In Dublin’s fair city . . .

In the Temple Bar district

There was a definite change in the weather overnight. It was raining some as I left the restaurant and walked back to the hotel. In the morning, though, the sky had been swept clean. The sun was brilliant and the temperature had dropped considerably. I spent the morning re-familiarizing myself with the area and did a good deal of walking. I was signed up for a tour with Context travel in the afternoon.

Context is an organization that provides local guides for small group and individuals who I would describe as “intellectually curious”. I had tried twice in Australia to take one of their tours and each time they had to cancel because of low numbers. In the end, the offered me a free tour wherever they were offered. Dublin seemed like a good place to collect. Initially I had signed up for one about the 1916 Rising, yet once again it had to be scrapped because of undersubscription.

The tour I was taking was called “From Medieval Mass to Georgian Splendor” and it was a walking tour focused on architecture. The meeting point was Dublin’s City Hall. Our meeting time coincided with an organized demonstration by women victims (and their supporters) of the Church’s sex abuse scandal. It was a bit awkward. There ended up being 5 of us on the tour – a young French couple, me and two guys from LA, though one turned out to be originally from Bergen County! Our docent was named Kevin McKenna, a PhD in Irish history and part time bartender. In all honesty, he looked like he had been more than a full-time bartender the night before, when Dublin won its 4th consecutive championship. But I digress . .  His hypothesis for the tour was “the one with the power controls the architecture” and his aim was to show us how that manifested itself in the cityscape of Dublin.

He began the tour with City Hall itself. The building had begun its life as the Customs House for the port of Dublin. From there we had, what I consider, the most interesting part of the tour – Dublin

Dublin Castle

Castle. In a sense, the entire history the English domination of Ireland is contained in its walls, beginning with the Norman fortifications and ending with the surrender to Irish Rebels in 1916. It was much easier to relate to the history when you can see it in bricks and mortar. Every epoch of British rule is present in this building, which is really an amalgamation of different buildings built over many years. The tour of the castle

emphasized political power.

The next part of the tour focused on economic power. He carefully walked us through the power of the moneyed class in British controlled Dublin. Here he used the examples of both bank buildings and residential structures to illustrate his point. He further showed us how that influence came almost to an total halt when the British and the Irish government of the time signed the Act of Union in 1801. In essence, the Irish parliament of the time voted itself

Our docent, Kevin.

out of existence and agreed to be ruled directly from London. Essentially this pulled the rug out from the Irish upper class, who had lived in Dublin because it was the center of political power in Ireland. Now that power was in London; and the Irish upper classes abandoned Dublin in droves, preferring either their country estates or returning to England itself. Dublin fell into a serious decline at this point and the poverty and squalor reflected in the song, “Molly Malone” began its ascendancy.

Almost as a separate chapter, we toured the grounds of Trinity College. This was a hoot, because it was registration day and the place was crawling with kids. The entire main quad was filled with tents and booths of student organizations and societies trying to recruit new members. I would have liked to snoop around and see what Irish college kids were up to, but we marched on. It was quite interesting and I probably saw more of Trinity College than most tourists do. It’s a very impressive place. Staying in the intellectual realm, the tour ended with a consideration of the Irish National Library and the Irish Museum of Natural History, twin buildings that flank a Georgian townhouse. These represent the last gasp of Irish ascendancy nationalism, which would all come to an end with the uprising of 1916 and the formation of the Irish Free State.

Heroes of the 1916 Uprising
in the windows

It was a very worthwhile tour, but my feet were tired and it was time to call it quits. Fortunately, we were not that far from my hotel. I was happy when I arrived yesterday to see that the bathroom had a tub.I indulged in a long, hot soak that relieved my aching feet and legs. I was now ready for a return trip to La Maison.