Dublin Part 1 - The Beginning - a Blog Post by GerK321Cum

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5/10/2013 2:22 pm

Dublin Part 1 - The Beginning

Dublin Part 1 - The Beginning

Suppose because I grew up in Dublin I do not appreciate it as much as I should, until I have visitors to show around. MissMimosa is running a series of posts MissMimosa on Glasgow and suggested I do one on Dublin - so here goes.

The very first thing to learn about Ireland is that most place names are English spellings of Irish words, and Dublin is no excpetion - it is "Dubh Linn" in Irish, which means "Black Pool". The River Liffey flows through the center on Dublin dividing the city into North and South. In days gone by the river had a ford held in place by sticks known as hurdles and that place retains the Irish Name "Baile Atha Cliath" - meaning "Town of the Ford of the Hurdles". Further down the river was a deep pool where the river Poddle entered the liffey... so Dublin must be unique as the only capital city with two names.

Dublin Coat of Arms

The Vikings settled here, at the "Black Pool", as it was ideal for their boats, but reclaiming land and banking up the river has pushed the port of a few miles more towards the sea. Old Viking settlements have been unearthed in the last few decades and a whole Viking village area re-created at Wood Quay showing daily life in Dublin 1,000 years ago (complete with smells I am told). You can travel around Dublin and the Liffey in an old WWII landing craft learning about Viking Dublin, wear Viking hats and shout Viking slogans at passers by on the street. But the Irish took on the Dublin Vikings and beat them in the Battle of Clontarf (1014 A.D).

Viking Dublin

ChuristChurch & St.Patricks Cathedral
Near by, in Whitefriar Street Church, lie the remains of Saint Valentine, with it's shrine open to the public. On the subject of churches there are two Cathedrals in Dublin, Christchurch with it's arch spanning across Winetavern Street as it descends the slight hill to the river liffey and Saint Patricks (well we would have to have one called that) where the bells can be heard to ring on a regular basis. Both are, interestingly enough, Protestant as most churches in Ireland became during the English reformation.

Much of Dublin is Georgian in origin with many fine buildings and squares (or parks) that were the gardens of the people living around them. But Dublin Castle goes back 900 years and is steeped with history being the center of English rule in Ireland. It is now the headquarters of the Irish Revenue Service. But the State Apartments are open to the Public and contain many historic rooms and drawing, mostly associated with English Monarchs that came visiting.

Dublin, being divided by the River Liffey and extending towards the sea, has seen it's bridges and center slip eastwards requiring ferries to cross at the lower end. One ferry company replaced it's aging ferries with a toll bridge. The Ha'penny (half penny) Bridge remains a landmark crossing the river to this day but, thankfully, the toll of 1/2 a penny was removed in 1919. This is just one of many bridges that span the river Liffey.

Link: In Part 2 we look at some of the Dublin Culture

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Dublin Part 1 - The Beginning

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