BUCHANAN: Dublin Time Machine

@RobLooseCannon

With Leopardstown racing cancelled, guess where the place got its curious name, in a country without leopards? As Gaeilge Leopardstown translates to Baile na Lobhar, meaning the ‘town of the lepers’. The sleepy suburb in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains is now famous for its racecourse, but for centuries, it was a Leper colony. The disease known as Leprosy, often referred to in the bible, is actually a tropical infection called “Hansen’s disease.” Although highly treatable, now the misunderstood and cruely stereotyped condition plagued humans for centuries, causing agonising debilitation and deformity. Leprosy carried a huge stigma, mainly due to ignorance about how it was transmitted, causing victims to be shunned by their families and communities. Sometimes forced to identify themselves by ringing a bell or holding up a sign in public, the luckier ones were ostracised to “Leper Colonies”. Sufferers were often called “lazares” in reference to “the rich man and Lazarus” from the gospel of Luke. Lazaretto`s were quarantine stations mainly catering to sailors or migrant ships. Medieval Dublin was one such place where citizens were blighted not only with this misunderstood disease but also the social exclusion resulting from the terror of catching it. Due to the biblical connotations of leprosy, it did attract the attention and assistance of the Catholic Church. For example, St Stephens Leper Hospital was built near the eponymous green in the 14th century. However, as the city grew, fears of an epidemic of the horrific affliction caused the hospital to move to the relatively more rural and isolated base of the Dublin Mountains. Hence, the Hansens disease hospital and its environs became known as Baile na Lobhar, anglicised as ‘Ballinlore’, “town of the lepers.” Eventually, this evolved to ‘Leopardstown’.

Source: Big Think and Computer History Museum