Re: Re: The destruction of St. Stephen’s Green

Why is the date of 1880 so important?

SSG has seen various upheavals, changes, amendments, improvements, call-them-what-you-want in the 400ish years since it came into being. The corners used to be closed. The centre used to be pasture. There used to be big statues in the middle. And it’s not even 10 years since the park got the equivalent of a blade 1 haircut across its entire area, if I remember correctly- many lovely little nooks and crannies created by overgrowth of the undergrowth were destroyed 😉 by the OPW in the name of improving the safety of the users. But guess what- they grew back – differently, yes, but not necessarily better or worse – and you’d have been hard pressed to spot the scars even 6 months later.

I do understand your concerns regarding the impact of the works, but these are trees. They weren’t all planted at the same time, just as the layout of the park doesn’t date from a single period. Not only is the character of the park not bound to a single period of its evolution, it is fundamentally tied up with the layering of various chapters in its history. SSG is the very embodiment of a(n ecological) palimpsest.

Who’s to say that in 20 years’ time we won’t stand back and reminisce about the addition of yet another layer of history to the already rich tapestry of memory – personal, civic, national – that SSG represents?

PS I still think it’s the wrong location for a ‘Grand Central’ :rolleyes:, but for reasons nothing to do with those outlined in this thread.