[3] To the west of the village centre rises the Finglaswood Stream, which joins the River Tolka via an Integrated Constructed Wetland near a small civic golf course.

According to an ancient legend, the ground on which Finglas stands had been sanctified by St. Patrick, who is said to have uttered a prophecy that a great town would arise at the ford of hurdles in the vale beneath.

The family were recorded in Termonfeckin and Dublin but many of them had by the mid-1700s taken up residence in Drogheda (where they participated in the 1798 Rebellion); newspaper accounts report their opening up the Boyne River for salmon fishing.

[citation needed] In 1649, the Duke of Ormonde used Finglas as a staging post for his army before launching an unsuccessful Siege of Dublin.

For almost two centuries, Finglas was well known for its "May Games" to celebrate May Day and the coming of spring, and its maypole "was one of the last to survive in Dublin", according to historian Michael J.

[9] Throughout the eighteenth century, the Finglas maypole was at the centre of a week of festivity which included "the playing of games, various competitions, and, according to one account the crowning of 'Queen of the May'.

"[9] In a letter written by Major Sirr dated 2 May 1803, he writes: In 1932, Ireland's first commercial airport was set up at Kildonan in Finglas.

In the village centre is a range of shops, including one of the first-established Superquinn stores (since rebranded as SuperValu), banking facilities, pubs and restaurants.

Finglas is home to one of Dublin's four Road Safety Authority Driving Testing Centres, which is located in Jamestown Business Park.

[12] In its first year, the festival committee was part of a steering group that got the first blue plaque in Finglas – to honour the uileann piper Séamus Ennis.