Nationwide celebrates the first tenant-purchase housing scheme in the fledgling Free State – the Tenters.
A century after the first residents moved into their homes in Dublin 8, this special programme looks at the history of the area and meets the people who’ve lived there for generations.
Cathy Scuffil, Historian-in-Residence, Dublin City Council describes the significance of the housing development, saying: “It starts around 1921 and at the stage we're still under British rule, so this is the last estate to be built with money from Britain but we move into the Free State almost immediately, so January 1922 we are in the Irish Free State so the Tenters reflects the new beginning, the very beginning of a brand new country trying to find its way in the world.”
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A hundred years later, Nationwide will celebrate the special character and unique community spirit of the area.
In Friday’s programme residents, many of whom are descendants of those who got their keys in 1922, recall growing up in this part of Dublin and of the great community spirit of the place.
William Mooney, a resident of the Tenters since 1953, describes the best thing about the area, said:: “First and foremost the people, you can't beat them. They're great because most of them came from the inner city.
“They all came from Thomas Street, Bridgefoot Street, Bridge Street and Francis Street.”
Maria O'Reilly, fourth generation Tenters resident added: “I wish people could see inside my head because I've lived here all my life and am still living here.
“I've swung from the lamp posts that have been cast in that Hammond Factory right beside the Four Courts, so what I would like is for people to see all those little details and really, really fight to keep them, just look at what you have and try keep those little details to identify the houses for what they were."
"I'm the person that you will see the back end of sticking of out of skips!
“When anybody is doing something around the Tenters area and there's a skip outside I'm in there looking for bricks that have the inset that says 'Dolphins Barn' brick because I'm proud of that.
“Please don't throw out these lovely items into skips, it's not rubbish. They are worth their weight in gold. It's our history, it's our story" she added.
In this centenary year, Dublin City Council’s Architectural Conservation Section along with Creative Ireland, Tenters 100 and the Tenters Residents Association have been working to raise the profile of the significant housing scheme.
In this Nationwide programme viewers see events over the last few months that were organised locally to celebrate this important milestone.
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