The Royal British Legion (RBL) is a charity, founded in 1921, to provide financial and social support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces. It’s best known for its annual red poppy fund-raising drive in the run up to Remembrance Sunday (11 November).
During the 20th century, the Legion operated a number of social halls throughout the island of Ireland. The organisation peaked in the late 1920s with a membership of just over 4,200.
Many Legion Halls were targeted by the IRA during the 1930s with premises being burnt down in Killaloe, Co. Clare (June 1933); Boyle, Co. Roscommon (Jan 1934) and Killarney, Co. Kerry (March 1934). A raid also took place on a Legion Hall in Park Street, Dundalk, Co. Louth in Nov 1935.
This is an attempt to list and map the halls which were based in the counties of Dublin and Wicklow. If you have any further information, please leave a comment or email me.
I have divided the list into:
- Dublin City
- Dublin North
- Dublin South
- Wicklow
- Other
1. D U B L I N – C I T Y
The Legion operated a social hall at 61 Mountjoy Square in the 1920s and early 1930s. The club was fined £40 in 1931 for selling liquor after hours.
Evening Herald, 14 March 1930
The British Legion’s main administration office during this period was based at 28 Harcourt Street (1930s/1940s) and later 44 Upper Mount Street (1940s/1950s).
Irish National War Memorial Committee. Correspondence between Major J.J. Tynan, Area Secretary, British Legion in Ireland and [Miss H.G. Wilson], Secretary, Irish National War Memorial Committee, 1937. Source: DRI
Dublin Evening Mail, 07 Oct 1950
From the mid 1960s onwards, the Dublin Central Branch ran a social club at 4 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. The premises had previously been in possession of the Catholic Seamen’s Institute.
On 24 February 1966, attempts were made to burn down the Legion Club by Irish republicans. On 1 March, petrol bombs were thrown at the home of Brigadier RN Thicknesse, British Military Attache, at 71 Eglinton Road, Donnybrook. The kitchen of the house was badly damaged in the incident. The same individuals were linked to the bomb attack on Nelson’s Pillar a week later. It is suspected that those responsible were instrumental in the forming of Saor Eire in 1967.
The Legion Club on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay’s quietly operated behind the scenes during the conflict in the North and was open until about 2001.
2. D U B L I N – N O R T H
Balbriggan
There is a short reference online to a Legion Hall in Skerries Street, Balbriggan.
Skerries Street, Balbriggan in c. 1897-1913. Source: OSI Map.
Killester (Free standing structure at green space at Abbeyfield)
Between 1918-1922, over 240 houses were built in the emerging suburb of Killester for ex-British servicemen and their families. Historian Jason Robert Myers attractively described the scheme as possessing “a rural serenity, replete with gently winding roads, cozy cul-de-sacs, individual yards in the front and back of each property, several community gathering places, and plenty of trees.” This video shows hundreds of ex British army soldiers marking Remembrance Day in November 1923 in Killester:
A community hall was built by the Legion for local men and their families. It was targeted by the IRA in an arson attack in April 1928. In August 1932, the Lord Mayor of Dublin Alfred Byrne officially opened a newly built hall in front of a “large gathering of ex Servicemen and friends”. It was described by The Irish Times (29 Aug 1932) as a “commodious building, handsomely finished and equipped in every suitable way”. General Sir William Hickie told the crowd that the British Legion would remain “non political and non sectarian”.
Notice of politician Peadar Cowan speaking at the Legion Hall, Killester. Ref: Dublin Evening Mail, 13 June 1955
This undated photograph shows the Legion Hall in Killester which is situated in a green area at Middle Third and Abbeyfield.
Legion Hall, Killester. nd. Source – https://wfadublin.webs.com/
The hall was sold by the British Legion around 1982 according to information online but it continued to be used by local people for sport and community events. Known locally as Judo Hall, the building was put up for sale in 2014 for €50,000. After a local campaign, the hall was saved from destruction but remains unused.
There are references to Legion Halls in Donabate and Swords including in this newspaper notice from Sean Dunne TD in 1962. I cannot find any more information online. Could these have been Legion of Mary halls?
Drogheda Independent, 10 March 1962.
3. D U B L I N – S O U T H
Dún Laoghaire (3 Crosthwaite Terrace off Clarinda Park West)
The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) owned this impressive house from about 1914 until 1930 when it was then taken over by the British Legion Club (Kingstown Branch). In the mid 20th century, the Legion built a flat roofed, single storey, clubhouse at the rear of the building. It played host to fencing championships and the annual Clarinda Fair throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
The club was quietly active over the next decades. It’s one foray in the spotlight occurred in 2003 when a case was brought before the Dublin District Court by the club’s neighbours who complained of “stomping, whooping, handclaps and amplified music” at weekly line dancing (Tuesdays) and jazz (Friday) nights held in the venue. Judge Terence Finn told the Legion that they risked having their licence revoked if they did not deal with the noise complaints.
The Legion sold the building in 2005 and the new owners applied to to demolish the clubhouse in 2009. The house was put up for sale in 2013 for €995,000.
Interior of the British Legion Hall, Dún Laoghaire. Source – http://planning.dlrcoco.ie/
Harold’s Cross
There is a brief mention of a Legion hut on Clareville Road, Harold’s Cross in 1951 but I can’t find anymore information.
Inchicore (Free standing structure at Granite Terrace)
On 5 November 1927, a Legion Hall was opened on a green area beside Granite Terrace in Inchicore for the use of members of the Legion’s Great Southern Railways Branch. The building was completely destroyed five days later in an arson attack by Irish republicans causing £1000 damage.
Burning of Legion Hall, Inchicore. Belfast Telegraph, 10 Nov 1927
The hall was rebuilt circa 1929 and it was was targeted again by the IRA elements in November of that year:
Attack on Legion Hall, Inchicore. Donegal News, 16 Nov 1929
The hall was repaired and became a popular spot for dancing in the early 1930s:
Evening Herald, 29 Nov 1933.
Today it is home to the CIE Boxing Club and is where Bernard Dunne started his boxing career at the age of five in the mid 1980s.
CIE Boxing Club, Granite Terrace, Inchicore. Source: Google Street View, 2009
Rathfarnham
A small wooden hut, used by the Legion on Whitechurch Road, Rathfarnham, was burnt down in the early morning of Remembrance Sunday, 11 November 1934. Compensation of £140 was later granted to the Club Secretary Joseph Bently in the Dublin Circuit Court.
Legion Hall, Rathfarnham. Source: 12 Nov 1934, Irish Independent.
Shankill/Loughlinstown
The Shankill & Ballybrack branch of British Legion opened a hall on the New Road, Shankill around 1930. In 1936, John Dunstane Wallis of Dorney Court, Shankill applied for a public dancing license for the hall. No further information is available.
Legion Hall, Shankill. 19 Aug 1936, Irish Independent
4. W I C K L OW
BRAY
The Bray Branch of the Legion opened its headquarters in the basement of 12 Goldsmith Terrace, Quinsboro Road in late 1929. The Irish Times (18 Oct 1929) noted that their premises had a billiard and card room, a room for “women’s work” and offices. There was no bar. In the 1930s, the Bray Branch moved their headquarters nearby to Galtrim House where it held events until the 1950s at least. A 2012 Sunday Independent article states that coach Johnny Maloney started a boxing club in Bray in the 1960s in the “British Legion Hall”. Was this Galtrim House? The building was gutted by a fire in 1984.
Legion Hall, Bray. Wicklow People, 13 Nov 1937
ENNISKERRY
The Enniskerry Branch of the Legion opened a social hall on the Old Bray Road in August 1931. It was a popular spot for dances in the decades ahead. The building is still standing today and is used as a community centre.
Legion Hall, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow. Source: Google Street View, 2019
There is a ‘Somme Room’ (dedicated to Irishmen who took part in the Battle of the Somme) in the City of Dublin Working Men’s Club, 33 Little Strand Street off Capel Street and there is also British army memorabilia on the walls of the Dublin Conservative Club, 20 Camden Row, Dublin 8. See my previous article on Private Bars and Social Clubs.
The RAF Association operated a bar at 23 Earlsfort Terrace near St. Stephen’s Green. A petrol bomb was thrown at the building in September 1967 causing no significance damage. Following the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry in January 1972, the Club was attacked again with molotov cocktails and its windows were smashed. It appears that the club closed its Earlsfort Terrace bar around this period and moved operations to the British Legion’s club in Dún Laoghaire.
Rathfarnham War Memorial Hall. Source: http://www.irishwarmemorials.ie/