Light speed to Ashtown
FOR centuries, Dublin 15 areas such as Ashtown, which is on the doorstep of the Phoenix Park, were linked to the family behind Rathborne Candles, the world’s oldest candlemaker. In 1488 an English master chandler called Joseph Rathborne started making candles in Winetavern Street in central Dublin. Rathborne Candles enjoyed a boom in the 1600s after the Candlelight Law decreed that every fifth home must display a light for passers-by and later, when it was contracted to supply street lighting throughout the city. It also secured lucrative contracts supplying lighthouses around the coast.
In the mid-1700s, a descendant called William Rathborne built a house and a new candle factory at Dunsinea in Scribblestown, near Ashtown. A farm developed on the factory grounds provided work for the Rathborne family’s employees when candle sales were slow. The family finally sold the business in 1914. Rathborne Candles is now based in Blanchardstown and makes high-end fragrances, reed diffusers — as well as candles.
Rathborne, named after the family, is now a fast-growing residential area that attracted developers during the Celtic Tiger because of its proximity to Dublin city centre and its transport links: it’s beside Ashtown train station and the Phoenix Park is just across the Royal Canal. Castlethorn built apartments and houses at Rathborne village before the property crash. As part of these housing estates, it also constructed two neighbourhood retail centres at Rathborne, The Village and the River Centre, at Rathborne, which the developer put on the market in November.
Castlethorn has since returned to Dublin
15 to build Rathborne Park, right beside Ballymore’s Royal Canal Park housing scheme.
Some 60 houses were sold after the first phase of Rathborne Park was launched off the plans in September. A show-village will open at Rathborne Park for the first time tomorrow to market the second phase, which comprises
38 houses, with prices starting at €355,000 for a three-bed and at €460,000 for a four-bed.
There are three different styles of threebeds available in the second tranche: type 1 is a terraced style measuring 1,141 sq ft, type
2 is an end-of-terrace style with an extension, and type 6 spans 1,108 sq ft and comes with an integrated garage. The four-bed detached design, meanwhile, extends over 1,389 sq ft; it comes from the type 8 range, so it is double-fronted.
The facade of each home at Rathborne Park incorporates brick and render, with a multi-point locking system to the front door and high-performance low-energy PVC to the double-glazed windows. There is cobblelock paving to front driveways, while rear patio doors lead to a seeded back garden.
There are fitted wardrobes to the double bedrooms. The A3-rated properties are equipped with gas-fired central heating and residents can also control heat via a Climote app. Roof-mounted PV panels generate extra electricity. Rathborne Park is a five-minute walk from both Rathborne Village and Tolka Valley Park, while the city centre is an 11-minutes away from Ashtown train station. Viewings tomorrow and Sunday, from 10am to 12pm.