Author: Arran Henderson

Arran leads both public tours and private walking tours around various areas of Dublin, focusing on different themes of history, fine art and architecture. He has collaborated with events and organisations like Culture Night, the Irish Georgian Society, St Patricks Cathedral, the national Gallery of Ireland, the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Dublin Festival of History. Details of upcoming walks, talks and other events, including virtual and online talks, can all be seen on the website dublindecoded.com

Tours this Friday evening and this Sat am (23rd and 24th July)

this Friday, the 23rd of July, we have a rare outing of our wonderful Saint Patrick’s Park to Cork Street and the Coombe tour, via Fumbally Lane, Blackpitts, Newmarket, Weavers’ Square, Ardee St, exploring several hundred years of tanning, brewing, distilling, irons works, and architectural, social and economic history.It’s a brilliant tour, it takes place… Read More Tours this Friday evening and this Sat am (23rd and 24th July)

July 19, 2021 Arran HendersonLeave a comment

3 fab walking tours: and a chance to support the I.G.S!

Regular readers of our blog, or indeed visitors who often come on our tours, may well be aware that for the last 5 years or so, we’ve had the honour to design and lead many guided walking tours of Dublin’s history and architecture for the venerable Irish Georgian Society. For those however not instantly familiar… Read More 3 fab walking tours: and a chance to support the I.G.S!

July 6, 2021July 6, 2021 Arran Henderson1 Comment

our city walking tours are back.

It’s a huge relief, and huge pleasure, to relaunch our guided walking tours of Dublin this week. They start very soon now, with two tours of Grafton Street, next Wednesday the 12th and Friday the 14th of May. Anybody who knows about our tours will be aware we include a lot of information on architecture… Read More our city walking tours are back.

May 7, 2021 Arran Henderson4 Comments

The ESB, the Museum & a Fast Buck

Originally posted on murder, mayhem & shiny things:
The ESB has decided that destroying a terrace of Georgian Houses in Dublin in the 1960s isn’t sufficient. Now the company wants to close ‘Number Twenty Nine’, the museum the opened in 1991 as as insufficient apology for the destruction of the historic fabric as the city.…

February 8, 2021 Arran HendersonLeave a comment

new, live Zoom Art talks: a perfect Treat, and perfect Christmas Gift.

Following the success of our June and October Zoom architecture talks, we’ve decided to run a series of richly illustrated Zoom Art talks, starting just after Christmas, Tuesday 5th of January. For these talks I’m going back to my roots, so to speak, and to my first undergraduate degree and my first love. This is… Read More new, live Zoom Art talks: a perfect Treat, and perfect Christmas Gift.

November 12, 2020November 13, 2020 Arran Henderson5 Comments

Four new Zoom talks: starting tomorrow Tuesday 6th October!

In response to the Covid crisis and its many restrictions, Dublin Decoded ran our first series of online history and architecture “virtual tour-talks” using the Zoom platform, last June. The response was terrific, and we’re delighted to now announce a second series, looking at four more fascinating historical areas of Dublin.. Our talks take place… Read More Four new Zoom talks: starting tomorrow Tuesday 6th October!

October 5, 2020 Arran Henderson2 Comments

Public Walking Tours, relaunched!

After the Covid Lock-down, we are now relaunching our public walking tours, focusing on exclusively outdoor tours for July and August, with different tour routes on new dates. We’ll also be trialing new microphone and earpiece technology, to allow superior sound and allow more social distancing, to keep you safe. The extra cost of this… Read More Public Walking Tours, relaunched!

July 9, 2020July 9, 2020 Arran Henderson2 Comments

Always nice to get some press. Especially this press.

Dublin Decoded has featured on radio and in many newspapers, including the Journal (Dublin); the Dublin Inquirer; the Wall Street Journal (link here); the Financial Times and of course, Arran has also written extensively himself, most notably his well-known monthly columns in “Totally Dublin” during the 2000s, Hidden Dublin. However, it was a particular thrill… Read More Always nice to get some press. Especially this press.

June 25, 2020June 25, 2020 Arran Henderson9 Comments

Nabokov, Perec, Joyce & Bloom; Ulysses, Maps & Games.

Originally posted on Arran Q Henderson:
Back in 2013, I invited readers of my blog to identify this mysterious looking map, below. As many people either knew or guessed, it’s a sketch concerning Ulysses, the legendary novel routinely claimed as the best or most influential tome of 20th century literature, and written of course by James Joyce…

June 15, 2020 Arran HendersonLeave a comment

5 online Dublin history & architecture talks, live on Zoom!

From Tuesday the 2nd of June we are thrilled to commence a new venture: our new series of five one-off, on-line history and architecture “virtual tour-talks” – five classic Dublin Streetscapes. No previous knowledge of Dublin, nor architecture or history is required. All are welcome! Talks include masterpieces of Georgian and Victorian architecture; vanished… Read More 5 online Dublin history & architecture talks, live on Zoom!

May 25, 2020May 25, 2020 Arran Henderson7 Comments