Falkinek — The Phoenix Park, its Origin and ear hj History. 475 



'* to enclose or impark with a stone wall, in such manner as you have 

 already begun, such lands of our ancient inheritance or new purchase 

 as you shall think fit for that use, and to store the same with deer." 



Pursuant to these instructions, lands were accordingly acquired 

 from various persons in Grangegorman and Castleknock ; but it was 

 soon evident that the Park was likely to prove much more costly than 

 had been anticipated. Chapelizod alone absorbed the whole of the 

 original £10,000,^ a sum much in excess of its value, if, as Lord 

 Essex subsequently reported, the lands had never been worth more 

 than £330 a-year in the best times.^ Py 1665 it had become necessary 

 to provide a further sum of £10,000 to satisfy the other proprietors. 

 Between 1665 and 1669 there were several further purchases, of 

 which the most considerable was the acquisition at a cost of £2270 of 

 the lands of Ashtown with the castle thereon, being the site of the 

 lodge and grounds now occupied by the Under-Secretary. An account 

 presented in 1669 of the expenditure in respect of the Phoenix Park 

 shows an actual outlay at that date of upwards of £18,000 and a 

 liability of £12,000, making a total of above £31, 000. ^ Provision was 

 made accordingly ; but even this large amount did not suffice, the total 

 cost ultimately exceeding £40,000.^ 



As a result of these various additions, the area enclosed in the Park, 

 inclusive of Kilmainham, amounted to above 2000 acres, or consider- 

 ably more than its present extent. Ormond had meanwhile lost no 

 time in proceeding with his plans. A contract was entered into for 

 building the wall, which was speedily, if not very effectually, carried 

 out. The lands on both sides of the river were enclosed by a stone 

 wall which ran down to the river at each side at a point just west of 

 the covered portion of the modern Kingsbridge Station. Those on 

 the south bank of the Lifley embraced the whole space now comprised 

 in the grounds of the Eoyal Hospital, the boundary running south- 

 wards from the Li:ffey by the present Military-road, turning westward 

 near Bow-bridge, and following the course of Kilmainham-lane as far 

 as St. John's-road, whence it ran northwards again to Island-bridge. 



The contract for building the Park wall was given to one Dodson. 

 Many of the accounts of this worthy are extant, together with the 

 reports of the officials to whom they were referred by the Irish Privy 



1 King's Letter, 11th May, 1665, Ormonde MS. 

 ~ Christie's " Life of Shaf teshury, " vol. ii., App., p. 53. 

 3 Account of Moneys paid for land in Phoenix Park, Ormonde MS. 

 *"Exsliaw's Magazine," 1775, p. 213, and " Freeman's Journal," Feb. 7,. 

 1775. 



