I took a stroll through Dublin’s oldest public park and the surrounding residential area on the last day of 2025. We were visiting Dublin for New Year’s Eve.
Although it was cold, about 42 degrees fahrenheit, the grass was emerald green and there were some plants blooming. Not as many as we’ve seen in London parks at the same time of year, but we saw primula and cyclamen in orderly beds around some of the lakes and the Superintendent’s Lodge. There are 750 trees in the park, including London Plane (Sycamore) and many others of varying size. The park also provides a significant wildlife habitat in the middle of the city. We saw seagulls, swans, magpies, as well as many other bird species. St. Stephen’s Green Park can be traced back to medieval times.
It was originally a piece of marshy ground that citizens used for grazing livestock. In 1635 The City Assembly passed an ordinance “That no parcel of St. Stephen’s Greene shall henceforth be lett, but wholie kepte for the use of the citizens and others to walke and take the open aire.” In 1670 the first paid gardeners were employed to tend to the park. Sycamore trees were planted.
It became very fashionable for a time in the 1700’s, but fell into disrepair and was taken back by the city in the early 1800’s to become a private park only accessible to those with keys. In the late 1870’s Sir Arthur Guinness, later known as Lord Ardilaun, bought the park from the city and had it redesigned in the Victorian style with floral displays, lakes and serpentine paths. Upon completion the 22-acre park was returned to the public.
The Superintendent’s Lodge on the edge of the park was built during Lord Ardilaun’s redesign of the park. It is famous for the role played by the superintendent at the time, John Kearney, during the Easter Rising of 1916. During the conflict (between British forces and a group of Irish nationalists who were trying to throw off British rule), the lodge and park became a focal point, with rebels occupying the Green and Kearney risking his life daily to care for the birds, with both sides pausing firing to let him pass.
By Dorian Winslow
