Great Victorians, our new Dublin Decoded walking tour, is now open for bookings via email. (see blow) Our theme is Great Victorians. On this tour we explore the rich legacy of beautiful, often spectacular buildings, with their applied arts, architectural detail and decor, all from the second half of the 19th century, the Victorian era.… Read More Great Victorians, Dublin walking tour.
North by North West, is the newest of Dublin Decoded’s walking & talking tour of Dublin city centre. As always with Dublin Decoded, we’ll look at and discuss the rich, varied; often surprising historic past, and explore how aspects of that past shape our present and our city today. There is an upcoming date on… Read More North by North West, a walking & talking tour of Dublin, 18th century to medievel, history, architecture, revolution & social history.
In the last post we explored how the relics of 5 star internationally renowned saint, St Valentine, (who was, probably, a 3rd century Roman) somehow, – improbably but rather wonderfully ended up by the 19th century in the church of the Carmelite White Friars, right here in Dublin. It’s a remarkable and heart warming story. But… Read More Too many Valentines? Like the saint himself!
Did you know the relics and bones of old St Valentine are right here in Dublin? Did you know they reside in an old Friary that was closed in the Reformation, later torn down, but later returned: the only religious house in fact to return to its original home? How did that happen? But hang on,… Read More Valentine in Dublin…
Look at this… if you want to find more on this image, and small snippets on Dublin, from Bligh’s great sea wall, to medieval west of Dublin city walls, please follow this link over to Dublin Decoded. Look forward to seeing you there. Captain Bligh.
Special Evening-time Tours of National Gallery of Ireland, in central Dublin the unique How to Read a Painting tour, is a highly accessible, fascinating introduction, revealing some of the “mysteries” of reading ideas and symbols in old master paintings. As the tour title suggests, we make aspects of paintings art historians are trained to think… Read More special Art tours of National Gallery of Ireland, Thursday evenings 6-8pm, available for pre-booked groups
A small but significant detail above, from the lovely little 1904 map by RISA scholar and historian Leonard R Strangeways. This magical map, is an excellent guide to understanding old Dublin, in the years before the Wide Streets Commission. We use it because it’s one of the best and clearest illustrations to understand the shape… Read More a magic map, scholar’s sketch of ancient Dublin, special tours, available for groups.
Origins of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Part One- the chapel on the island & early Celtic church, and reflections on early Irish Culture. Take a look at St Patrick’s cathedral in Dublin. It’s not hard to fathom there was once a tiny Celtic-era church here on this site. What may be slightly harder to grasp today… Read More Origins of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Part One- the chapel on the island & early Celtic church.
The story of The Two cathedrals, Background. There are two bits of background we have to know to understand the twist. First of all, in 1163, the Irish archbishop of Dublin Laurence O’Toole made Christ Church cathedral a Priory Order. This essentially meant Christ Church became a sort of Abbey or Monastery, ruled by Augustan… Read More Story of Saint Patrick Cathedral, Part 3: Anglo-Normans, and the story of the 2 cathedrals.
Early History continued: The Origins and foundation of Dublin City. Dublin only became a city long after Saint Patrick. It was foreigners rather than the Gaelic Irish who founded Dublin as a city. From around 781, or some three hundred years after Patrick’s progress, the Vikings or Norse started to appear around the coasts and… Read More The Origins and Story of St Patricks Cathedral. Part two- Vikings!
Arran Q Henderson 