Introduction to Dublin
Dublin our capital city with so much history and so many traditions. Dublin county a beautiful costal county with wonderful beaches, parks and countryside.
A Brief History of Dublin
The earliest reference to Dublin is sometimes said to appear in the writings of Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy), the Egyptian-Greek astronomer and cartographer, around the year A.D. 140, who refers to a settlement called 'Eblana'. This would seem to give Dublin a just claim to nearly two thousand years of antiquity, as the settlement must have existed a considerable time before Ptolemy became aware of it. Recently, however, doubt has been cast on the identification of Eblana with Dublin, and the similarity of the two names is now thought to be coincidental.
Beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The Viking settlement of about[[1]] 841 was known as Dyflin, from the Irish Duiblinn (or "Black Pool", referring to a dark tidal pool where the River Poddle entered the Liffey on the site of the Castle Gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle), and a Gaelic settlement, Áth Cliath ("ford of hurdles") was further up river. The Celtic settlement's name is still used as the Irish name of the modern city, while the modern English name came from the Viking settlement of Dyflin, which derived its name from the Irish Duiblinn. The Vikings, or Ostmen as they called themselves, ruled Dublin for almost three centuries, though they were expelled in 902 only to return in 917 and notwithstanding their defeat by the Irish High King Brian Boru at the battle of Clontarf in 1014. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duiblinn, from which Dyflin took its name. See Also The Kings of Dublin.
Viking Dublin had a large slave market. Thralls were captured and sold, not only by the Norse but also by warring Irish chiefs.2 This nominally ended with the adoption of the Brehon Laws, but actually continued for a further century.
Dublin celebrated its millennium in 1988 with the slogan ''Dublin's great in '88'. The city is far older than that, but in that year, the Norse King Glun Iarainn recognised Mael Seachlainn II Mor (the High King of Ireland), and agreed to pay taxes and accept Brehon Law.1 That date was celebrated, but might not be accurate: in 989 (not 988), Mael Seachlainn laid siege to the city for 20 days and captured it. This was not his first attack on the city.
Dublin became the centre of English power in Ireland after the 12th century Norman conquest of the southern half of Ireland (Munster and Leinster), replacing Tara in Meath - seat of the Gaelic High Kings of Ireland - as the focal point of Ireland's polity. Over time, however, many of the Anglo-Norman conquerors were absorbed into the Irish culture, adopting the Irish language and customs, leaving only a small area around Dublin, known as the Pale, under direct English control.
After the Hiberno-Norman taking of Dublin in 1171, many of the city's Norse inhabitants left the old city, which was on the south side of the river Liffey and built their own settlement on the north side, known as Ostmantown or "Oxmantown". Dublin became the capital of the English Lordship of Ireland from 1171 onwards and was peopled extensively with settlers from England and Wales. The rural area around the city, as far north as Drogheda, also saw extensive English settlement. In the 14th century, this area was fortified against the increasingly assertive Native Irish - becoming known as the Pale. In Dublin itself, English rule was centred on Dublin Castle. The city was also the seat of the Parliament of Ireland, which was composed of representatives of the English community in Ireland. Important buildings that remain from this time include St Patrick's Cathedral, Christchurch Cathedral and St Audoen's Church, all of which are within a kilometre of each other. The last surviving section of Dublin's medieval walls overlook St Audoen's onto Cook St.
The inhabitants of the Pale developed an identity familiar from other settler-colonists of a beleaguered enclave of civilisation surrounded by barbarous natives. The siege mentality of medieval Dubliners is best illustrated by their annual pilgrimage to the area called Fiodh Chuilinn, or Holly Wood ( rendered in English as Cullenswood) in Ranelagh, where in 1209, 500 recent settlers from Bristol had been massacred by the O'Toole clan during a fair. Every year on "Black Monday", the Dublin citizens would march out of the city to the spot where the atrocity had happened and raise a black banner in the direction of the mountains to challenge the Irish to battle in a gesture of symbolic defiance. This was still so dangerous until the 17th century that the participants had to be guarded by the city militia and a stockade against, "the mountain enemy".
Medieval Dublin was a tightly knit place of around 5-10,000- people, intimate enough for every newly married citizen to be escorted by the mayor to the city bullring to kiss the enclosure for good luck. It was also very small in area, an enclave hugging the south side of the Liffey of no more than three square kilometres. Outside the city walls were suburbs such as the Liberties, on the lands of the Archbishop of Dublin, and Irishtown, where Gaelic Irish were supposed to live, having been expelled from the city proper by a 15th century law. Although the native Irish were not supposed to live in the city and its environs, many did so and by the 16th century, English accounts complain that Irish Gaelic was starting to rival English as the everyday language of the Pale.
Life in Medieval Dublin was very precarious. In 1348, the city was hit by the Black Death - a lethal bubonic plague that ravaged Europe in the mid-14th century. In Dublin, victims of the disease were buried in mass graves in an area still known as "Blackpitts". The plague recurred regularly in city until its last major outbreak in 1649. The city was also the scene of constant warfare, both endemic low level violence and as a battleground in major wars. Throughout the middle ages, it paid protection money or "black rent" to the neighbouring Irish clans to avoid their predatory raids. In 1314, an invading Scottish army burned the city's suburbs. As English interest in maintaining their Irish colony waned, the defence of Dublin from the surrounding Irish was left to the Fitzgerald Earls of Kildare, who dominated Irish politics until the 16th century. However, this dynasty often pursued their own agenda. In 1487, during the English Wars of the Roses, the Fitzgeralds occupied the city with the aid of troops from Burgundy and proclaimed the Yorkist Lambert Simnel to be King of England. In 1536, the same dynasty, led by Silken Thomas, who was angry at the imprisonment of Garret Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, besieged Dublin Castle. Henry VIII sent a large army to destroy the Fitzgeralds and replace them with English administrators. This was the beginning of a much closer, though not always happy, relationship between Dublin and the English Crown.
Dublin in 1610 - reprint of 1896
Dublin and its inhabitants were transformed by the upheavals of the 16th and 17th centuries in Ireland. These saw the first thorough English conquest of the whole island under the Tudor dynasty. While the Old English community of Dublin and the Pale were happy with the conquest and disarmament of the native Irish, they were deeply alienated by the Protestant reformation that had taken place in England, being all almost all Roman Catholics. In addition, they were angered by being forced to pay for the English garrisons of the country through an extra-parliamentary tax known as "cess". Several Dubliners were executed for taking part in the Second Desmond Rebellion in the 1580s. The Mayoress of Dublin, Margaret Ball died in captivity in Dublin Castle for her Catholic sympathies in 1584 and a Catholic Archbishop, Dermot O'Hurley was hanged outside the city walls in the same year.
In 1592, Elizabeth I opened Trinity College Dublin (located at that time outside the city on its eastern side) as a Protestant University for the Irish gentry. However, the important Dublin families spurned it and sent their sons instead to Catholic Universities on continental Europe.
The Dublin community's discontent was deepened by the events of the Nine Years War of the 1590s, when English soldiers were required by decree to be housed by the townsmen of Dublin and they spread disease and forced up the price of food. The wounded lay in stalls in the streets, in the absence of a proper hospital. To compound dissafection in the city, in 1597, the English Army's gunpowder store in Winetavern Street exploded accidentally, killing nearly 200 Dubliners. It should be noted, however, that the Pale community, however dissatisfied they were with English government, remained hostile to the Gaelic Irish rebels led by Hugh O'Neill.
As a result of these tensions, the English authorities came to see Dubliners as unreliable and encouraged the settlement there of Protestants from England. These "New English" became the basis of the English administration in Ireland until the 19th century.
Protestants became a majority in Dublin in the 1640s, when thousands of them fled there to escape the Irish Rebellion of 1641. When the city was subsequently threatened by Irish Catholic forces, the Catholic Dubliners were expelled from the city by its English garrison. In the 1640s, the city was besieged twice during the Irish Confederate Wars, in 1646 and 1649. However on both occasions the attackers were driven off before a lengthy siege could develop. In 1649, on the second of these occasions, a mixed force of Irish Confederates and English Royalists were routed by Dublin's English Parliamentarian garrison in the battle of Rathmines, fought on the city's southern outskirts.
In 1650s after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Catholics were banned from dwelling within the city limits under the vengeful Cromwellian settlement but this law was not strictly enforced. Ultimately, this religious discrimination led to the Old English community abandoning their English roots and coming to see themselves as part of the native Irish community.
By the end of the seventeenth century, Dublin was the capital of the English run Kingdom of Ireland - ruled by the Protestant New English minority. Dublin (along with parts of Ulster) was the only part of Ireland in 1700 where Protestants were a majority. In the next century it became larger, more peaceful and prosperous than at any time in its previous history.
From a Medieval to a Georgian City
By the beginning of the 18th century the English had established control and imposed the harsh Penal Laws on the Catholic majority of Ireland's population. In Dublin however the Protestant Ascendancy was thriving, and the city expanded rapidly from the 17th century onward. By 1700, the population had surpassed 60,000, making it the second largest city, after London, in the British Empire. Under the Restoration, Ormonde, the then Lord Deputy of Ireland made the first step toward modernising Dublin by ordering that the houses along the river Liffey had to face the river and have high quality frontages. This was in contrast to the earlier period, when Dublin faced away from the river, often using it as a rubbish dump.
Dublin started the 18th century as, in terms of street layout, a medieval city akin to Paris. In the course of the eighteenth century (as Paris would in the nineteenth century) it underwent a major rebuilding, with the Wide Streets Commission demolishing many of the narrow medieval streets and replacing them with large Georgian streets. Among the famous streets to appear following this redesign were Sackville Street (now called O'Connell Street), Dame Street, Westmoreland Street and D'Olier Street, all built following the demolition of narrow medieval streets and their amalgamation. Five major Georgian squares were also laid out; Rutland Square (now called Parnell Square) and Mountjoy Square on the northside, and Merrion Square, Fitzwilliam Square and Saint Stephen's Green, all on the south of the River Liffey. Though initially the most prosperous residences of peers were located on the northside, in places like Henrietta Street and Rutland Square, the decision of the Earl of Kildare (Ireland's premier peer, later made Duke of Leinster), to build his new townhouse, Kildare House (later renamed Leinster House after he was made Duke of Leinster) on the southside, led to a rush from peers to build new houses on the southside, in or around the three major southern squares. The massive northside houses ending up becoming tenements, into which large numbers of poor people moved, often being exploited by landlords, who packed in entire families into each large Georgian room. Only the area of the old city named Temple Bar (located between Dame Street and the river Liffey) and the area around Grafton Street survived with their narrow medieval street pattern intact.
For all its Enlightenment sophistication in fields such as architecture and music (Handel's "Messiah" was first performed there in Fishamble street), 18th century Dublin remained decidedly rough around the edges. Its slum population rapidly increased - fed by the mounting rural migration to the city - housed mostly in the north and south-west quarters of the city. Rival gangs known as the "Liberty Boys" -mostly weavers from the Liberties - and the "Ormonde Boys" - butchers from Ormonde quay on the northside - fought bloody street battles with each other, sometimes heavily armed and with numerous fatalities. It was also common for the Dublin crowds to hold violent demonstrations outside the Irish Parliament when the members passed unpopular laws.
One of the effects of continued rural migration to Dublin was that its demographic balance was again altered, Catholics becoming the majority in the city again in the late 18th century.
Rebellion, Union and Catholic Emancipation
The old Irish Houses of Parliament, Built in the 1720s. The building served as the seat of The House of Commons and House of Lords until 1800. It is now a branch of the Bank of Ireland.
Until 1800 the city housed an independent (though still exclusively Anglican) Irish Parliament, and as mentioned it was during this period that much of the great Georgian buildings of Dublin were built. By the late 18th century, Irish Protestants - the descendants of British settlers - had come to see Ireland as their native country, and the Irish Parliament successfully agitated for increased autonomy and better terms of trade with Britain. Liberals began to talk of repealing the Penal Law and ending discrimination against Catholics.
However, under the influence of the American and French revolutions, some Irish radicals went a step further and formed the United Irishmen to create an independent, non-sectarian and democratic republic. United Irish leaders in Dublin included Napper Tandy,Oliver Bond and Edward Fitzgerald. Wolfe Tone, the leader of the movement, was also from Dublin. The United Irishmen planned to take Dublin in street rising in 1798, but their leaders were arrested and the city occupied by a large British military presence shortly before the rebels were to assemble. There was some local fighting in the city's outskirts - such as Rathfarnham, but the city itself remained firmly under control during the 1798 rebellion.
The Protestant Ascendancy was shocked by the events of the 1790s, as was the British government. In response to them, in 1801 under the Irish Act of Union, which merged the Kingdom of Ireland with the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland the Irish Parliament voted itself out of existence and Dublin lost much of its political influence. Though the city's growth continued, it suffered financially from the loss of parliament and more directly from the loss of the income that would come with the arrival of hundreds of peers and MPs and thousands of servants to the capital for sessions of parliament and the social season of the viceregal court in Dublin Castle. Within a short few years, many of the finest mansions, including Leinster House, Powerscourt House and Aldborough House, once owned by peers who spent much of their year in the capital, were for sale. Many of the city's once elegant Georgian neighbourhoods rapidly became slums. In 1803, Robert Emmet, the brother of one of the United Irish leaders launched another rebellion in the city, however, it was put down easily and Emmet himself was hanged.
In 1829 Irish Catholics recovered full citizenship of the United Kingdom. This was partly as a result of agitation by Daniel O'Connell, who organised mass rallies for Catholic Emancipation in Dublin among other places. O'Connell also campaigned unsuccessfully for a restoration of Irish legislative autonomy. O'Connell was later elected Lord Mayor of Dublin, and is remembered among trade unionists in the city to this day for calling on the British army to suppress a strike during his tenure.
Late 19th Century
After Emancipation and with the gradual extension of the right to vote in British politics, Irish nationalists (mainly Catholics) gained control of Dublin's municipal government with the reform of local government in 1840 Daniel O'Connell being the first Catholic Mayor in 150 years. This prompted many of Dublin's Protestant and Unionist upper classes to move out of the city proper to new suburbs such as Ballsbridge, Rathmines and Rathgar - which are still distinguished by their graceful Victorian architecture and by originally loyalist organisations like the Royal Dublin Society. A new railway also connected Dublin with the middle class suburb of Dún Laoghaire, then called Kingstown.
Dublin, unlike Belfast in the north, did not experience the full effect of the industrial revolution and as a result, unemployment was always high in the city. Industries like the Guinness brewery, Jameson Distillery, and Jacob's biscuit factory provided the most stable employment. New working class suburbs grew up in Kilmainham and Inchicore around them. Another major employer was the Tram system, run by a private company - the Dublin United Tramway Company 3.
Areas of Interest in Dublin
Aras an Uachtarain, The residence of the President of Ireland.
Áras an Uachtaráin is open Saturdays only. Free admission tickets are issued at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre on the day. Group and/or advance booking is not permitted.
Dublinia and the Medieval Viking World
The Dublinia & the Viking World exhibitions are amongst Dublin's most popular visitor attractions. The exhibitions reveal fascinating glimpses of the Viking and medieval past using reconstructions, audio-visual, artefacts and interactive displays. Superbly researched and imaginatively presented there is something here to interest everyone.
The exhibition is housed in a beautiful neo-Gothic building, formerly the Church of Ireland Synod Hall, linked to Christ Church Cathedral by an elegant covered bridge, one of the city's landmarks. Owned by the Medieval Trust, a charitable trust, income generated from the Dublinia exhibitions is used to fund the ongoing preservation of this beautiful building.
Chester Beatty Library
European Museum of the Year 2002,
Irish Museum of the Year 2000.
Situated in the heart of the city centre, the Chester Beatty Library's exhibitions open a window on the artistic treasures of the great cultures and religions of the world. The Library's rich collection of manuscripts, prints, icons, miniature paintings, early printed books and objects d'art from countries across the world offers visitors a visual feast.
Egyptian papyrus texts, beautifully illuminated copies of the Qur'an, the Bible, European medieval and renaissance manuscripts are among the highlights of the collection. Turkish and Persian miniatures and striking Buddhist paintings are also on display, as are Chinese dragon robes and Japanese woodblock prints.
In its diversity, the collection captures much of the richness of human creative expression from about 2700 BC to the present day.
Dublin's City Hall - The Story of the Capital Exhibition
The Story of the Capital multi-media exhibition traces the history of Dublin from the city's founding, the Viking times, through prosperity and oppression, into the unique and vibrant city of today. The City treasures, including theoriginal City Seal and the Lord Mayors Chain are on display, together with some medieval manuscripts, period costumes and some contemporary artwork. Newsreel clips, video's and interactive screens offer fascinating insight into the city's evolution.
The Story of the Capital exhibition is housed in the vaults of the recently restored neo-classical City Hall. The formal entrance or Rotunda is also open to the public, with its spectacularly gilded dome, murals, sculptures and mosaic and marbled floor.
Ardgillan Castle & Demesne
Ardgillan is situated on the elevated coastline between Balbriggan and Skerries and is unique among Dublin's Regional Parks for the magnificent views it enjoys.
The park consists of 194 acres of rolling pastureland, mixed woodland and gardens, overlooking the bay of Drogheda.
Ardgillan, meaning high-wooded area, is a sanctuary for many species of mammals and birds.
The Castle, the residence at Ardgillan, built in 1738 consists of two stories over a basement which extends out under the south lawns.
The ground floor rooms of the Castle, accessible to wheelchair users, are furnished in Georgian/Victorian style and include the Morning Room, Dining Room and Library.
The first floor area of the Castle is used for an annual programme of exhibitions and Ardgillan is also the home of a permanent exhibition of maps including the 17th century 'Down Survey of Ireland'.
Carmelite Church Whitefriar Street
Whitefriar Street Church is one of the best known places of worship in the city. The Church is administered by the Carmelite Order.
The current building dates to 1825. The Church is well known for its many shrines and altars, the most famous of which is the Shrine containing the true remains of St.Valentine, given as a gift to Fr Spratt by Pope Gregory XVI in 1835.
Of importance to the City of Dublin is the Shrine and Irish Oak statue of Our Lady of Dublin who is principal protector of the City.
There is also the Well of St Albert of Sicily whose waters are believed to be curative. The Church also has a very fine choir who assist at the 11.30 Liturgy on Sundays.
Fernhill Gardens
Fernhill Gardens are 40 acres of parkland, woodland, rockery and watergarden privately owned and maintained . The garden is planted with rhodedendrons, azaleas, camellias as well as trees and shrubs collected all over the temperate world. The varying terrain and vegetation now provides a habitiat for the unusually wide range of native plants and animals. Fernhill is situated on the North Eastern slope of the three rock mountain 7 miles south of the city centre on the Enniskerry road or 4 miles inland from Dun Laoghaire.
National Botanic Gardens
The National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, were founded by the Royal Dublin Society in 1795.
The Gardens, 19.5 hectares on the south bank of the Tolka contain many attractive features including an arboretum, sensory garden, rock garden and burren area, large pond, extensive herbaceous borders, student garden and annual display of decorative plants including a rare example of Victorian carpet bedding.
Glasshouses include: the beautifully restored curvilinear range, Great Palm House, Alpine House, Cactus House and Fern House.
Notable specimens include a fine weeping Atlantic cedar, a lofty Zelkova from the Caucasus, native and hybrid strawberry trees and the "Last Rose of Summer" of the famous ballad.
Guinness Storehouse
Located in the heart of the St James's Gate Brewery, which has been home to the black stuff since 1759, Guinness Storehouse is Ireland's Number One Visitor Attraction and you simply cannot leave Dublin without having paid a visit.
The massive seven storey building, a former Guinness fermentation plant, has been remodelled into the shape of a giant pint of Guinness. A visit will teach you everything you ever wanted to know abou thtis world famous beer, from how Guinness is made to the ancient craft of Guinness barrell making in the Cooperage.
The highlight for many visitors is the Gravity bar. Here visitors receive a complimentary pint of Guinness and can relax and enjoy the breathtaking 360-degree views across Dublin city.
What's more, each year Guinness Storehouse hosts a festival to celebrate Ireland's patron saint. The Guinness Storehouse St Patrick's Festival takes place during St Patrick's weekend and is a celebration of music, fun, and of course...Guinness.
North Bull Island
A 300 hectare island in Dublin Bay formed after the construction of the Bull Wall in the 1820's.
It is now a Nature Reserve and Bird Sanctuary of international importance with up to 25,000 wading birds using the area in Winter.
Merrion Square
This elegant Square, adorned by an attractive public park, retains much of its Georgian character.
Inset in the railings is the restored Rutland Fountain. Plaques on the walls of the Georgian mansions recall famous occupants, for example Daniel O'Connell, W.B.Yeats.
Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane
Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane is a gallery of modern art and it is the municipal gallery for the city of Dublin.
The Collection of the Hugh Lane Gallery includes Impressionist masterpieces by Renoir, Degas, Monet, Morisot; the largest public collection of 20th century Irish art; works by contemporary Irish and international artists.
The most recent acquisition has been the Studio of Frances Bacon together with its entire contents numbering over 7,500 items. The Studio has been reconstructed at the Hugh Lane Gallery and is a permanent exhibit.
The Hugh Lane Gallery also has an exciting programme of lectures, tours, concerts and art workshops for adults and children.
New extension opened in May 2006.
Traditional Music and Craic in Dublin