Herbert Park

Just 500 metres from the Pembroke Townhouse, a leafy park emerges with a great variety of trees and green grassy spaces, perfect for a jog in the morning. It boasts a big playground for the children, also a Tennis, Croquet, Bowling and Bowls field. And why no treat yourself to the Sunday Food Market where you will find a wide selection of food locally produced.

About

Herbert Park (named after Sidney Herbert 1810-1861) is thirty-two acres in size and is divided in two by Herbert Park Road.

A full circuit of the park's perimeter is almost exactly one mile, a fact useful to runners and walkers to measure their distances.

The larger half, to the south, is bounded by the River Dodder, houses, and includes soccer pitches, formal gardens, and a large duck pond as well as an older public children's playground. The northern half is home to the newly refurbished children's playground, tennis courts, Herbert Park Bowling Club's bowling green.

The park's pond is an excellent location for breeding of carp.

Sidney Herbert, the father of the Earl of Pembroke offered the site to Pembroke Urban District Council for development as a public park in 1903.

The famous Dublin International Trades Exhibition was held on the site in 1907, housing exhibits from the British Empire. After the exhibition the lands were developed as a public park. The existing band stand and duck pond were constructed for the exhibition of 1907 and are the only structures remaining from that time.

Taken over by Dublin Corporation in 1932 the park is a fine example of how a relatively small park can provide a wide variety of amenties such as football, tennis, boules, croquet and children's play area, while also fulfiling an important conservational role in the heart of the city. A new children's playground and an all weather multi use pitch were added in 2007.