The area's name comes from the sand-based hills that made up a glacial esker which formed in the area at the end of the Ice Age.[2]
Greenhills may have housed settlements since at least the Bronze Age, as an urn dating from that time was found in the area in the late 1890s.[3] Discovered in a former quarry between the Greenhills Road and St. Columba's Road, this urn is now held by the National Museum of Ireland. However, the area was mostly farmland until expansion in the 1950s and 1960s, when new housing estates were built.[citation needed]
Tymon Park is partly situated in the old townland of Greenhills and is located to the south of the Limekiln estate. It is administered by South Dublin County Council.[4] The River Poddle and connected artificial ponds are features within the park. The M50 motorway splits the Greenhills side of the park from Kilnamanagh and the Tymon North estate (both in Tallaght). A smaller park, Greenhills Park, is also administered by the South Dublin County Council and is used for soccer.[5]
The Church of the Holy Spirit is the local Roman Catholic church. It has a verdigris copper roof.[6] The church stands beside a community centre, which has function rooms, and advice, adult education and other services.[7]
Local primary schools include Holy Spirit Junior and Senior Schools which were formed in September 2015 following the amalgamation of St. Paul's Junior and Senior Girl's National Schools, and St. Peter's Boy's National School.[8] Riverview Educate Together National School opened on Limekiln Road in 2016.[9] Secondary schools include St. Paul's Secondary (girls) and Greenhills College VEC (boys).
The Walkinstown Roundabout, or Walkinstown Cross, is a junction which serves six local roads: the Greenhills Road into Tallaght, Ballymount Road towards Ballymount and the M50, Walkinstown Avenue towards Ballyfermot, Walkinstown Road towards Drimnagh, Cromwellsfort Road towards Kimmage and Crumlin, and St. Peter's Road towards Greenhills and Templeogue.[citation needed]
The area is served by Dublin Bus routes 9, 15A, 27, 77A, 77X, Nitelink 77N and 150.[10]
The former Irish international football manager, Brian Kerr, lives in Greenhills,[citation needed] having been brought up in nearby Drimnagh. Michael Carruth, a gold-medal winner in the welterweight boxing division at the 1992 Summer Olympics, is from the area.[11]
^The Geological Heritage of South Dublin County(PDF). South Dublin Development Plan (Report). South Dublin County Council. 2014. p. 67. Archived(PDF) from the original on 15 November 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2019. The Greenhills Esker includes a large accumulation of sands and gravels deposited both under the ice sheet and at its margin as the ice withdrew northwestwards across south Dublin at the end of the last Ice Age [...] Greenhills itself is named after the sand hills that formed the esker
^G. T. Plunkett (1898). "On a Cist and Urns Found at Greenhills, Tallaght, County Dublin". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 5. Royal Irish Academy: 338–347. JSTOR20490551.
^"About - History". Holy Spirit Senior Primary School. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
^"Riverview Educate Together - Home". Riverview Educate Together National School. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019. Founded in 2016 Riverview Educate Together is a growing and developing school established [at] Limekiln Rd, Walkinstown, Dublin 12
