Jurassic Park Traditional Geocache
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Size: 
(small)
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Our 5th cache hide (2008)
The cache is located in Northwood park, more commonly known as Santry Woods. Due to tree cover, the co-ordinates may not be exact.
The park may be accessed from the Coolock Lane/Swords Raod junction where there is a car park just inside the entrance.
There is much history to this park and the surrounding lands. To walk through it today, you might not realise how highly contested this land was, and fought for between developers, and the community, who started a campaign to save the woodland back in 1985.
The History :-
(Information sourced from An Phoblocht 6th Nov. 1997)
Santry Woods was part of an aristrocratic estate dating back to the 12th century,
The campaign to save the woodland began when the Harris family bought the house and lands of the Donvilles, the last lords of Santry Demesne.
The Donvilles delighted in their native forest of oak, ash, beech and rowan among other trees and when King Victor Emmanuel of Rome presented a gift of 16 tree species in 1912 the demesne gradually acquired an exotic quality with groves of Spanish chestnuts, Californian redwood, Italian walnut plus hazelnut and cedar. When the lords of Santry departed in the mid-twenties the estate was given to the Health Board who relinquished it temporarily to the army during the second world war.
Although the estate house (which was built in 1703) was burned down during this occupation the forest was left alone and became so dense that it completely shut out the light, becoming known as the Dark Wood.
In 1969, the Harris family bought it. Their first action was to evict the tenants who occupied the artisans' cottages. They were told they had a week to get out or their furniture would be forcibly removed. Artifacts on the land were removed or destroyed. A stone sculpture of a celebrated racehorse was bulldozed to rubble. The destruction of the woods began when a man was allowed to cut down as many trees as he wanted. Within a few years the Dark Wood was gone.
Shocked by these scandalous events several people from Ballymun and Santry came together in 1985 to form Sábhál Coillte Sheantruibh (Save Santry Woods) and began to lobby for the woods to be protected and ultimately to be purchased for the people as an amenity area. As a result of their campaign a preservation order was placed on the remaining trees. However more trees were cut down, and locals noticed that the bark of many trees had been mutilated with half inch deep cuts circling the tree trunk. 'Ringing' a tree in this manner effectively kills the tree (See photo gallery with a tree which has the mark of attempted ringing)
Despite attempts by campaigners to save the woods, Harris continued to sell acres of the land. The park that is now Northwood Park is just a remnant of the woods it was apart of. It’s surrounded by a business campus, apartments, a hotel, restaurant, leisure centre, retail park and more.
We hope you enjoy your visit to this neck of the woods!...em, park, and we know the ducks and swans in the pond would appreciate any bread you bring along on your caching trip :)
Additional Hints
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