Rafter's Lane and Road - No Water

April 5, 1955

MAIN SERVICES PASS CRUMLIN HOUSES – BUT NO WATER OR SEWERAGE

The cottages which I saw in one of Dublin’s most densely populated districts made a pretty picture. But for all their neat, old-world air, these homes in the heart of Crumlin are without water or sanitary conveniences—and they have been owned by Dublin Corporation for many years.

The dwellings in Rafter’s Road and Rafter’s Lane are the only inhabited premises in the Crumlin district without a water supply or sewerage amenities, although the mains which service this vast new residential district are laid in the roadway that passes their doors.

City-Engulfed

A little over 30 years ago, these cottages were set in the countryside.

Thirty of them were built by Dublin County Council for agricultural labourers. So remote were they from the outer fringe of the city—which was then Dolphin’s Barn—that there was no possibility of each house having its own water supply.

But the city began to creep closer to Crumlin, and then, in one of the biggest re-housing drives in Ireland, the cottages were engulfed by rows and rows of neat concrete houses. The city boundary was extended to take in Crumlin. The old names of Rafter’s Road and Rafter’s Lane were retained.

Rafter was a dairyman in the Coombe who owned the fields around the County Council granite-built cottages. The two narrow roadways by which he gained access to his fields were named after him.

Rents Vary

Mr. Patrick Kavanagh, who has been a tenant in No. 15 Rafter’s Road since the cottages were built, said his rent was 4/7 a week, but as the original tenants died or moved out, the Corporation—who were now the owners—increased the rents. Water is obtained, he said, from a fountain set at the side of the footpath.

Mrs. Thomas Ryan told me that the rent of her cottage, which she occupies with her husband and young family, is 9/11 a week. Mrs. Margaret Donegan, a widow who pays 4/8 a week, said she was 66 years of age and did not expect that she could keep on making the daily journeys to the fountain for buckets of water.

Plans Are There

Ten years ago, a circular was received from the Corporation asking the tenants if they would pay an extra 2/- a week if water and sewerage facilities were provided. All the tenants agreed to pay the extra amount, but nothing more was heard from the Corporation.

When I asked a Corporation spokesman what the Council proposed to do, I was told that the Housing Committee has plans for supplying water and sewerage amenities to the cottages.

T.K.