A history
and
guidebook

"Author Brendan Nolan provides a fascinating read."
Irish Independent.

"Brendan Nolan's comprehensive history and guidebook of Phoenix Park is a masterpiece." Community Voice.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party to close Chesterfield Avenue on Easter Saturday.

As part of the Park 350 celebrations, a Mad Hatter's Tea Party will take place along Chesterfield Avenue between the Phoenix and Mountjoy roundabouts on Easter Saturday April 7, 2012 between 12 noon and 4 pm.

Part of the newly-surfaced Chesterfield Avenue will be closed to facilitate the event.

You may take a trip in a jaunting car, picnic with Alice in Wonderland and her pals, sample foods from the food village, follow the white rabbit on an Easter Egg hunt, and more besides.

And it's all free

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Phoenix Park 350th anniversary year starts with a cake and a sword

Brian Hayes TD the minister responsible for Phoenix Park cut a cake with a ceremonial sword and started a five kilometre race on January 1, 2012 in celebration of the 350th year of the park.
Commemorative events will be announced through the year by the Office of Public Works which has responsibility for management of the park.
James Butler, the Duke of Ormonde, was re-appointed Lord Lieutenant or Viceroy of Ireland in 1661 by Charles II on his restoration to the throne.
Ormonde then began assembly of the lands that lie enclosed behind the wall of the present-day park.
He introduced deer, partridge and pheasant into the deer park, of which the present-day deer herd are descendents.
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Phoenix Park motor races planned for anniversary year

Motorsport Ireland, the governing body for motorsport in Ireland and a member of the world Motorsport governing body, is planning to celebrate motor racing in the park on the weekend of August 18-19 2012.
In September, the Visitor's Centre will host an exhibition of video, photos and artefacts to coincide with a vintage car display and a re-enactment of the 1903 sprints on Chesterfield Avenue when world speed records were set by the participants. A specialist website has been set up for the racing event.
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Phoenix Park Conservation Management Plan

A conservation management plan for Phoenix Park in the next 25 yeras has been published and is online to see.
A previous plan operated for 25 years until now.
The new plan will see the park well into the twenty first century.
The plan gives a snapshot of the park and its long history.
The Visitor Centre complex, including playground and walled garden now attracts more than 400,000 visitors annually. Some 250 major events and 2,000 sporting events are held there annually.
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This comprehensive guide to Phoenix Park covers its origins and history, buildings and monuments, wildlife, literary associations, military use, sports and outlines self-guided walks for the leisurely stroller to undertake.

Provided are histories and descriptions of park landmarks, including Dublin Zoo, Áras an Uachtaráin, Ashtown Castle, Farmleigh, the American Ambassador’s Residence, Garda Headquarters, and more.

It touches on such historical events as the political murders of 1882, the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1979, the national soccer team’s homecomings, and the Nurse Gargan murder.

This book is of interest to visitors, and Dubliners alike, and to anyone interested in this most historic and scenic park.

It would make a welcome addition to corporate and conference goodybags as well as being an ideal introduction to the area for new arrivals.

In the shops now

ISBN 1-904148-78-6
or order online here

oOo

Brendan Nolan has reported on Phoenix Park as a freelance journalist for several decades and was a professional observer at many of the events of the late 20th century related herein.

He was born in Chapelizod in a house beside the churchyard of Le Fanu and counted Phoenix Park as his personal rambling ground through his growing years and beyond.