Post office & Town Hall about 1890 (Note no tram wires/poles, but note narrow guage tracks for Dalkey horse tram)Marine Road runs north-east from Lower Georges St (At St Michaels Church) towards the harbour

St Michaels Church & Marine Road about 1898 (Note trampoles

Marine Road was formerly known as Forty Foot Road, Sussex Parade and as Royal Marine Road  before adopting its current name.

There are various suggestions about the origin of the name Forty Foot Road.  The two most popular are (a) after a regiment of British soldiers called the 40th Regiment of Foot or (b) because the street is 40 feet wide.

The name of Sussex Parade still survives on a block of houses in the street - it was applied to the whole street in the 1850 maps

There is no information on the reason for the choice about 1867 of the name Royal Marine Road.

History of Marine Road

By accident or by design, Marine Road became the primary road for public buildings and public services in the town.

Marine Road as seen from the Shopping Centre

• The Town Hall, now the County Hall was opened there in 1880. Designed by John Loftus Robinson
• The Courthouse was part of the same building (although the entrance was from Crofton Road)
• The Post office was opened there in 1879 until it moved to Upr George's St in 1995 - the Post Office building is now the most widely used entrance to the administrative offices of Dun Laoghaire County Council
• The Train Station - designed by John Skipton Mulvany, the station building was opened in 1842, and is now Hartley's Restaurant
• 19 March 1879 - Kingstown-Dalkey horse tram service commenced - Marine Road was the terminus. The guage was 4ft 0 inches.
• August 1885 - Dublin-Kingstown horse tram service commenced - Marine Road was the terminus.  The guage was 5ft 3 inches. So the trams were incompatible with the Kingstown-Dalkey
• 16 May 1896 The entire tram line between Haddington Road and Dalkey was rebuilt and became Dublin's first electric tramway opening on 16 May 1896. In this process the gauge between Kingstown and Dalkey became 5 foot 3 inches.
• The Pavilion Theatre (1903-1919) A major leisure centre consisting of a theatre, restaurants, gardens and other amenities
• The Pavilion Cinema (Year?-Year?) A suburban cinema
• The Pavilion Theatre (1998-present  ) Community theatre
• St Michael's Church - originally dating from an 1831 design by Patrick Byrne, with many later modifications, it was burnt down in 1965 and replaced by a modern church which opened in 1974
• 1976? Dun Laoghaire Shopping Centre occupied an entire block from the Royal Marine Hotel entrance through to Lr George's St

"Marine Road Shopping Centre" about 1970 - not an attractive sight!

Shops & Businesses on Marine Road

Marine Road was never a major shopping street, but a small number of shops developed at the George's Street end of the street, opposite St Michael's Church. Until 1900, The National Bank Ltd had a prominent site at the end of Gresham Terrace, approximately in the position now occupied by the ramp entrance to the car park of the shopping centre.  For some years afterwards, The Belfast Bank operated from the same premises.

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