Aspects of Dublin City

Dublin was officially founded in 988 A.D., although it's likely that its real history stretches back to the 2nd Century, when it was known as Eblana. Settlement at that time centred on two locations: one was called Įth Cliath (Ford of Hurdles) and was found at a shallow crossing point of the Liffey; the other was at a place called Dubh Linn (Black Pool), which was a lake formed by the widening of the River Poddle as it met the Liffey). This was situated close to where Dublin Castle is located today.

The Vikings arrived in the 9th century and set about developing the town. Many artefacts from that period were uncovered in recent times at Wood Quay, on the south banks of the Liffey. By the end of the 12th century, however, the Vikings were gone from Dublin as the town had been captured by the Anglo-Normans in 1170.

Dublin remained quite small in size up until the 17th Century. Then, in 1649, Cromwell took over the town and the population grew dramatically as many Protestants from Europe emigrated there.

Dublin's wealth soon developed and it became the second city of the British Empire, after London. However, the industrial revolution had very little effect on the city, so Belfast became Ireland's main industrial city with almost twice the population of Dublin by the end of the 19th century.