Cameos of Old Dublin

Cameos of Old Dublin

20 Oct 1932

The erection of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the thirteenth century on the site of-the ancient Celtic Church o£ ” St. Patrick in Insula ” can be explained only by the fact that the place was held in special veneration by the inhabitants of Dublin at that time, the belief being held that St. Patrick preached and performed miracles there. The truth is that the location, on a “marshy island of the Poddle. River (which now runs underground), was most unsuitable for such a pretentious building. Subsequent events proved this, for in the Cathedral records many notices appear of inundations due to the overflowing of the nearby river.

In 1437 a commission was appointed to inquire into the obstruction or the water coming near the Cathedral. . . In 1493, on the representation by the Dean and Chapter of the damage which was being done by the overflow of the Poddle River, Parliament enacted that the inhabitants of the precincts were to be held responsible for keeping the drains clear. A record of the year 1664 reveals a further invocation of Parliament, while in 1687 the whole city suffered from great floods, the, water rising above “the desks” in St. Patrick’s. Boats plied in the adjoining streets in 1701. In 1744 the Chapter were obliged to ask for the use of the sister Cathedral of Christchurch for their Lenten Services, as St Patrick’s was “dangerous to assemble in from the late floods.” There were five feet of water in the choir in 1762. Other floods are recorded during the years 1778, 1791, and 1795. It was said that, within the last half of’ the eighteenth century, there were five great inundations ” allot which took place on a Saturday.”; ‘The water of the Poddle still runs below the floor of the Nave, but a proper drainage system operates,

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