Viking Dublin

Viking Dublin

25 Oct 1988

A THOUSAND years ago Dublin, though smaller and mainly built on the south side of the Liffey, was as thriving a port as it is today.

Viking longships sailed from here to places as far away as Newfoundland, Constantinople and Russia, trading goods and forging links with the (hen-known world. Dublin was part of an international trading network. A Viking settlement had become a Viking city.

Within the country itself Dublin was an important point in a web of ancient Irish roads. By 988 Viking and Irish lived together in the city.

The picture shows a view of the city, looking southwards, with the River Liffey in the foreground and the Dublin mountains in the distance. The river flows from the right of the picture eastwards to the sea. This is the area of which Christ Church Cathedral, the new Civic Offices and Wood Quay would today form the centre.

On the left of the picture the river Poddle flows into the Liffey, widening out at one point into a large pool — thc Linn Dubh or black pool from which Dublin is named. This pool provided safe anchorage and was probably used for building -and refitting ships as shown here. The main thoroughfares of the city weave their way up from the riverbank linking with a well developed network of streets and alleys. Each house stands on its own ground, detached from its neighbour.

The houses were made of timber planks or wattle and roofed with straw. They are all of a similar style. A fireplace was built in a central position in each house, the smoke rising through a hole in the roof.

In the top left-hand corner stands the biggest building in the city — the first Viking stronghold, from which the city would have originally spread.

The city wall was made of timber and earth anil provided some protection from enemies.

As well as its lively port, Dublin also supported a thriving crafts industry with bone carvers, wood turners and leather workers plying their trade.

By 988 Dublin was alive and well and here to stay

Viking Dublin circa 988, looking southwards from above the river Liffey. The pool, centre left, provided safe anchorage and was probably used for refitting and building ships as shown here.

Key

  1. Course of modern Fishamble Street.
  2. River Liffey.
  3. River Poddle
  4. “Linn dubh’ or black pool, from which Dublin is named.
  5. First Viking stronghold.
  6. Site of St Patrick’s Cathedral on an island in the river Poddle; previously a Gaelic foundation.
  7. Part of the tower of St Michael-le-Pole (90ft. tall) also a pre-Viking relic.
  8. Site of modern Civic Offices.

Medieval Dublin

THREE hundred years later, the same view as above, more or less the same size, but now a Norman city in the grip of a harsh, cold, medieval winter.

The Anglo-Normans have arrived in Ireland and Dublin has become one of their conquests. Immediately we notice the results of the Norman talent for building solid stone structures. The city is dominated by three major buildings.

The Viking stronghold has been replaced by Dublin Castle, a fully-fledged Norman construction with towers, gate and massive outer wall. Begun in 1204 on the orders of King .John it provided a strong military base.

Christ Church Cathedral rises up in the centre of the city. Originally a wooden structure begun in 1038 by the Viking Sitric Silkenbeard, it has been rebuilt in stone. Further south, outside the city walls, St. Patrick’s Cathedral has been built on flat ground that was previously an island on the river Poddle.

The old Viking city wall is now a solid stone one with towers and city gates.

Inside the city, the houses are more tightly packed together and of a timber-framed construction. Gone are the individual viking houses on their own plots of land. Here and there the richer inhabitants have built themselves larger stone-constructed houses.

Land has been reclaimed from the river, providing space for the building of warehouses. The riverbank has taken on more the look of a quay. This reclamation had the effect of narrowing and deepening the river, making it possible for larger ships to anchor.

Dublin has taken on a new image and is already providing us with landmarks that exist today.

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At the time – the end of the last ice age – sea levels were 45m lower and Dublin’s rivers, including the Liffey, Poddle. Stein and Camac, cut deep gorges down into the rock. Dr. Philips says. “As the ice melted and sea levels rose, the rivers slowed down and gutted those channels with sand and gravel.” In fact, what he describes as a “mini Grand Canyon”, with bedrock cut by the River Stein (now a sewer), once dipped 100ft below the front of Trinity College. Gathering together with the Poddle, the Liffey and the Gallows stream at the current site of thc Screen Cinema on Hawkins Street, the rivers formed a pool in which marauding Vikings used to moor.

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Indeed, Dublin has had an organised water supply system for nearly 750 years. When the medieval city was only 50 acres in extent, the river Poddle served the people’s needs, but the source soon proved to be inadequate and, in 1244, the City Sheriff was mandated to improve things.

He did so by entering an agreement with the Priory of St. Thomas, which owned a weir on the Dodder at Balrothery: as a result, Dodder water was diverted to augment Poddle water and a supply, crystal clear and adequate, was maintained.

 

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Thankfully, this is not the case with the scene of another planned heist. Encountering the Poddle once again, this time through a manhole near Marsh’s Library, reminds one of Orson Welles’ adventures in The Third Man. It was here, in a large foul sewer that charts a course to the Liffey beneath Patrick Street, Werburgh Street and Temple Bar, that a team of bank robbers almost pulled off the big one. Crossing the watercourse beneath what is now the Millennium Park, they burst into Allied Irish Bank on Dame Street, almost 6m below ground. Luckily for AIB. a raucous set of alarms scared them off; but ever since, for security reasons, Gardai carefully monitor the culvert.

 

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The River Poddle has been known  by several different names over the centuries such as the Puddle, Pottle and the Podell. It was known as the Tiber and also as the Salach, meaning dirty, or the Soulagh. This latter name has been immortalised by the Dubliners in the song Down by the River Saile.

The Poddle, which rises in Tallaght, was at one time the main source of fresh water for the medieval Dublin. As the city expanded the demand for water increased. In April 1244 Maurice Fitzgerald, Justiciar of Ireland, commanded the sheriff of Dublin “without delay to make inquisition, with advice of the Mayor and citizens, as to whence water can be best and most conveniently taken from its course”.

Dublin Corporation entered into an agreement with the Abbey of St Thomas which owned the rights to the Dodder at Balrothery to reroute water from the Dodder into the Poddle.

It was diverted using a two mile man-made canal that came to be known as the City Watercourse, which was in use until 1775. Parts of it can still be seen in the Dodder Valley Linear Park near Tallaght.

The Poddle, now mostly underground, flows into Dublin via Templeogue and Kimmage where the river divides into two at a place called The Tongue near Mount Argus. One strand which supplied the City Watercourse flows down through the Liberties and the other flows down through Harold’s Cross.

The two streams reunite at the junction of Patrick’s Street and Dean Street. It flows past the cathedral, turns east and flows down under Ship Street and Dublin Castle to merge with the Liffey at Wellington Quay. St Patrick’s Cathedral is built on a small island between the two strands of the Poddle — referred to in a document in 1179 as St Patrick’s in insula or St Patrick’s on the island. There was also a holy well dedicated to the saint and this is now covered over by the park adjoining the cathedral. Legend has it that Patrick himself performed baptisms at this well.

This stretch of the Poddle was very prone to flooding and the cathedral was inundated many times over the centuries. In 1687 it was reported that the cathedral was flooded to a level above the desks and on another occasion it was flooded to a depth of five feet while boats sailed on the swollen river outside.

The present-day junction of Dean Street and Patrick’s Street was until 200 years ago called Cross Poddle. This was obviously one of the main crossing points over the Poddle either by way of a bridge or ford and was the place where local women gathered to wash clothes.

It’s not clear when exactly the name of Soulagh or Salach was applied to the Poddle but there were certainly many reports written over the centuries in relation to its filthy state.

The main culprits seem to have been the many industries and mills that lined the banks of the river who contaminated the water with bleach, refuse from the skinners yards and other materials, which made the water undrinkable. The city section of the river was eventually covered over during the 18th century.

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