Since early medieval times the area was owned by the Augustinians, and used as a grange, giving rise to the medieval civil parish of Kill, in the half-barony of Rathdown. The Ordnance Survey Ireland map 1837–1842 shows a "Grange Church" (now in ruins, the modern housing estate surrounding it is called Kill Abbey), "Kill Abbey" (still existing), "Grange House" (demolished with the building of the South Park estate), and "Glebe House" (still existing). Deansgrange was a townland of Kill Parish. Presumably the dean of the grange lived in Grange House, and so the area became known as "the Dean's Grange", and then simply, Deansgrange.