Medieval Dublin III

Containing the proceedings of the third public symposium held by the Friends of Medieval Dublin in 2001, this volume has a report by Alan Hayden on his 1995 excavations at Werburgh Street, where he unearthed the remains of up to 30 Viking-Age buildings. Georgina Scally details the chronological sequence of defences (including a fine stretch of the city wall incorporated within an existing Georgian building) that she uncovered in the north-east corner of the Viking town. Roseanne Meenan discusses her excavations on reclaimed ground in Cook Street where she found the remains of a medieval stone building. Laureen Buckley examines the skeletal remains from archaeological work around Mercers Hospital, the pathologies of which show it to be the site of St Stephen’s medieval leper hospital. Dr Rachel Moss tells a fascinating story of medieval stone work-manship based on her survey of materials recovered from the crypt of Christ Church cathedral. Professor James Lydon pieces together the documentary evidence for the role of Dublin Castle in the life of the medieval city, while Mary Clark highlights the wealth and potential of the substantial collection of medieval material in the Dublin municipal archives. Dr Ruth Johnson examines some decorated wooden objects from the Temple Bar excavations which she shows to be datable examples of domestic art from Viking-Age Dublin, while Sara Tobin provides a comprehensive study of surviving early funerary monuments from Dublin city. The volume concludes with Linzi Simpson’s fascinating reconstruction of the precincts of the medieval priory of All Hallows and its metamorphosis into what is now Trinity College.