Medieval Dublin
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What current archaeological excavations are reshaping our view of medieval Dublin?
Talking History with Patrick Gagan. Вис Is news talk? We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender. And out of that silence came thousands of voices. The strategy of the white man has always been divide and country. That's one small step for man.
Uh oak toin argas I call you.
Good evening and welcome. We're Talking History on News Talk 106-108 with me, Patrick Gagan. In tonight's show, we're re-excavating the history of medieval Dublin as we look back on our program where we explored what life was like back then and what archaeological and other evidence reveals about the city and the people. Our brilliant panel of experts included Dr. Ruth Johnson, Dublin's city archaeologist, who protects, manages, and investigates. The city's oldest heritage, Paul Duffy, the archaeologist, historian, and author, Dr. Grace O'Keeffe, the medieval historian based in Dublin, and the editor of Archaeology Ireland, and Dr. Catherine Swift, who lectures in the Department of History at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.
An expert in medieval Ireland and her interests include Scandinavian Society and Settlement in Ireland, Brian Brew and the Kingdom of Thomas, and DNA studies of medieval Irish. population. Well you're all very welcome. And Ruth, I might begin with you and I might begin with the the current excavations that are taking place uh in Dublin. Where are they? What's going on and what insights do we gain from them?
Well, there's quite a lot going on at the moment in Dublin. Um it's always a movable feast. Excavations come and go basically um because of developments that are happening around the city. And we're tasked with with really ensuring that those excavations are done, that the sites are investigated before the development proceeds, and where possible we try and preserve archaeology in situ. So I suppose the most um uh well known site will be on Capel Street and though Donovan Is excavating that with Courtney Dairy Archaeology in advance of uh a new hotel that's going to be built on Capel Street, and they found the the graveyard of the Abbey, uh which Abbey Street gets its name from, which is Saint Mary's Abbey, which is uh was founded in the twelfth century in Dublin.
Um that's really an exciting excavation. Uh Paul has a couple of things going on as well in the city and he's uh a very busy man I would say, aren't you Paul?
Few things happening, yeah. And Paul, even where we are today in our studio on Diggs Lane, the News Talk studio, we have uh work uh you know, kind of all around us.
Yeah. There's a lot happening in this area at the minute. Right up and down George's Street, over onto Bride Street, uh Kevin Street, big developments there. And all of these um building sites and all these cranes that people will see walking around the city, they'll o will all have had some level of archaeological investigation or assessment prior to the the building works happening. And yeah, very historic part of um of Dublin. Just outside the the medieval city walls. But very much within medieval suburbs as we're finding more and more as these investigations are changing the picture.
Ruth, one thing which really struck me was the fact that we're not just getting an insight into medieval Dublin. We're very much getting an insight into Dublin as part of a wider world because you get an insight into all of the people who are coming to Ireland, who were leaving Ireland, from the Vikings to traders and so on, that there's there's a there's a huge amount of kind of international activity as well.
Yeah, well I suppose Ireland, you know, as the land of saints and scholars in the early medieval period had this connection, um, this European connection uh with monks travelling famously um abroad um to Germany and various places. But then in the in the Viking Age, of course, uh Dublin was like really the centre of the Western kind of Viking colonies and it was like on a very important sea route uh between uh Scandinavia so they would have travelled from Scandinavia from Northern Scandinavia uh over to Scotland, Northern Isles, Hebrides, up to Iceland, down down the Irish Sea, and Dublin was a really really important um emporium and trading place.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What current archaeological excavations are reshaping our view of medieval Dublin?
0:01–7:43
2
How did Dublin’s medieval city become a hub for Viking and international trade?
7:43–16:28
3
Why are the medieval hospitals and priors important for understanding Dublin’s social history?
16:28–24:44
4
What does the newly discovered incised slate from the Coombe reveal about medieval literacy and art?
24:44–31:58
5
How are the Friends of Medieval Dublin symposium and publications advancing research?
31:58–39:36
6
What can DNA analysis of walrus ivory tell us about Dublin’s medieval trade networks?
39:36–48:44
7
How do the burial discoveries at St. Peter’s Church inform us about medieval urban life?
48:44–52:17
8
What future volumes and research directions are planned for medieval Dublin?
52:17–52:26