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High Street, Dublin

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High Street (Irish: An tSráid Ard)[1] is a street in the medieval area of Dublin, Ireland.[2][3]

High Street
View of High Street in 2013 with dublinbikes stand
High Street, Dublin is located in Central Dublin
High Street, Dublin
Native nameAn tSráid Ard (Irish)
Namesakea High Street, named for its high location and its centrality to the town
Length200 m (660 ft)
Width23 metres (75 ft)
LocationDublin, Ireland
Postal codeD08
Coordinates53°20′35″N 6°16′24″W / 53.34314°N 6.27335°W / 53.34314; -6.27335
west endCornmarket, Bridge Street Upper
east endWinetavern Street, Nicholas Street, Christchurch Place
Construction
Construction startHas been a settlement site since the 5th century
Other
Known for
Map of Dublin in 1610; High Street is marked with "48."
Map of late medieval Dublin with city wall and High Street.

Location

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High Street runs parallel to the River Liffey, on high ground about 200 metres to its south, with Christ Church Cathedral on its east side, in the heart of Medieval Dublin.

History

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Front of St Audoen's Church (Catholic) in the 1960s.

This ridge of elevated land to the south of the Liffey was the traditional eastern terminus of the Slighe Mhór ("Great Way") that cut Ireland in half in prehistoric times, running along the Esker Riada. A community of farming and fishing Gaelic Irish people lived here by the 5th century AD, with a defensive fort in the vicinity of Cornmarket and High Street.[4] In Anglo-Norman records the street was referred to as "altus vicus".[5]

High Street was at the centre of Viking Dublin and Medieval Dublin (9th–13th centuries); Christ Church Cathedral is located immediately on its northeast end. It is south of the Viking settlement site at Wood Quay and east of Dublin Castle; it was the main street in the medieval period. Patrick FitzLeones, who was three times Mayor of Dublin in the late fifteenth century, bought a house on High Street in 1473.

St. Michael's Church was first built in 1076 and St. Audoen's Church was built on the north side of High Street in 1190. A marble cistern to contain the municipal water supply was built there in 1308. It was commonly called Le Decer's Fountain, in memory of John Le Decer, four times Mayor of Dublin, who paid for the construction of the cistern.

The first General Post Office of Ireland opened on High Street in 1688; it moved to Fishamble Street in 1689.[6]

From the 18th century onward the urban core shifted eastwards, and High Street is no longer a shopping street.[7] St Audoen's Church (Catholic) was built in the 1840s next to the ancient Protestant church.[8]

An excavation took place in 1962–63; found were several Viking pieces of artwork: bone trial-pieces and a gilt bronze disc-brooch of the Borre Style design, a bronze needle case, and a soapstone ingot-mould. The trades practised in the Viking period (10th–11th century) included comb making, leather working and weaving.[9]

The street was excavated again in 1968–71; finds included post and wattle houses, leather shoes and boots, bone objects, metalwork, pottery, coins, animal bones, a Rome pilgrim badge from the early 13th century, a lead seal of Pope Innocent III, a spoon bit, and wood-turning waste.[10][11][12]

 
Murphy's Prams, the only commercial building to survive the 1970s demolitions.

In the 1970s many of the street's commercial buildings were demolished so that it could be widened to a dual carriageway.[13][14][15] For a period of time following the road widening, the street was mostly derelict and vacant sites.[16] In 1993, Christ Church's synod hall was converted to Dublinia, a tourist attraction educating people about Viking Dublin.[17]

Cultural references

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High Street is mentioned in Sheridan Le Fanu's short story "Narrative of a Ghost of a Hand."[18]

See also

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to High Street, Dublin.

References

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  1. ^ "An tSráid Ard". logainm.ie.
  2. ^ Allen, Martin (5 December 2016). Early Medieval Monetary History: Studies in Memory of Mark Blackburn. Routledge. ISBN 9781351942522 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ "High-street - Dublin Street Directory 1862". www.libraryireland.com.
  4. ^ Clarke, H. B. (2002). Irish Historic Towns Atlas, No 11, Dublin, Part I, to 1610. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.
  5. ^ M'Cready, C. T. (1987). Dublin street names dated and explained. Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Carraig. p. 50. ISBN 1-85068-005-1. OCLC 263974843.
  6. ^ "The General Post Office, O'Connell Street, Dublin 1".
  7. ^ "Dublin High Street @ High.St - High Street shops and High St businesses". www.highstreetuk.com.
  8. ^ "ST. AUDEON'S CATHOLIC CHURCH ON HIGH STREET IN DUBLIN - THERE IS AN ANGLICAN CHURCH OF THE SAME NAME NEARBY". DUBLIN STREET IMAGES.
  9. ^ "Unpublished Excavations: MEDIEVAL DUBLIN".
  10. ^ "Finding The First Dublin". RTÉ Archives.
  11. ^ Mcgrail, Sean (11 June 2014). Ancient Boats in North-West Europe: The Archaeology of Water Transport to AD 1500. Routledge. ISBN 9781317882374 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ Duffy, Seán (15 January 2005). Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 1135948232 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ O'Connell, Hugh. "Demolition work begins on landmark building on Dublin's High Street". TheJournal.ie.
  14. ^ Henderson, Arran (9 February 2016). "Tour old Dublin – High Street, Christ Church, Wine Tavern & the Irish House".
  15. ^ Clerkin, Paul (2001). Dublin street names. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. pp. 90–91. ISBN 0-7171-3204-8. OCLC 48467800.
  16. ^ McDonald, Frank (1985). The destruction of Dublin. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. p. 300. ISBN 0-7171-1386-8. OCLC 60079186.
  17. ^ Michael McHale (13 May 2010). "Vikings invade for the return of Dublinia". Irish Independent. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  18. ^ The Wordsworth Book of Horror Stories. Wordsworth Editions. 5 January 2005. ISBN 9781840220568 – via Google Books.
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