Kilmacud

Kilmacud (Irish: Cill Mhic Oda, meaning "The Church of the Son Of Oda") is a suburban area in Dublin in the local authority area of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.

Kilmacud is the area west of Stillorgan. In essence, it is a collection of middle-class housing estates built in the 1950s by a range of small private construction companies to cater for the growing market of those able to raise mortgages of £3,000 approx to buy their own homes. Its focus is the 'Redesdale Garden Estate', drawing its name from the local mansion—now St. Anne's former girls' reform school—of the British right-wing politician Lord Redesdale, whose daughters the Mitford sisters had achieved celebrity and notoriety in British society. Many other houses and apartments have been built in the area since the 1950s.

Kilmacud is north of Sandyford, east of Dundrum and south of Goatstown. The west end of the Lower Kilmacud Road starts in Goatstown, heading in a southerly direction. It then goes southeast through what appears to be a narrow shortcut and on out to the end of Drummartin Road and turns east. From there it continues eastwards through to the Stillorgan dual carriageway or N11. In total, it is about 2.6 kilometres or 1.6 miles long. The Upper Kilmacud Road starts in Dundrum and going uphill initially it continues eastward, levels off, and continues until a sharp corner brings it northward and downhill. It joins the Lower Kilmacud Road close to St. Laurence's Boys School. It is about 2.9 kilometres or 1.8 miles long.

The difference between Kilmacud and Stillorgan is somewhat ambiguous. For example Kilmacud Crokes GAA club is located in Stillorgan and Stillorgan's Roman Catholic parish is called Kilmacud. Kilmacud can be described as the area between and immediately around the Upper and Lower Kilmacud Roads. A now gone placename sign for Stillorgan stood up until the 1970s near Beaufield Park, which is on the section of the Lower Kilmacud Road running between the shops near St. Laurence's Church, and the Stillorgan Shopping Centre. This would have been on the western edge of the Stillorgan, and many of the existing housing estates mentioned earlier would not have been in place prior to the 1950s, so it would have marked the beginnings of a built-up area. The area now referred to as Kilmacud would have been on the western side of the sign, with the Chapel of SS Laurence and Cuthbert close by. This was long before the current church dedicated just to St. Laurence O'Toole, which opened in 1969.

Kilmacud Crokes is a major G.A.A. club whose clubhouse, Glenalbyn is located directly opposite the Stillorgan shopping centre.

Kilmacud's primary schools are Scoil Lorcán Naofa (St. Laurence's, named for the one time archbishop of Dublin Laurence O'Toole), St Raphaela's Primary School and Mount Anville National School, the secondary schools are St. Benildus College, Mount Anville Secondary School and St. Raphaelas School.

The LUAS light-rail system runs south of Kilmacud and has two stations in the area, Stillorgan and Kilmacud, the former being on the edge of the Sandyford Industrial Estate and beside the main reservoir. The Kilmacud stop is south of the grounds of St. Benildus College.