Lucan ( ; ) is a suburban village to the west of Dublin, Ireland, located 12 km from Dublin city centre, on the River Liffey. It is near the Strawberry Beds and Lucan Weir, and at the confluence of the River Griffeen. It is mostly in the local government area of South Dublin, with the exception of the North Lucan areas of Laraghcon, Coldblow and Saint Catherine's Park, which are in Fingal. Lucan is in a townland and civil parish of the same name, in the barony of Newcastle. Road access to Lucan is from the N4, and the M50 motorway at Junction 7.
Etymology
In the Irish language, refers to the marsh-mallow plant, used up to modern times in folk medicine (for sprains and chest infections) and sweet manufacture, and so the name could be rendered as "place of marsh-mallow plants" or "land abounding in marsh-mallows." The plant grows in the Liffey Valley and surrounds, as recorded in the 1837 , reported by Jackson (1914). In 1615, the area was described as 'a marshy place'... The alternative meaning is derived from the Irish for elm, leamhán, and has been more popularised, although both definitions could be equally valid, with both mallows and elms still growing in the Lucan area, and etymological experts unable to definitively choose one meaning over the other, as is evidenced on logainm.ie.
History
Early history
Evidence of prehistoric settlement in the Lucan area includes sites in the Cooldrinagh townland of Lucan, with early Mesolithic flints found in significant quantities, as well as the remains of two small kerbed passage tombs. In the area around Vesey Park, there are remains of a hillfort (Knockanardousk "hill of the high water") that may have been the house and enclosure of an early lord of Lucan in medieval times. This enclosure also contained a souterrain, excavated in the 18th century by George Petrie and of which, some of the finds are in the National Museum of Ireland. Another notable archaeological site is St Finian's Esker church and graveyard, which is listed by both the National Monuments Service and the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. There are two other medieval churches in Lucan also; the Church of the Blessed Virgin, Lucan village (an enclosed gated graveyard & medieval church site with attached chantry or tower house, and the medieval parish church of Aderrig, Lucan, off Tubber Lane.
Sarsfields and Veseys
When Oliver Cromwell came to Ireland, Lucan was a village of 120 inhabitants.
In 1566, Sir William Sarsfield acquired Lucan Manor, and the property became closely associated with the Sarsfield family. Patrick Sarsfield, the Irish Jacobite leader, was born in the castle that had occupied the manor grounds and was granted the title Earl of Lucan by James II.
Lucan House was built on the site of Sarsfield's castle in 1772, by the Rt Hon. Agmondisham Vesey, who was descended from the Sarsfield family. The circular ground floor dining room is said to have been an inspiration for the Oval Office of the White House.