Named in honour of a local community activist Richard Taplin, Taplin’s Fields is a community garden in Bridgefoot Street Park in the heart of Dublin in The Liberties. There was previously social housing on the site, which was demolished in the mid-2000s to allow for new housing to be built. However, the economic downturn meant that the land was left undeveloped, and locals then moved in and started guerillaunofficial gardening. After a grassroots campaign, Dublin City Councillors approved the rezoning of the site from Housing to Open Space and approved the development of a new public park including a community garden, which opened in 2022. It changed a run-down, overgrown site into a shared green space where local people come together to grow vegetables, fruit, and wildflowers, all fully organically, and where they can also experiment in biodiversityanimals and nature
Where?
The Liberties, Dublin 8
Who started this action?
The community garden is named after Richard Taplin, a local activist who was one of the original ‘guerilla’ gardeners and main campaigners to get the site protected and developed as a park in 2022. He died in 2019 and the garden honours his legacy. Other local volunteers and activists have been key to the project and now maintain the garden
Some quick facts about the project
- Local volunteers run the project. The site is managed by the group under licencewith permission from Dublin City Council.
- Landscape architects and other community groups are also involved
- Many community gardens are ‘meanwhile’ usesonly there while the council or site owner is waiting to do something else with the site, but Taplin’s Fields has the benefit of planning permission and is a permanent feature within the park.
- The garden has vegetable and fruit beds, a compost bay that takes kitchen and other green and brown waste from the neighbourhood, wooden insect hotel, and a work-in-progress wetland which is fed by rainwater on the site
- The garden uses recycled and salvaged materials, in keeping with the Bridgefoot Street Park philosophy, and is open access to all.
- It is longlisted as one of Ireland’s Greenest Places
Highlights Click toggle ⊕ to see these
- At first the site was set to be for housing redevelopment, but the recession and local opposition stalled those plans.
- It began by being used unofficially for community gardening with people entering through fences to the site and planting there.
- Local campaigners (including Richard Taplin) pushed for the council to change the site to being for open space, and to include a park and a community garden.
- Planning & design came next. Local people were asked for their opinions in workshops.
- Design work was done by Dermot Foley Landscape Architects with input from volunteers and locals.
- The project is an example of what can happen when development includes listening to the community.
- The community takes part: this gives a sense of ownership and togetherness for volunteers.
- The project is free to join, and this means it’s open to people who’d don’t have their own garden space to take part.
Why this matters
People knew that there was a lack of local green space in this densely built-up city area (The Liberties) where few people have gardens and green space. They spotted a site that was not used and full of rubble and waste. They saw that the need for wildflowers, insects, and small animals in the area could be met by a small community garden. Working on the garden made people more connected, less lonely. It also brought together people from different backgrounds including people in hostels, people new to the area, and people who were Liberties ‘born and bred’.
SDG Alignment & Keywords Click toggle ⊕ to see these
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities,
- SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production,
- SDG 13: Climate Action,
- SDG 15: Life on Land, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being,
Keywords: Reclamation, Biodiversity, Community, Inclusivity, Regeneration, Dublin, Social Inclusion
Find Out More about the project
Richard Taplin and his friends saw somewhere in their neighbourhood that was unwanted and unloved. Now it’s a place where people come together to meet and help nature grow. Often, we just need to look around us to see the opportunity for sustainability work. Carol and the people in Mulranny Mayo did something very similar. Listen to our podcast to hear the full story and learn how you could do the same
Use what's in your community to develop it sustainably
Listen on…
Resources from Climate Connected that you can use to do follow this example in your area
The photo above shows the Taplin’s Field stand at the ‘We Love Markets’ flea market in the Digital Hub, Dublin 8, in July 2025, showing some fresh herb bouquets, nettle pesto and tomato chutney, all using produce from the garden
Visit our library of community stories
Search Community Stories By Map
