Michael J. McDermott (Ed. Aodhagán Brioscú). Tulcamac, Dublin, 1988. pp 248 (llust).
I borrowed this book in February 2013 from the RDS. I was the seventh
member to read it, the first in 1991 and the last in 1995! It
is richly illustrated but not in colour. I was inspired to read something about
my city recently after I had been contemplating while on the loo the fine photo
of the Collins funeral taken at College Green by the Irish Independent on the
29th of August 1922. It is my most valued photo and was
bequeathed to me by my parents. It is hung prominently in our visitors’ loo
where it can in most circumstances be easily noticed when the onlooker is at
his or her most contemplative mood. The photo is taken from the south side of
the Green and shows the classical portico and left wing of the House of Lords,
now the Bank of Ireland, the Georgian front of Trinity College, and in the
centre at the entrance to Westmorland Street, the Victorian façade of the hotel
there. We see these three different styles of architecture in this focal part
of the city just as we can find them elsewhere in the inner city within the
confines of the Grand and Royal canals.
Much of the better developments in Dublin took place when
there was less intervention in our affairs by Westminster during
Ormonde’s time at the end of the 17th century, and when we had
our own parliament at the end of the 18th century. It occurred
to me that I had never read the history of this parliament, apart from the
references to it in the biography of Edmund Burke, which was reviewed by me a
few years ago. Burke of course was born in Ireland and was greatly interested
in our relatively brief native parliament and indeed in the welfare of Ireland
and its separate traditions and Celtic ethos from those of its sister island.
Dublin is really a unique capital city. I am writing about the
inner city; it is the older part and is contained within the two canals, the
Royal in the north and the Grand in the south. Most of Dublin’s great buildings
and other attractions are within a stone’s throw of each other in the centre of
the city and can be easily visited on foot. In referring to the buildings, I
write mainly of their Classical, Georgian and Victorian architectural history.
The Duke of Ormonde’s time (He was Viceroy to the restored King Charles
ll) at the end of the 17th century saw the building of the
Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, the Blue Coat School (the current home of
solicitors), and the Tholsel (now only a remnant of the original and the only
classical building destroyed and not rebuilt in the city’s history despite
Dublin’s latter-day turbulent revolution). The Mansion House was built some
years later in the mid 1800s,
Later classical buildings – the Custom House, the Four Courts, the
Kings Inns (all by Gandon), the House of Lords, the GPO, and Trinity and its
various buildings - were built about the time of the Irish Parliament at the
end of the 18thcentury. The 1801 abolition of the Dublin Parliament
was, except for church building, to see much less of that productive time.
These and other places to visit are the fine Georgian parks. South of the
Liffey are Merrion Square and St. Stephen’s Green, and Mountjoy
Square is in the north. They are part of the Georgian ambience just as are
the fine Georgian street vistas on the south side. The inner city
also encloses most of the important buildings of the Victorian era including
many of the older homes of that period. .
The two Gothic cathedrals, Christ Church and St.
Patrick’s, were first founded in the 13th century. St. Patrick’s
is close to Marsh’s Library. For the antique book lover a visit to
the Library will be rewarding. The Phoenix Park, the most extensive
walled park in the world, is close to the west end of the inner city. It was
established in Ormonde’s time in 1680 and completed in 1745. Its 707 hectares
and 11 kilometres perimeter wall contains the President’s home, the old
Vice-regal Lodge, the American ambassador’s home, and a magnificent Zoo
extending to several hectares. The great obelisk of 72 metres is an outstanding
monument and a tribute to Wellington. There is a herd of deer
there, all descended from the original herd at the time of Ormond. I am told
that they require regular culling.
There are two canals in Dublin started in the late 18th and
completed in the early 19th century. They were built
before the advent of the railway in 1832. The Royal in the north and the Grand
in the south encircle the inner city and stretch from the mouth of the Liffey
to the Shannon in the West of Ireland. They are fully navigable and
are nowadays used solely for leisure and sporting reasons. Church
building was hugely encouraged after Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and was
oddly stimulated as much by the Protestant as the Catholic authorities.
Churches of all denominations can be found everywhere, inside and outside of
the inner city, and the various sects in Dublin have lived in amity
if not intimately at all times. Our churches include a wide variety of
architectural styles. If you have time go and see the Church of the Immaculate
Conception on Rathmines Road, close to Portobello Bridge on the Grand Canal,
not because I was baptised there but because it will remind you of these wide
architectural variations. Some of the churches have now been converted into
offices or other institutions.
The inner city includes many important institutions of interest to
citizen and tourist. There are four public art galleries as well as
many private and commercial ones (all museums and other cultural institutions
open to the public in Ireland are free of entry charge). There
are three major public museums as well as some private ones. The Houses of
Parliament, a fine Georgian building built in 1745, where the Dáil and Senate
meet, is close to the centre and incorporates two of the museums as well as the
National Gallery and the National Library. See the WB Yeats exhibition in the
Library and the collection of Jack Yeats paintings in the Gallery.
There are four railway stations within the inner city; at least three
have some architectural merit. There are twenty bridges on the Liffey, some
of which are recently built to accommodate increasing pedestrian and motor
traffic. Two recent bridges commemorate the Irish writers, Joyce and Beckett.
Another still abuilding has not yet been named. It would be appropriate if we
were to commemorate our greatest poet, WB Yeats
Dublin Castle, the seat of the British administration up to 1922 when
it was taken over by the Free State government, houses some important public
events and conferences, and also houses a fine chapel and the unique
Chester Beatty Library. Visitors can walk the Castle although, be careful, it
also houses the offices of Inland Revenue! Just close to the Castle is the fine
classical façade of the city hall (in British times the Royal Exchange) facing Parliament
Street. Kilmainham Gaol further out is hugely historical since it first opened
for revolutionaries in 1798. It is now a well-organised and evocative museum
and a memorial to many revolutionaries over two centuries and not a few
criminals. The 1916 rebels were executed there.
The financial centre and some of the more recent centres of
entertainment are north of the city on the Liffey side. The tramway (Luas) on O’Connell
Street will bring you there.
I write about the inner city because what makes Dublin unique is that
so many of its facilities for the citizen and the tourist are packed within a
mile of College Green, unlike other major and capital cities I have visited
where distances are much greater and travelling from one site to another can be
quite tedious. Motor traffic is being gradually restricted in the centre of the
city and there are great improvements in facilities for cyclists, including a
very successful system for the short-term lending of bikes for the public at
minimal cost by using a credit card. Stands of unisex bikes are available in
various part of the inner city.
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This review is not intended to go outside the inner city but the
visitor may be interested in the many parks and golf courses as well as other
amenities which ore available in Greater Dublin. The Botanic Gardens are just
outside the north inner city limit. It can be reached by a frequent
bus service. Its 20 hectares have much of botanic and silvicultural interest
and the fine glasshouses are admired for their engineering and architectural
construction as well as their content of plants from all parts of the world.
The Gardens were founded in 1795 by the Royal Dublin Society and is now a
public facility. A visit to the Gardens will bring joy to the botanist and
tree lover as well as the stroller and walker. Adjoining it is Glasnevin Cemetery,
a great centre of pilgrimage to the famous and the not so famous.
There are numerous parks outside the inner city. The two largest are
Marley in the south and St. Anne's in the north... They are six miles
or less away from College Green. They are fine for the walker, runner, cyclist
and tree lover. St, Anne’s is famous for its rose garden and the botanist and
the gardener will like the well cared-for wall gardens of Marley. Marley lies
at the foot of the Dublin and Wicklow hills. For the non-motorist,
buses from the centre city go frequently to these outlying parks and gardens,
and all parks provide normal facilities for visitors. Like all public
institution in the inner city, the parks and gardens provide free entry.
I
finish by referring to the city’s coastline. It stretches from the Hill of
Howth in the north to Dalkey in the south, a distance of about 18 miles. Many
parts along the coast are available for the pedestrian, runner and cyclist and
no city can boast such access to the sea, its beaches and all its other
attractions including its yacht clubs and sailing opportunities. A visit to
Howth head at night provides a thrilling sight as one follows the lights
stretching for the entire distance of a bay which has a circumference much
greater then a half circle and which is so visible from this vantage point. It
puts the Bay of Naples to shame! The coast from
Balbriggan to Dalkey, a distance of about 30 miles, is dotted by about 30 of
the famous Martello towers built to resist the French army during the
Napoleonic times. They are in various states of preservation but several still
remain as good as new, at least from their outside appearance. Hopefully they
have out grown their military significance. The Martello in Sandyford is famous
as the late home of James Joyce and St. John Gogarty.
