As a Dubliner (The
picture is how I sometimes think of myself - particularly after a hard night of scanning)
with an interest in the history of the city (largely latent until recently) I started this
project after searching for historical information about Dublin on the Web and finding
that I was getting a very general picture - and, sometimes a distorted one.
What became clear was that, while many people have put up individual pages on their own areas of Dublin (and some of them are excellent), there is no comprehensive picture of the history of Ireland's capital city. If you want a quick overview there's a hundred sites out there, but if you want to get to grips with Dublin's history - nothing.
It may be because Dublin is re-inventing itself - e.g. Temple Bar and Smithfield, both of which were pleasant but ordinary (and I mean very ordinary) parts of the city, are now marketed as the heart and soul of a golden age of Dublin. They are enjoyable places for tourists to visit but remember that they are primarily geared at extracting money from your pocket.
While admission to the national museums continues to be free, many of the new 'Heritage Centres' are charging for entry. Whether they are worth it is up to the visitor - but the mass of information available here should leave you better prepared to judge.
Most of the major out of copyright works on Dublin will be included over time. The initial volumes include Ball's epic work "A History of the County Dublin", the hugely enjoyable "Neighbourhood of Dublin" by Weston St. John Joyce, and the chatty "Story of Dublin" by Chart. Any one of them will give you an insight into the heart of the city and the suburbs.
Because of their original print quality many of the photographs cannot be reproduced - I've used images from my own collection instead (I've concentrated on inputting the text first, so images are sparse). Line drawings, however, proved more useful and the originals are included (those by Henry J. Howard in Chart's 'The Story of Dublin' are particularly charming).
The next steps include adding more miscellaneous material from 'The Dublin Penny Journal' (great fun but, because the language has changed so much, a challenge) and including 'The Sham Squire' (a completely libellous volume in its day).
I've included an explanation of some of the stranger terms used (Legal Phrases) and will be updating it.
In the future I hope to be able to include chapters from works which are still in copyright.
The objective is to provide as much information as possible about old Dublin (copyright in Ireland applies for 70 years after the death of the author - (thanks to Kieran Swords for finally clearing this point up).
It is not my intention to profit from the work of others – if I have included anything which is still in copyright I will withdraw it immediately.
Notes
The English language is in constant change and this can be clearly seen in these pages. Considering that all of these books were written before computers were thought of, the small number of spelling errors is astounding. Where there was an obvious mistake I have corrected it but, where there could be any doubt, I have left it as it appeared.
It's interesting to note that at the turn of the 20th century many 'American' spellings were being used by these authors. In the last 90 years or so it would seem that the divergence between 'English' and 'American' has become more distinct - now there is 'proper English', a system of spelling which, I believe, encourages the divergence between the two. Is it, for example, of any importance whether 'centre' is spelt 'center' or 'civilisation' has a 'z'?
Footnotes are included in the general body of text (where they add information) or left out where they refer to original manuscripts (in the case of Ball, specifically, many of these original documents are no longer available because of the destruction of records in the Custom House and the Four Courts).
Mea Culpa
If you spot a mistake, error, whatever, let me know and I will correct it. Everything has been scanned and proofed in my spare time and, inevitably, there are errors. To make it more complicated, many of the terms and names used are now obsolete and a spelling checker can prove pointless. I make no apologies for those errors which can be uncovered by modern research - remember these are the words of people who didn't have the sophisticated tools of today - but, if you can prove your point, please let me know. My Internet address is kfinlay@indigo.ie
The Links section has just been begun (August 2000) and will be growing over time.
And Finally ....
I've had a great deal of fun putting this together (I've learnt a lot and forgotten just as much). Forgive me, if you will, for my lack of expertise in site creation but, please, judge this site on content rather than presentation.
Rather than
remain totally anonymous; I'm Ken Finlay, a 43-year-old (as of 2000) journalist working on
a local free paper in Dublin (Southside People). The picture is of me behind the counter,
for once, on the occasion of my 40th birthday in the Banker's Club, Stephen's Green.)
Married, to Anne, no kids, one elderly Jack Russell answering to 'Skipper' when it suits him.
I've always been obsessive (this was intended to be a simple outline of the history of Dublin - instead it looks like taking up my time for a couple of years) and I have found that the more I do the more there is to be done. So regard it as work in progress and, if you've written or scanned something which fits in - please sent it to me.
There are a few people who should be acknowledged:
My mother, Marian, who gave me my interest in reading - and her brother, Tom Egan, who taught me a love of Ireland and its people
My wife, Anne, who has given me the freedom to devote far too much time to this project.
Andy McGlynn, for sourcing much of the material for this site.
Barry Gildea and Jack Gleeson for their help in getting it off the ground.
This site is dedicated to my brother, Leo, my father, John, and my uncle, Tom. All would agree with doing it - but Leo would be at my shoulder arguing that there has to be a way to make money out of it!