Abbotstown (townland)

Abbotstown (Irish: Baile an Aba)^[1] is a townland in the civil parish of Castleknock in Fingal, Ireland.^[2] It is also the name of an historical demesne and country estate^[3] that is close to Blanchardstown. Historically the estate belonged to a number of aristocratic families.^[4] When these neighbouring families intermarried, their combined estates in Abbotstown and the townland of Sheephill^[5] were usually, though informally, called "Abbotstown". Despite a significant level of suburban development in the wider Dublin 15 area from the 1980s onwards, Abbotstown and Sheephill remained largely undeveloped, as the demesne was held by several state bodies. Today, the majority of the combined demesne remains unspoilt and now accommodates the administration offices and sporting grounds of the various bodies associated with Ireland's National Sports Campus. Abbotstown proper, however, does not contain any part of the campus nor the eponymous Abbotstown House itself. Instead, almost the whole of the land is given over to Connolly Hospital and the "St Francis Hospice".