Cabra History.Com

Ned Burke who was born and reared in County Tipperary  came to Dublin looking for work in the late 1940s. His first job was in the South County Dublin area of Whitechuch on the foot of the Dublin mountains. Eventually Ned found work and lodgings in Drumcondra. Sometime later he was introduced to Kathleen Burke by her brother Johnnie. Kathleen had lived in the north of England for a few years during WWII. She worked in a munitions factory  where her department produced petrol cans for the war effort. Ned and Kathleen were married on the 12th April 1950 in the Pro Cathedral on Marlborough Street, Dublin.  In 1951 they moved to 41 Broombridge Road in Cabra West. With a young family coming along and lilttle or no work available in Dublin Ned Burke made a decision to ‘cross the water’ on his own to seek work in the building trade. After arriving back in Dublin Ned took to cycling to the new Dublin suburbs of Foxrock and Stillorgan with a garden spade and shears tied to the cross-bar of his bicycle in search of gardening work. After some time Ned became a gardener in the E.S.B. in Ringsend and gradually made his way up the ladder to supervisor. In recent years Ned and Kathleen Burke passed away leaving behind them eight adult children and great memories of their life together in Cabra West.