Pigeon House Road

By Jason McDonnell

What an exciting road. At one stage it was the longest straight road in Ireland until they built the roundabout in the middle of it. It has seen a fair share of people and traffic over the years since Irish highwaymen used to rob the coaches from the packet ships on their journey to Ringsend.

The Pigeon House Fort was built to put an end to the highwaymen and protect us all from the French. There was also a hospital there at one stage where British troops (who had contracted STDs from prostitutes in Monto) would go to die. They had no cure for most STDs at the time. It was said that the soldiers would go down to the Pigeon House screaming in pain and come back up two or three days later in a box. The hospital was later used as a fever station for cholera patients and then as a tuberculosis sanatorium.

For years the Pigeon House Road was a well-known place as somewhere you could wait at the bend in the road for a coal truck to pass by and spill coal when it took the corner at high speeds.

Many a backyard was full of free coal in the winter, right up until the 80s. Pigeon House Road was the place where many NewsFour readers learnt how to drive and nowadays it is full of joggers and bird watchers.

But where did the name Pigeon House come from I hear you ask? Well, it got its name from a man called John Pidgeon (later the ‘d’ in his name was dropped). Around 1760, John Pidgeon was the caretaker of a storehouse used by the builders of the Great South Wall. At that time sailing ships brought letters and packets as well as passengers from England and Europe to Ireland.

These were called packet ships and landed and departed near Mr. Pidgeon’s storehouse. John Pidgeon started selling refreshments; tea, sandwiches, cakes and lemonade to hungry and thirsty passengers. It became so popular that even Dublin people used to come out to Ringsend at the weekends for a day out.

In 1793, long after John Pidgeon died, a new, bigger building was built which was used as a hotel. This building can still be seen to this day.

Extracted from: http://www.news4.ie/april12/frame3/20house.html

Extracted from: http://www.thejournal.ie/
IF YOU’RE WONDERING why the moon seems especially bright and wondrous this weekend, it could be one of two things.

Either you’re head-over-heels in love, or you’re seeing the ‘super moon’ – the biggest and brightest full moon of the year.

The moon will appear larger and brighter this weekend because it’s closer to us. Its orbit isn’t perfectly circular, so the distance from the Earth’s surface varies. And the full moon due for Saturday evening coincides with the moon passing nearest to us.

“What this means is when you look at it it’s going to be brighter,” David Moore of Astronomy Ireland told TheJournal.ie.

It will be 25 per cent brighter than the most distant full moon, and 10 per cent wider than the furthest full moon.

If the skies are clear, Moore said Earthbound viewers should take the opportunity to have a look. “The moon is always a fantastic sight in a telescope,” he said.

However, he said those not expecting the ‘super moon’ might not be aware of the event. “There’s always been a debate about whether people would notice.”

The ‘super moon’ will also mean that tides are more dramatic than usual – rising and falling to higher and lower extremes.