Watch Tower of Dublin Castle. Streets of Dublin. Painting Collection

Collection Streets of Dublin in the Painting Style.... more

by Jenny Rainbow

Title

Watch Tower of Dublin Castle. Streets of Dublin. Painting Collection

Artist

Jenny Rainbow

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Collection Streets of Dublin in the Painting Style.

Dublin (Irish: Baile Atha Cliath, meaning Town of the hurdled ford. The capital and most populous city of Ireland. The English name for the city is derived from the Irish name Dubhlinn, meaning "black pool". Dublin is situated near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and the centre of the Dublin Region.
Originally founded as a Viking settlement, it evolved into the Kingdom of Dublin and became the island's principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century; it was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire and the fifth largest in Europe. Dublin entered a period of stagnation following the Act of Union of 1800, but it remained the economic centre for most of the island. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, the new parliament, the Oireachtas, was located in Leinster House. Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State and later the Republic of Ireland.
Similar to the cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford Dublin is administered separately from its respective County with its own City Council.

Dublin Castle.
Dublin Castle is situated in the very heart of historic Dublin. In fact the city gets its name from the Dubh Linn or Black Pool (dubh = black), on the site of the present Castle Gardens and Coach House.

The Castle stands on the high ridge, the highest ground in the locality, at the junction of the River Liffey and its tributary the (now underground) Poddle, which formed a natural boundary on two sides. It is very probable that the original fortification on this easily defended strategic site was a Gaelic Ringfort, which guarded the harbour, the adjacent Dubhlinn Ecclesiastical Centre and the four long distant roads that converged nearby.

In the 930's, a Danish Viking Fortress stood on this site and part of the town defences is on view at the Undercroft, where the facing stone revetments offered protection against the River Poddle. Their settlement of Dyflinn (a corruption of Dubhlinn) quickly became the main Viking military base and trading centre of slaves and silver, in Ireland. The Norwegian and sometimes Danish rulers had control of the Irish Sea and forayed deep into the centre of Ireland, where monasteries, with their precious ornaments and vessels, were easy targets. Eventually their power was broken, when they and their allies were heavily defeated by an Irish army under the command of King Brian Boru, at the Battle of Clontarft, 1014.

Neither the Irish nor the Vikings could withstand the Norman invasion of 1169. The Vikings were ejected and the Normans became the next occupiers of Dublin. They strengthened and expanded the existing town walls. It is assumed that their first fortification was an earth and wooden, motte and bailey, on the site of present day Dublin Castle. There is archaeological evidence of a wooden and stone castle there in the 1170's.

In August 1204, King John of England commanded the erection of a (larger) strong castle, with strong walls and good ditches, for the defence of the city, administration of justice and safe custody of treasure. It was completed by 1230 and the Great Courtyard (Upper Castle Yard) of today corresponds closely with the fortification.

Uploaded

February 13th, 2013