MEDIEVAL DUBLIN:
A TOPOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS
ANNGRET SIMMS
Department of Geography
University College, Dublin
ABSTRACT
This paper deals with the topography of medieval Dublin by carrying
out a town-plan analysis of John Rocque's Exact survey of the city and
suburbs of Dublin in 1756. The complex structure of the town-plan
reflects the different growth-phases. They include the monastic settlement of the Early Christian period, the pre-urban nucleus consisting
of the first Viking encampment on the ridge at the confluence of the
Liffey and the Poddle, the expansion of the enclosed space in the
Hiberno-Norse period, and the renewed growth after the AngloNorman conquest which led to the reclamation of land in the estuary
of the Liffey. Contemporary documentary source-material has been
used for the explanation of the processes which shaped the topographical features. The case-study is preceded by a short discussion
of the importance of medieval Dublin for the study of urban origins
in Europe.
Introduction
Very little of medieval Dublin survives above the ground. The medieval
core of the city south of the LifFey fell into ruin after the dissolution of the
monasteries in the sixteenth century. In the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries the city was thoroughly redeveloped in the Georgian style and the
focus of the new town was shifted eastwards along a north-south axis, which
still serves as the main artery of the modern city (Craig, 1952; Maxwell, 1956).
The Advisory Plan for the Dublin Region (Wright, 1967) contains a map
showing 'the heart of Dublin', which is identical with the city axis of the
eighteenth century. The medieval core is a blank on this map. But the
archaeological excavations carried out in the medieval core of Dublin over
the last fifteen years have replaced this blank by a growing consciousness
of the importance of medieval Dublin.
The word 'medieval' is used here to refer to the period of Early Irish,
Viking, Hiberno-Norse and Anglo-Norman settlement, dating from around
the sixth to the fifteenth century. 'Viking' and 'Norse' are alternative descriptions for the Scandinavian seafarers who settled in Ireland from the
ninth century onwards. 'Hiberno-Norse' is the word used by historians for
the period of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when Viking and Irish
culture fused.
For a long time Irish settlement history was explained in an ethnic context
only and the introduction of towns was attributed solely to successive waves
of external colonisation (see Andrews's critical analysis, 1974). Consequently
there was a certain hostility towards Dublin as a foreign city, founded by
Vikings and taken over by Anglo-Normans. The same approach considered
25
26
SIMMS
the Celts as intrinsically tribal and backward in socio-economic organisation.
Binchy (1954) held that urban civilisation was more or less imposed on the
Irish by foreign conquerors. Yet, in a comment on the excavations in Dublin, Byrne (1975) made the following statement, which expresses the new
way of"thinking: 'The Irish were no more naturally hostile to town life than
the Norse were addicted to it.' Town life was not an innovation that the
Vikings brought fully-fledged from Scandinavia to their colonies, but it was
the product of the Viking Age itself, of its trade and political expansion.
The early history of Dublin is therefore of great significance generally for
the study of urban origins at points of racial and cultural contact and conflict.
The history of medieval Dublin, once fully explored, will make an important
contribution to our knowledge of the early history of European towns outside
the Roman Empire. For example, there are similarities in the early history
of Viking towns in Ireland and in Russia. Novgorod like Dublin was founded
by Viking colonists in the midst of a civilisation untouched by Roman
occupation. Russian historians stress the native contribution in the development of their Norse towns in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a period
when Dublin was largely dominated by Irish overlords (Byrne, 1973).
Probably the best country for the study of comparative urban history with
Ireland is Poland, because it, too, was never part of the Roman Empire and
was subject to high-medieval external colonisation. In Poland the discussion
is centred on the respective roles of native and colonist in the growth of towns
in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when Slavic stronghold settlements
developed under German influence into fully-fledged towns (Hensel, 1969/70 ;
Leciejewicz, 1976). Hand in hand with the analysis of these processes went
a prolonged debate on the definition of towns (Schiedermann, 1970/71). For
a long time the study of urban origins was a sector of legal history. This
approach produced a narrow concept of a town based on the existence of a
charter and a constitution. But this definition could not be upheld in the
light of the rich archaeological evidence for the early medieval town. Therefore it was agreed to accept the distinction between two different types of
town: the early medieval proto-town (pre-urban nucleus) and the highmedieval chartered town (Jankuhn et al., 1974). Dublin owes its growth to
both phases, the first covering the Viking and Hiberno-Norse period and the
second the Anglo-Norman period. The role of the Early Christian settlement in Dublin, which Clarke (1977) considers part of the complex preNorman proto-town, will have to be clarified by future research. So far it
does not seem likely that Dublin can be counted among those monastic
proto-towns which existed in Ireland at the time of the Viking invasions.
The classical reference books on medieval Dublin were written in the
nineteenth century and have recently been reprinted (Gilbert, 1854-59;
Gilbert and Gilbert, 1889-1922; Haliday, 1884). These works do not include any maps of the medieval town. The only accurate map depicting
medieval features in the modern town is by Leask (1931), tucked away in
an excursion report, to which John Bradley has drawn my attention. A
pioneer in its own right, because it did introduce the topographical aspect,
was Little's (1957) book on early medieval Dublin. But he went far beyond
the evidence of his sources in hypothesising a large pre-Viking town in
Dublin. Recent contributions to aspects of the topography of medieval
Dublin have been restricted to Ö Riordâin's (1969,1971,1976) reports of his
excavations inside the medieval walls, Healy's (1973) analysis of the town
walls of Dublin, Burke's (1974) research on old deeds and leases for the
MEDIEVAL DUBLIN
27
reconstruction of the north-eastern city-defences and finally Smyth's (1975)
comparative treatment of the history and archaeology of the two related
Viking kingdoms of York and Dublin. The recently published book on 'The
development of the Irish town' (Butlin, 1977) contains no detailed case
studies.
Most recent publications on the topography of medieval Dublin have
originated from the interdisciplinary study-group known as the Friends of
Medieval Dublin. Two maps have been published: the first is the pictorial
map of medieval Dublin (Walsh, 1977) and the second the exact map showing
the medieval town in relation to the modern city (Clarke, 1978). The reference volume of the New history of Ireland (vol. 3) will include two maps on
'The growth of the city of Dublin in the medieval period' (Clarke and Simms,
in press). A detailed reconstruction of the topography of early-medieval
Dublin has most recently been carried out by Clarke (1977), who plotted
known medieval features and sites on maps representing the early growthstages of the town. The alternative approach, of which Clarke was fully
aware, would have been to look at large-scale maps for medieval relic-features
still preserved in the modern street-pattern, property boundaries and placenames. This is the approach followed in this paper. The starting-point is
the analysis of a large-scale town-plan, John Rocque's map of Dublin in 1756.
This method of town-plan analysis was pioneered by Conzen (1968) for the
study of urban history. It depends on the hypothesis that street-patterns
and plot-boundaries do not easily change over time and that older patterns
have become part of the modern scene. But this approach is meaningful
only in the context of documentary and archaeological evidence, so that the
topographical features can be explained by the processes that shaped them.
For the Early Christian and Viking period I have relied on Clarke's (1977)
analysis of published documents (the Irish annals, the Irish sagas, the lives
of Early Christian saints, early Irish poems) and on information from Pat
Wallace, director of excavations at Fishamble Street. For the Anglo-Norman
period the primary source-material was taken from Gilbert's (1889) Calendar
of ancient records of Dublin, the Calendar of Archbishop Alen's Register c.11721534 (McNeill, 1950) and The Register of the Hospital of Stjohn the Baptist
without the New Gate (Brooks, 1936). Contrary to earlier opinions there are a
great number of contemporary documents, which await exploration.
John Rocque's map of Dublin in 1756
The earliest cartographic record of Dublin is John Speed's bird's-eye-view
map of 1610. (A reproduction can be found in Butlin, 1977, p. 71, and in
Gillespie, 1973, p. 33.) The first accurately surveyed plan is John Rocque's,
drawn to a scale of two hundred feet to the inch, first published in 1756, and
reprinted recently with an introduction by Andrews (1977). This plan shows
individual ground plots and the ground plans of public buildings and dwelling
houses. For the medieval core of Dublin we can assume that these ground
plots reflect the medieval burgage plots, that is to say, the property units of
the townspeople. This detail is essential for recognising distinct plan units.
In order to obtain a general picture of the lay-out of streets and property
units in that part of Dublin known to be of medieval origin, the four sheets
of Rocque's survey covering this area were photographically reduced to
approximately one quarter of the original linear scale and then joined together. This reduced version will form the basis of our analysis (Plate 1).
Topographical Aspects
of
Medieval Dublin
Present day course of the River Liffey
Modern contours(in feet)
Estuary of the River Liffev
before land reclamation
Line of city wall with gates
Presumed line of city wall
Streets of Medieval origin
Site of pre—Norman church
(later status of Cathedrall
Site of pre—Norman church
St. Patrick
2
St. Bridget
3 St.Michael le Pole
4
St. Kevin
3
St. Peter
»
7
St. Martin
* St. Colmcille(St. Audoen)
« All Saints Priory(T.C.O)
io
St. Olava
it
St. Michan
(ChîOTS) «
Feel
0
Figure I.
Metres
St. Mary's Abbey
500
ZOO
Topographical aspects of medieval Dublin (content and design by A. Simms, cartography by E. Buckmaster). The coastline
of the Liffey estuary before reclamation is based on the boundary between alluvium and boulder clay shown on the Drift
Edition of the 1:10560 Geological Survey map, Co. Dublin, Sheet 18 (1915). Contours are from a special contour edition of
O.S. 112500, Co. Dublin, Sheet XVIII 11, produced by Dublin Corporation. Street widths are from O.S. 1:250p, Co. Dublin,
Sheet XVIII11 (1939). The identification of pre-Norman churches is from the map of Gaelic and Viking Dublin, c. 838-1170
by H. Clarke and A. Simms, New history of Ireland, vol. vii (forthcoming).
mmmm&&%:#>$,
• Ä «»^5 *«^4c*?- C J -^ P t~
^-5fc€ .Mil .
Plate i. The first exact survey of the medieval core of Dublin: from John Rocque's map of Dublin in 1756 (republished by Harry Margary.
Lympne Castle, 1977)-
Plate 2. A view of the excavations of the Viking town between Christ Church Cathedral and the River Liffey in
late 1977. The principal features are: (1) Christ Church Cathedral (2) Old City Wall, built about 1100 A.D.
(3) Earthwork banks, enclosing the earliest Viking settlement, built from c.900 to 1000 A.D. (4) Wattle
fences, property boundaries in the pre-Norman town. Photo by Irish Press, Dublin.
MEDIEVAL DUBLIN
29
AU medieval buildings referred to are shown on Clarke's 1:2500 map Dublin
C.840-C.1S40: the medieval town in the modern city (1978).
The site
One of the major characteristics of medieval towns was their adaptability
to the natural site. Consequently we should study their lay-out in relation to
a contour map (Fig. 1). The ground level in Dublin is now considerably
higher than it was in the early medieval period because of the cumulative
effect of centuries of habitation. In medieval times wooden houses would
last for one generation, after which they were allowed to collapse and a
new house was built on top. At Wood Quay, on the northern edge of St
John's churchyard, archaeologists from the National Museum have recently
exposed an artificially created cliff comprising twenty-eight feet of habitation
layers. The sequence begins with the foundations of Viking houses, from the
tenth and possibly the ninth centuries, and extends into the thirteenth century
and beyond.
On a contour map of Dublin the most dominant feature is the long, narrow
ridge, approximately fifty feet high and running parallel to the south bank
of the Liffey as far as the confluence with the River Poddle. In the medieval
period the latter had a free run around the eastern edge of the ridge. Only
in the nineteenth century was the Poddle culverted. The ridge consists of
boulder clay and was probably once covered with hazelwood. Steep slopes
lead down northwards to the Liffey and eastwards and southwards to the
valley of the Poddle. Today the streets in that area have steep gradients,
particularly Fishamble Street, Werburgh Street and Nicholas Street, while
there is a remarkable break of slope between Castle Street and Dame Street.
The ridge thus forms a spur, which was ideal in terms of strategic requirements. No wonder the Vikings chose this site for their first encampment
when they came sailing up the Liffey in the ninth century. According to the
Annals of" Ulster (Hennessey and MacCarthy, 1887-1901) they first landed
at the mouth of the Liffey in A.D. 837 and a few years later built up a fortified
ship-harbour, known in Irish as longphort, at the confluence of the Liffey
and the Poddle. The high ground between the two rivers must have been
relatively easy to defend and the Poddle provided a natural harbour where
ships were sheltered from storms. But there was more to the site than this.
Ö Lochlainn's (1940) study of roadways in pre-Viking Ireland shows that the
mouth of the Liffey was the location for a vital river crossing. Near the
present Whitworth Bridge was a hurdle ford linking the road from Tara to
the kingdom of Leinster. The Liffey represented a political boundary in the
Early Irish period. To the north of the river lay the territory of the Brega,
to the south Leinster. The Viking settlement therefore changed the political
geography of the larger Liffey area by turning a border area into an autonomous region (Fingal: land of the foreigners), which was centred on the trading
settlement of Dublin (Clarke, 1977).
Another notable physical feature that influenced the growth of early Dublin
was the extent of the Liffey estuary, which was much wider in the medieval
period than it is today. Figure 1 shows the line between alluvium and boulder
clay depicted on the geological drift map (Geological Survey, 1915). We do
not know for certain when this line would have been the actual coastline,
but archaeological excavations at Wood Quay and Fishamble Street have
shown that at the time when the Hiberno-Norse built their stone wall in the
30
SIMMS
eleventh or twelfth century the Liffey came close to the wall. The part of the
wall now exposed at Wood Quay runs roughly parallel to the present thirtyfive foot contour line. It is noticeable that north of the Liffey the two preAnglo-Norman churches, St Michan's and St Mary's Abbey, are located
just off the alluvium on boulder clay. The priory of All Saints, which after
the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century became the site
of Trinity College, poses a real problem. In this area, at least, the coastline
by the mid-twelfth century must have run well north of the line separating
the alluvium from boulder clay, if we are not to think of the priory as being in
the middle of slobland flooded for much of the time (Fig. 1). A characteristic
feature of an important Viking settlement was its public assembly of free men
called a thing, which usually met near the shore in coastal towns. The Thingmount of Dublin was erected near the present St Andrew's Church (Fig. 1).
There must have been a ford and later a bridge to enable people to cross the
Poddle on their way to the Thingmount. Thanks to Burke's (1974) analysis
of old deeds and leases we have precise information as to when the district
immediately east of the town wall was reclaimed. This occurred in the
seventeenth century as part of a reclamation scheme and is the reason for the
regular street-pattern around Essex Street seen on Rocque's map. Parliament Street and Lord Edward Street were laid out in the late eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries respectively and are therefore not shown on Rocque's
map.
Yet another physical feature of importance for early Dublin, and the last
to be discussed, is the Poddle. This river now leads a tame life underground,
running beneath Patrick Street, Ship Street, the castle's Lower Yard and
crossing under Dame Street before joining the Liffey (Ronan, 1927 ; Fitzgerald,
1973). But in the Early Irish period it meandered between widely spaced
contours and apparently split up into a mainstream and side-stream around
St Patrick's (Fig. 1). In a document of 20 April 1179, which confirmed the
metropolitan jurisdiction of Archbishop Lorcân Ua Tuathail, this church
is referred to as St Patrick's on the island (in insula) (McNeill, 1950, p. 3).
The Poddle must have been fairly wide as far upstream as its confluence with
another stream flowing along the Coombe, which means 'valley'. This confluence was probably the nearest point to the town where the Poddle could be
forded without too much trouble. Rocque's map records this particular
stretch of road as Toddle' (Plate 1). On James Malton's print of St Patrick's
Cathedral a street sign on a house near the cathedral tower says 'Cross Poddle'.
(A reproduction of this print is to be found in Fitzgerald, 1973, p. 29.)
Rocque's map indicates clearly what an important crossing-point this was for
long-distance routes, which in Irish were called 'slige', derived from the Old
Irish verb 'sligid', which means 'to fell' (Ö Corrain, 1972, p. 67). Cork Street,
on the line of the ancient Slige Dala from the south-west, led to Cork Bridge
(suggesting an earlier crossing of the Coombe stream), then to the Coombe
proper and then either northwards or across the Poddle. Francis Street is
on the line of the Slige Chualann, crossing the Poddle and leading southwards
into Leinster along what is now New Street. It is likely that the northern
continuation of Francis Street ran originally along the line of Bridge Street
and from there across the Liffey, at first by the hurdle ford and from the
eleventh century by a bridge over to Church Street.
MEDIEVAL DUBLIN
31
Early Irish monastic Dublin
Between the Poddle and the Steine, the latter being a small river that ran
towards the Liffey estuary a little to the west of Grafton Street, lies an area
with a holy well from the Early Christian period and with churches with preAnglo-Norman dedications (Fig. 1). These are St Patrick's, which gave its
name to Patrick Street; St Brigit's, which gave its name to Bride Street and
is shown on Rocque's map; the church of St Michael le Pole in Ship Street,
whose round tower was demolished only in the late eighteenth century but is
not shown on Rocque's map; and St Kevin's, a rebuilt church now in ruins.
Then there is the site of medieval St Peter's, off Stephen Street. This street,
together with White Friar Street and Peter Row, represents part of an enclosure that is reminiscent of ecclesiastical enclosures as we know them from
Leo Swan's (1971) work and the evidence of aerial photography by Norman
and St Joseph (1969). The documentary details supporting this hypothesis
are discussed by Clarke (1977). The eastern part of this enclosure was
drastically changed in the seventeenth century, as Burke (1972) has shown,
with the laying out of the Aungier estate and its regularly planned street
pattern (Plate 1).
South of the castle, beyond the Poddle and on the site of the castle garden,
is a hollow indicated by the thirty-five foot contour line. The same contour
represents the shoreline along the old City Wall on Wood Quay and in the
early medieval period this hollow is likely to have been flooded at high tide.
Perhaps it was the black pool responsible for the Irish placename 'Dubhlinn',
which was adopted by the Vikings as the name of their first stronghold. But,
as Henry (1967) and more recently Clarke (1977) have suggested, it may
originally have been applied to an Early Christian monastic settlement south
of the black pool. This would explain why the annalists refer to two Irish
place-names for Dublin: 'Dubhlinn', the settlement by the black pool, and
'Âth Cliath', the settlement at the ford across rafts of hurdles (see Clarke,
Map of Gaelic Dublin, 1977, p. 33). According to Clarke the first contemporary references to Âth Cliath appear in a sixth-century praise poem
(O'Brien, 1962) and in Adomnän's life of Colum Cille (Anderson, 1961),
written in the seventh century.
The plan-units: the pre-urban core
To return to the walled town on the hill, the street pattern on Rocque's
map suggests that the walled area consisted of three different plan-units : an
eastern unit, a western unit and a third unit between these and the Liffey
(Fig. 2). In the eastern section of the walled town was the east-west axis of
Castle Street and Skinner's Row (now Christ Church Place), crossed by the
north-south axis of Fishamble Street and Werburgh Street. Castle Street
and Skinner's Row ran along the northern edge of the ridge and avoided
meticulously any change in street level (Fig. 1), which made life in an era
of horse and cart or even hand-drawn carts much easier! In contrast Fishamble Street and Werburgh Street led down steep slopes in opposite directions. None of these streets is very straight and Fishamble Street has a
marked bend that may have arisen in order to avoid an even sharper break
of slope.
Looking at the castle precinct on Rocque's map we have to remember that
the Anglo-Norman structure built in 1213-28 comprised only the area of the
Upper Yard. The town wall used to run across Cork Hill and down to Blind
SIMMS
Figure 2. Medieval Dublin: growth stages of the walled town (conjectural reconstruction by A. Simms).
Quay. As we have assumed that the first Viking settlers built their stronghold
for strategic reasons somewhere in the area of the later castle, we should
expect that the houses of these sailors, craftsmen and traders were built
nearby along Castle Street and down Fishamble Street. We are probably
not far wrong if we imagine that the Viking settlement consisted of a number
of enclosed house plots not dissimilar to those shown on Rocque's map.
All the evidence so far implies that the area between Holy Trinity and
Dublin Castle constituted the first plan unit of the Viking period, the preurban nucleus, or proto-town (Fig. 2). Most probably an earthen bank with
some kind of wooden rampart enclosed this settlement. On topographical
grounds and on the basis of Rocque's map, this enclosing bank is likely to
have followed a line along Ship Street just above the Poddle, passing north
of Ross Lane, along Kennedy's Lane across Skinner's Row, continuing outside the chapter house of Holy Trinity and curving across the Wood QuayFishamble Street site in such a way that the most northerly part rested on a
shelf of solid bedrock, which comes closest to the LiiTey on the eastern side
of the site. The bank would then have followed the line of Smock Alley and
from there up to Cork Hill. The eastern banks recently exposed at Fishamble
Street-Wood Quay south of the old city wall may well be part of this fortification. The best preserved of these has stockade-like wooden palisades on
top, whilst on the inside this bank is faced with post-and-wattle work. These
banks are most significant for the understanding of the building phases on
the site. The exposed sections resemble ramparts for defensive purposes but
MEDIEVAL DUBLIN
33
they are also reminiscent of dykes built for protection against flooding. Had
the original Viking settlement not developed in the area of the present-day
castle but rather on the site of Christ Church Cathedral, the highest elevation
inside the walled town, then the street pattern would probably have evolved
in a concentric fashion around the church, which it clearly did not.
Expansion of the Hiberno-Norse period
The ninth-century pre-urban core of Dublin had its origin in a military
camp from which the Vikings carried out raids for treasure and for victims
of the booming slave-trade (Smyth, 1975) and where they exchanged their
ill-gained goods. From the end of the tenth century onwards Dublin became
incorporated into the Irish political scene and the Hiberno-Norse period
began. An indication of this development is the fact that the first five bishops
of Dublin were of Hiberno-Norse origin (Martin, 1978a and b).
The Vikings accepted Christianity at the beginning of the eleventh century.
They built two churches of their own. The first was Holy Trinity, which
later became Christ Church Cathedral; the second was St Olaf's near the
lower end of Fishamble Street (Fig. 1). The Church of St Olaf was in use
until 1538 when the parish was united with that of St John, a later parish
church at the upper end of Fishamble Street. St John's is shown on Rocque's
map, but was demolished in the nineteenth century. St Olafs was demolished
sometime in the sixteenth century and has left no trace above ground.
According to a nineteenth-century parish history it stood nearly opposite
the western end of Smock Alley, now Essex Street West (Haworth, 1977).
It is possible that the division into regular individual plots, shown on
Rocque's map, dates back to the early history of the town. In the Annals of
the Four Masters it is reported that in 989 the high king Maelsechnaill imposed
a tax of one ounce of gold on every garth (messuage) in Dublin (O'Donovan,
1851). Examples of such garths may have been uncovered in the form of
rectangular house plots and enclosures in the High Street excavations, at
Christ Church Place and most recently at Fishamble Street (Ö Riordâin,
1971, 1976; information from Wallace, 1978). Some of these house-plots,
dated to the Viking period, were surrounded by wooden boundary fences
(preserved up to 30 cm in height and up to 14 m long) separating them from
the next plot. These fences ran at a right angle to the street front. At High
Street and Winetavern Street planked path-ways were found (1 m wide),
dated to the eleventh century. At Fishamble Street, too, timber pathways,
running between the houses, were clearly identified. At one point in Fishamble Street it was found that different layers of boundary posts went through
three centuries of debris indicating the continuity of property boundaries
from the tenth to the twelfth century inclusive. The r.un of the boundary
fences at Fishamble Street, dating back to the eleventh century, suggests
that there were already houses along that street in the eleventh century and
probably earlier with long narrow gardens stretching towards the Liffey
(Plate 2). At the end of these gardens are the remnants of structures and
concentrated accumulations of dung. This is not surprising because the
Viking settlers and Hiberno-Norse would have kept their own domestic
animals, particularly horses for transport.
The excavations have revealed enough evidence of the street-pattern of the
early town, the shape of the individual plots and their relationship to each
other, to allow a reconstruction of the plan of the Hiberno-Norse town.
34
SIMMS
But this will be the task of the archaeologists who have done the actual surveying on the sites. It seems certain already that there is a remarkable continuity
of the main street outlines. As to the medieval houses, the excavations have
shown that all of those dating back into the Viking and Hiberno-Norse period
and most of the Anglo-Norman houses were built of wood, usually in the postand-wattle technique, though buildings of stave-type construction and of
planks have also been found. The houses of the Viking period were subrectangular in shape and in size on average eight metres by six metres. Some
of the structures at High Street appeared to have been workshops of combmakers and shoemakers.
It was during this period of the eleventh and twelfth centuries that Dublin
developed into an important trading settlement. The excavations have
produced much evidence for growing prosperity and international trade
during that period. From the end of the tenth century onwards Dublin
minted its own coins (Dolley, 1966). To this period of an expanding HibernoNorse settlement we should attribute the western plan unit of the walled
town. This is the district with High Street as the main axis and Back Lane
joining it at an angle. A number of other lanes led down from High Street
towards Cook Street. All these streets are straight with the exception of
Nicholas Street, which was probably part of a much older road connection
to St Patrick's, and St Audoen's Lane leading down to Cook Street past a site
of pre-Anglo-Norman date, the church dedicated to St Colum Cille (Fig. 1),
rededicated by the Anglo-Normans to St Ouen, a Norman saint. Clarke
(1977) has suggested that this church may have been attached to the preViking settlement associated with the hurdle ford. High Street, like Castle
Street and Skinner's Row, follows closely the northern edge of the ridge.
Evidence of Scandinavian habitation along High Street has come mainly from
the tenth, eleventh and later centuries, while it is possible that further excavations in the vicinity of the castle and along Fishamble Street may provide
evidence of earlier Viking habitation. The ground plots in High Street are
amazingly irregular in length and this could be interpreted as a sign of piecemeal growth. The property units in Back Lane adjoining High Street are
much smaller than those on the other side of the road, a difference for which
there is as yet no explanation (Plate 1). The dominating feature of the western
end of High Street was the corn market immediately inside the town gate.
This was the logical place to hold a market because here the main road from
the countryside entered the town and farmers would be happy to unload their
goods, mostly corn, the staple item of diet. The site has preserved the name
Cornmarket to the present day. Later the corn market was transferred to
Thomas Street just outside the gate, as Rocque's map shows.
The two plan-units under discussion, the first centred on the later castle
and Holy Trinity Church and the second on High Street, were enclosed
probably by an earthen bank and then in the Hiberno-Norse period by a stone
wall. According to Healy an embankment was found in the course of corporation road-works on High Street at Newgate which may date from the
Viking period. This feature must have been the forerunner of the stone wall
known as the Old Gty Wall, parts of which are now exposed on the Wood
Quay site. The alignment of the most southerly section of this wall seems to
be due to the fact that the wall follows the Poddle downstream from the
river's sharp bend eastwards. This is the place where Nicholas Street joins
Patrick Street and St Nicholas Gate used to stand.
By continental standards the walled enclosure of Hiberno-Norse Dublin
MEDIEVAL DUBLIN
35
was small, about 12 hectares. The contemporary Belgian trading post of
Dorestadt had 100 ha of enclosed space, and Cologne had 200 ha at the
beginning of the twelfth century and 400 ha at the end of the twelfth century.
The comparison with the contemporary Viking trading posts is less of a
contrast. The Swedish trading place of Birka had 11.7 ha and Haithabu on
the German-Danish border had 25 ha of enclosed space. On the other hand,
the Slavic stronghold-settlements with their sub-urbiums were much smaller,
for example Gdansk and Opple, both in Poland, had only between 1 and 2
ha of walled space and Poznan had 5-7 ha (Steuer, 1977).
Expansion of the Anglo-Norman period
The Anglo-Normans captured Dublin in 1170 and found a ready-made
town. Under the Anglo-Normans Dublin lost in international importance,
because it became merely a part of the Anglo-Norman world; but it gained
importance as the administrative centre for colonial rule in Ireland. Having
to be very security-conscious the Anglo-Normans spent a lot of money on
repairs and additions to the defences, obviously along the line where walls,
however dilapidated, already existed. An interesting detail in this context is
the name of the hospital founded by Ailred le Palmer and his wife, both Norse
inhabitants of Dublin at the time of the Anglo-Norman conquest. In early
charters this building is called the hospital of St John without the western
gate, whereas in deeds from about 1200 and later it is referred to as being at
the new gate (Brooks, 1936). This implies that after the Anglo-Norman
takeover substantial changes were made to the defences, whose exact nature
is not yet known. Indeed Henry Ill's council in 1221 issued a murage
grant '. . . in aid of enclosing that city, and for the security and protection of
it, as well as the adjacent parts' (Gilbert and Gilbert, 1, p.7). Rocque paid
no attention to the defences as such, but his map shows a definite line running
just south of Back Lane. This is a seam along which two plan-units from
different periods are knit together, one inside and the other outside the
medieval town wall. North of High Street the line of the medieval town wall
is represented by Cook Street, running parallel to and outside the defences.
A section of this wall survives at St Audoen's Arch and continues across the
Wood Quay site.
When the Anglo-Normans first entered Dublin the tidal waters of the
Liffey came right up to the wall, the river being much broader and therefore
shallower than it is today (Fig. 1). This represented a serious problem for
big ships. The need for greater depth of water along their quays is the main
reason why the Anglo-Normans undertook in the thirteenth century the
tremendous engineering job of reclaiming land (Wallace, 1976). All streets
north of Cook Street running at right angles to the Liffey post-date the AngloNorman land reclamation. Winetavern Street which became the centre of the
wine trade in Dublin, was the most important of these. The numerous gates
in the town wall along Cook Street must be of Anglo-Norman origin, opening
up older parts of the town to the newly reclaimed area. St Audoen's arch is
the only surviving town gate. Most probably at the time of the Bruce invasion
in 1317 the town wall was extended along the quays, though there are now no
physical remains above the ground (Healy, 1973).
The first century after the Anglo-Norman capture of Dublin was in general
a period of economic growth and in particular a period when trade revived,
mainly through the connections with Bristol and Chester. The town expand-
36
SIMMS
ed beyond its wall, westwards along Thomas Street, curving along the northern
edge of the ridge overlooking the Liffey; southwards along Patrick Street,
running parallel to the Poddle, and along Francis Street, linking the ford
across the Poddle with the bridge over the Liffey and northwards along
Church Street. Thomas Street derives its name from St Thomas's Abbey,
founded in 1177 as a gesture of penitence by Henry II for the murder of
Thomas Becket. Ten years later the hospital of St. John the Baptist was
founded, as we have already mentioned in the context of Newgate. In the
monastic extents (Brooks, 1936) we read that the hospital's site was bounded
on the east by the town wall and ditch, on the west mostly by open fields, on
the north by the potters' quarter (Crockers' Street) and on the south by
Thomas Street. The reference to open fields west of the hospital indicates
that this institution and St Thomas's Abbey were probably the first buildings
to go up in Thomas Street. A feature of these medieval streets was their
gates, which make sense only if the streets were built up so compactly that it
was worth blocking them. The likely date of these gates is the late medieval
period, when Dublin was threatened by incursions from the Irish. They are
shown on Walsh's (1977) and Clarke's (1978) maps.
Dublin's first charter, the grant of the town by Heniy II to his men of
Bristol, is dated 1171/2. This document gave Dublin the status of a town in
legal terms. A confirmation of the original grant, issued some twenty years
later, contains some helpful topographical information (Gilbert and Gilbert,
1, pp. 2-6). It confirms that there was settlement outside the walls. By
referring to the 'common consent' of the townsfolk it points to one of the
characteristic features of a fully-fledged town, the existence of corporate
institutions. It recommends that by common consent the inhabitants should
lay out land in messuages : this looks like the go-ahead for the developers of
that time. Some messuages were to be laid out over the water, which may
imply that land was to be reclaimed.The last section assures those who held
land outside the walls that their tenures were not to be interfered with, even if
certain individuals or institutions were given large tracts of land. This refers
to the granting of 'liberties' or areas of private jurisdiction. The 'liberties'
are shown and named on Clarke's map (1978) of medieval Dublin c.840c.1540. Another interesting document was issued in 1202 when John, king
of England, confirmed Holy Trinity in its numerous possessions. The text
ends with the following statement: 'He grants all these with their appurtenances in churches and chapels, in sands and mudbanks (in sabulis et glisseriis)
...' (McNeill, 1950, p. 29).
The word 'messuages' relates to burgage plots or property units with a
house and garden. The size of the original burgage plots can be estimated
from details in the grants. In an entry dated some time between 1228 and
1255 Archbishop Alen's register refers to 'land with buildings in New Street
which was formerly Bartholomew the baker's, lying between the lands of
Arnulph Marecall and William Wulf, and containing in front thirty feet'
(McNeill, 1950, p. 83). For the year 1336 we find in the same register the
following entry: 'Peter de Willeby, clerk, grants to Walter le Gret, clockmaker, a piece of ground in St Patrick's Street, Dublin . . . containing in
front fifty-four feet, in rear sixty-six feet, and extending in length from the
high street (alto vico) on the west as far as Peter's land on the east, containing
in that length five score and nineteen feet' (McNeill, 1950, p. 203). Plots
like these may still be represented in the ground plots on Rocque's map: this
is a subject for further research.
MEDIEVAL DUBLIN
37
During the period of economic expansion in the thirteenth and first half
of the fourteenth century several public buildings were erected. Clarke's
map (1978) shows a great density of public and semi-public buidings inside
the medieval walls. The Tholsel, the merchants' headquarters and courthouse,
was built at the corner of Skinner's Row and Nicholas Street. It is shown on
Rocque's map but has since been demolished. Evidently it was not easy to
raise money for the Tholsel and in 1336 a grant was made to the mayor, bailiffs
and commonalty to levy customs on goods brought for sale into the town, for
the purpose of building the Tholsel and paving the streets. As was generally
the case in medieval towns, distinct quarters developed. At High Street and
Skinner's Row (now Christ Church Place), where the comb-makers and metalworkers concentrated during the Hiberno-Norse period, leather-workers
were to be found in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. At the upper end
of Winetavern Street wood-turners and coopers produced wooden bowls,
platters and barrel staves. In 1235 Castle Street is referred to as Lormeria:
lorimers were manufacturers of spurs and other small iron objects. Frequently street-names give the secret away. Fishmongers kept their booths in Fishamble Street. In 1356 the government prohibited, under penalty of imprisonment, the sale offish anywhere in the town other than in the shambles in this
street, and here it was allowed only at a proper hour of the day ! The merchants
had their taverns in Winetavern Street, though a lot of ale was apparently sold
in the cellars of the same street. The cooks, particularly prone to accidents
by fire, were conveniently situated just outside the old wall in Cook Street.
Winetavern Street was also important, because the Guildhall was there.
In 1226 no less than 224 new members were admitted to the guild, an impressive illustration of Dublin's economic growth at the time. These new
members were mainly from England, Scotland and Wales, but some were
from the continent, such as John of Brabant and Clarambald of Amiens.
Irishmen were not allowed membership (Webb, 1929). This is an indication
of the fact that, in contrast to the Hiberno-Norse period, in the AngloNorman period Irishmen were excluded from active participation in the
economic and political life of the town.
The increase in Dublin's population during the century and a half after the
Anglo-Norman conquest, which went with the immense expansion of trade,
is also reflected in a considerable growth in the number of churches and
religious houses. Two churches were dedicated to distinctly Norman and
English saints, St Audoen's in High Street and St Werburgh's in Werburgh
Street respectively. North of the river the only newcomer was the Dominican
friary on the site of the Four Courts beside the Liffey. But, as the maps of
medieval Dublin show, there were many others on the south side, both inside
and outside the wall (Walsh, 1977; Clarke, 1978). Surprisingly no new church
was built by the Anglo-Normans on reclaimed ground between the original
stone wall and the Liffey.
On a more down-to-earth note areas of common grazing were a distinctive
feature of medieval Dublin (Fig. 1). An entry in Alen's register in c.1192
says that the archbishop's 'men of the city and suburb shall have the freedom
of the city in common pasture and in all else' (McNeill, 1950, p. 22). The
biggest of these commons was St Stephen's Green, which has been preserved
to the present day. Oxmantown Green is shown on Rocque's map, west of
Smithfield, but Hoggen Green was already built over in 1756 and is recalled
on Rocque's map only in the street name Hog Hill. The Fair Green was
occupied by market-halls in the mid-eighteenth century (Plate 1).
38
SIMMS
Town-plan analysis on its own projects a static picture of the medieval
town. Archaeological evidence and documentary material, the latter beginning
essentially after the Anglo-Norman conquest, show with detailed examples
that the thirteenth century was a period of growth, while from quite early
in the fourteenth century economic life and settlement are described in terms
of decline. In 1326 it was noted that 'the burgagers of New Street used to
pay 57s 6d a year for their burgages . . . now they pay only 32s 8d because
the rest of the burgages lie waste. Certain burgagers in St Patrick's Street
hold houses and tenements, and they used to pay 45s 2d . . . they now pay
only 36s 2d because the rest of the tenements lie waste' (McNeill, 1950, p. 171).
Most entries in the municipal records of Edward Ill's time strike a pessimistic note. More grants were being given to repair bridges and walls in
return for services rendered by the townsfolk in resisting frequent attacks
by 'Irish enemies', and to enable them to carry on their commerce and to
guard the town.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a topographical analysis of Rocque's map shows that
Dublin was not one of those regularly planned medieval towns which were
laid out at a particular moment in time, with the purpose of dividing and
apportioning the ground for permanent settlement (Biddle, 1976, p. 20).
By the middle of the thirteenth century, in the hey-day of Anglo-Norman
Dublin, the walled town on the hill above the Liffey, which had evolved
from the original Viking settlement at the confluence with the Poddle, had
extended northwards across the Liffey around the parish church of St Michan's
and St Mary's Abbey (both foundations dating from the Hiberno-Norse
period), westwards along Thomas Street, while to the south it had linked up
with an area of early Christian settlement around St Patrick's. The lay-out
of Dublin's medieval streets followed no comprehensive system, but in the
context of organic growth they make a lot of sense. Our town-plan analysis
raises more questions than it answers. The answers can come, and are beginning to come, only through the cooperation of a number of different disciplines.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am much indebted to Dr Howard Clarke for his encouragement to write this paper
and for improvements to the manuscript; I am grateful to Mr Breanddn Ö Riordâin
for comments on the text, to Mr Eddie Buckmaster for his assistance with the maps,
and to Mr Richard Haworth for supplying the caption to Plate 2. I am also most
grateful to the Alexander-von-Humboldt Stiftung whose research fellowship allowed
me the time to write this paper, which is an enlargement of an article printed in the
Dublin Arts Festival Programme Magazine, 1978.