Did you know some bloke used to live on the Walkinstown Roundabout? Michael "Chicken" Cullen and his sister Dolly lived in a cottage at Wilkinstown Cross, a gaff their father built in 1865 where the old country roads met. Then the 1950s arrived, and Dublin Corporation planned a major junction and a compulsory purchase order. The offer for the house was £1,000. Chicken, then 65, said no. The Corporation tried a softer approach. It built the pair a new cottage nearby on Walkinstown Avenue. Chicken still refused. The sticking point, as the story goes, was tenure. The Corporation would give only a lease at a shilling a year, not the freehold. A shilling was hardly a fortune, but Chicken wanted to own his home, not rent one. One version of the folklore says he finally relented when the shilling was waived. So the Corpo did the only thing left to it. It built around him. Two smaller roundabouts went up at either end, and the traffic passed in front of the cottage and behind it. For 21 years, Chicken and Dolly looked out their windows at a city driving round them. Then, one night in 1971, with no warning, the 86 year old quietly carried his belongings across the road to the new house. The Corporation moved in almost at once, and the old family home was knocked down. It is said Chicken wept at the sight. He lived on until 1980, aged 95.