great experience. My family visit me nearly every day and I go out at least once a week– I enjoy a drive out to the country.

The photograph of Sandymount above dates from about 1930 showing Leverette & Frye to the left and Batt’s Dispensary opposite. (Photo courtesy John Osman Collection)