Goatstown is primarily a residential area, with extensive housing developments from the middle decades of the 20th century onwards, with little local industry. It is roughly centred on a pub named the Goat Grill, at the intersection of Goatstown Road and Taney Road, where there has been a pub since the early 18th century.
Etymology
Goatstown got its name from the fact that formerly goats were bred there; in the 19th century it was popular to travel to Dundrum and nearby Goatstown as goat's milk was considered to be excellent for those suffering from tuberculosis.
Transport
A number of roads pass through Goatstown. At the crossroads the R112 passes from west to east, to the south is the R825 and to the north is the R133. A short distance from the crossroads is a T-junction where the R826 terminates at the R112 on the Taney Road. The Luasgreen line runs through the southwest corner of Goatstown and the Dundrum Luas stop is nearby, with the vehicular entrance off Taney Road. The bus routes of the 11, 11a and 75 run through Goatstown as well, linking Goatstown to the city centre, Dún Laoghaire and Tallaght.
Development
To the east of the Goatstown Road lies former allotment land, much of which was compulsorily purchased during the 1960s for the proposed Eastern Bypass / Saint Helen'slink road. A portion of this land is currently being built on by Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council, to provide social and affordable housing. A Georgian house and remaining surrounding land, known as Trimbleston, was sold in the early 1990s to builders Sorohan Brothers. The house was subsequently damaged in two fires and the remaining ruins demolished and replaced by a housing and apartment development, also called Trimbleston. Phase two of Trimbleston has recently commenced with the demolition of five two-storey houses on Goatstown Road and construction of 202 dwelling units in their place and on land to the east owned by the Sorohans.
Notable people
William Dargan lived for a time in Mount Anville House in Goatstown. The award-winning cable-stay Luas bridge at Taney Junction was named Dargan Bridge.
Charlie Chawke, who took over the local pub in 1982 and changed the name from Traynor's to the Goat Grill, was shot in the leg in October 2003 in a robbery and had his right leg amputated five days later. In another widely publicised case, on 5 March 2008 a jury found Brian Kearney guilty of the murder of his wife, Siobhán Kearney, at their home in Cnoc na Sí, Goatstown in February 2006.
