Sharing Your Memories

“Our Dublin of today is very much a product of past experiences and a sharing of our history is very important to Dublin today.”
Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Eibhlin Byrne.

On the night of 30-31 May 1941 four high explosive bombs were dropped by German aircraft on the North Strand, killing 28, injuring over 90, and destroying 300 houses.

Were you an eyewitness to these events? Or perhaps you have stories or anecdotes, which have been passed on to you by older friends or relatives? Your memories are history. Dublin City Archives wishes to collect and preserve them for future generations of Dubliners. Add your experiences to the history of the North Strand Bombing by submitting your story using the submission form below or alternatively by e-mail to cityarchives@dublincity.ie.

Your submission can be as long or as short as you wish.

Stories submitted to Dublin City Archives may be edited before being published on the website. We will not publish any of your personal details.  See our privacy statement below.

Please include the following information:-

Name - Email - Telephone - Your Story

Story Submission Form:

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Message

[Please note, when you click the 'Submit' button, your submission will  appear and replace the submission box just by way of confirmation to you. It is NOT visible to anyone else at this time. Refreshing the page will again make the submission box appear.]

Privacy Statement

If you contribute a story to this site we ask you to give us your name and contact information. This is so that we can contact you in the event of a problem with your story and to record that you are the copyright owner of the story. We will not publish your name on the site without your express permission and we will not share the information you give us with any third party

May Donnelly’s Story

I was four years old when the bombs were dropped and we lived in one room in Camden Place. We, being my parents, and brother and myself. I remember the searchlights and noise and my father not wanting me to see as my parents looked out of the window. No one slept that night, not knowing what was going to happen next. Both parents died within three years so there was no one to ask later.

Julie Coombes Kiernan’s Story

It was May 1941; I was seven years old and just about to make my first Holy Communion. My mammy brought me to Summerhill not far from where we lived. She had a docket for a certain shop. This docket she would pay back by weekly installments but would only allow one to us it in a particular shop.

It must have been very near my communion day because the shop was sold out of white dresses. The sales lady showed mam some little blue dresses. They had a print of little pink flowers. I still remember my mammy saying she had hoped to get me a white dress, but the sales lady was telling her the blue dress was pretty on me and went with the blue coat.

I was disappointed but like all children of that time we had not say. We just did as we were told. The Second World War was on but I was only vaguely aware of bombings in England. The name Hitler was often mentioned. Being one of a family soon to be nine children, our lives were occupied by hearing talk from our parents about making ends meet. Bread and potatoes were our stable diet. Oh how I disliked the taste and colour of bread during the war.

The night before my big day, I must have slept very heavy because when I woke up I was in my mam and dads bed. There seemed to be a lot of excitement happening as my mammy told me the Germans had bombed the North Strand which was only a street away from Killarney Street, where we lived. She was delighted I hadn’t woken up as all our windows were broken from the blast. She had taken us all into her bed.

Looking back now she must have felt at that time if we were to die we would all die together. Still life went on as usual and I went to the church of Our Lady of Lourdes. Some of the girls wore black sashes over their white Communion dresses. I was the only one with a blue dress. The day after my First Holy Communion my granddad Coombes brought me by the hand to the top of the street, he lifted me up to look across the barricades at the Five Lamps and the rubble of all the houses and shops. I was too young to realise the terrible loss of life.

Julie Coombes Kiernan

Patricia Clarke’s Story

My name is Patricia Clarke (nee Leech) and my sister is Margaret Kelly (nee Leech). My father was Walter Leech and my mother Mary Henderson.

I was born on the 19th July 1932, my sister was born on 20th May 1930. We lived at 19 North William St with my father, older brother Jim, younger brother Colm and baby sister Deirdre. My mother had just died on the 2nd March of 1941.  She was 32, leaving a young family, my brother Jim was 13, Margie was 10, I was 8 and a half, Colm was 6 and Deirdre was only 1 and a half.

My father came from Charleville Mall, his parents before him had a business bringing turf and wood from the country on the barges along the canals for CIE and other companies. They lived in a cottage on the canal at Ballybough Bridge. My uncle worked on the barges and when they came from the country, they would put the horses in the stables at the cottage on the canal for feeding and resting. When my father got married his parents gave him the house at 19 North William Street as a wedding present. The house was directly opposite St Agatha’s Church on the corner of North William Street and Dunne Street (where the old folks homes were later built).

My mother came from No. 20 Summerhill Parade. My mother’s father, David Henderson was Corporal in the British Army and fought in the Boer War and in India. When he returned to Dublin he opened a shoe repair business in the front room which was converted to a shop, at the family home at No. 20 Summerhill Parade. My Grandmother, (my mothers mother), came from Arklow and moved to Summerhill Parade when she got married, she lived all her life there and died at a ripe old age of 99 and eight months (she just missed her £100 birthday gift from the Government by 4 months). After my grandfather died Mr Byrne rented the shoe repair shop and carried on his business there until he died years later.

Jim O’Brien’s Story

My father had a hackney car and worked the areas of Stephen’s Green, Merrion Row and Baggot Street. He was a jarvey. His name was Edward O’Brien and he had a white horse named Marengo. He parked around the Shelbourne Hotel and picked up visitors from all around the world to bring them to North Strand to see where the bombings had occurred.

Editor’s Note: Memories written at Fighting Words Writing Workshop on North Strand Bombing at Casino Forum Group, Marino, Dublin 3, 17 June 2011

Rita Brady’s Story

The night of the bombs I was fifteen years old and lived in Croydon Park Avenue. I had reserved a gold watch at the jeweller’s Fitzpatrick’s on North Strand and was paying for it in weekly instalments so I would have it for Christmas.

I noticed some noise during the night but my first worry was that the jewellers would be gone and therefore the savings would be gone but it was fine and the watch was there and bought for Christmas.  Everyone was talking about the bomb and rushing to see where it fell.   Was afraid it would happen again. Not knowing was frightening.  People were talking and walking down to see it. Some people were crying, everyone was in shock.

We had a radio. So neighbours would come in to listen to the news, which ended up being very social.  The radio was nice and clear and we were the only family on the street with a radio.

I come from a family of four girls and one boy. Father was foreman checker in Sir John Rogerson Quay. We got a penny pocket money on Saturday. My father worked half a day on Saturday.We would be sitting outside waiting for him to get our penny and then we ran down to the shops to buy sweets. The bombings didn’t affect him getting to work. But my mammy was worried and prayed for him

Editor’s Note: Memories written at Fighting Words Writing Workshop on North Strand Bombing at Casino Forum Group, Marino, Dublin 3, 17 June 2011