The Coombe Memorial

About The Coombe Memorial

The Coombe Memorial is the surviving portico that marks the original location of the old Coombe Maternity Hospital which opened in 1829. Today, the portico doubles as a record of some of the well known street characters of 20th century Dublin, who are listed on the rear steps.

Towards the end of the 1825, two women, in a vain attempt to reach the Rotunda Hospital on the north side of Dublin City, perished, together with their new born baby in the snow. When this became known, a number of benevolent and well disposed people founded the Coombe Lying-in Hospital the following year for the relief of poor women. Leading the charitable Committee was Mrs. Margaret Boyle who donated £100 to the cause. The Coombe Memorial portico formed the entrance to the hospital until the year 1967, when the hospital moved to a new location in Dolphin’s Barn. The old portico was retained by Dublin Corporation as a memorial to the many mothers who gave birth to future citizens of Ireland in the Coombe Lying-in Hospital and also to the generosity of its staff.