Clontarf

[BarbaraO]

I have very little to go on regarding my fathers upbringing. All I know is that he was brought up in a house in Clontarf called Brookside. I have no road no number nothing else. The family name was Laler with some O'Sullivans linked in..........Helppppp

[aghadowey]

Not sure what date you are talking about but 1911 census lists several Lalers in Clontarf- maybe some clues there if you recognise any of the names.
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search

[BarbaraO]

Dad was born in 1906 so its worth a try. Many thanks

[BarbaraO]

I looked on the census and found them at Commercial Buildings Clontarf. This was before my grandmother and the children went to live at Brookside. Anybody know what or where Commercial Buildings are or were..........doesn't sound as nice as Brookside ?

[dublin1850]

I think Brookside was on Strandville Avenue.
There was a Brookside Engineering company in Clontarf in the 1870s, possibly later.

**edit**
From: http://www.chaptersofdublin.com/books/NorthDub/cosgrave11.html
Old Strandville Avenue runs from Clontarf Railway Station to the sea, which it meets at Brookside, where the Holly Brook flows into the Bay

I have a map which shows a 'Brook' marked among other houses in the area..it's in the right place.
I'll scan it and up it in a minute.

[dublin1850]

If you would like a larger image, showing a wider area, mesage me with an email address and I'll send it on.

This is from 1821 - it shows most of the big houses in the area, the names of many of which survive in current housing estate names.

[BarbaraO]

Thanks for that. It looks as if Brookside may have been an "area" rather than a house. My fathers family always had "ideas above their station" so the talk of a house may have been wishful thinking. I'm still interested in the Commercial Buildings link though??

[dublin1850]

I have seena 'Brookside cottage' mentioned somewhere, so I think there probably would have been a 'big house' too.

[dublin1850]

Porter's 1912 Directory of North County Dublin (on my site, but not fully complete) lists a Laler, John, Civil Engineer, at Brookside, Strandville
There is also a Thomas Wade listed at Brookside cottage, so presumably the Lalers were in 'the big house' (though how big it actually was, I don't know).