when a punitive expedition of Parliamentarians led by Sir Charles Coote mistakenly massacred a group of local farm labourers, who were sleeping in the fields there. Coote had assumed they were rebels preparing to attack Dublin. In the mid-1700s, the area was known for the activity of highwaymen who could escape and hide in Santry woods.

In the Irish Rebellion of 1798, United Irishmen from all over Fingal marched