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CITY WRECKS

Flowing through the heart of Dublin city, the south side of the river Anna Liffey between Merrion Square and Ringsend was largely undeveloped in 1792. This large area was swamp marshy ground but had been already divided into ‘Lots’ and earmarked for the expansion of the city. Previously esturinal, great walls were being built either […]
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Pirates & Smugglers ‘Tween Bray & Wicklow

        ‘Render Unto Caesar…’ The Christian Bible is clear – citizens must pay their taxes, just or unjust. Dogma is one thing, in practice, evading punitive taxes has been with us since the earliest success of both. Free-trading, free of taxes, comes in many guises today and is constantly responding to market […]
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Message In A Bottle

By any comparison, Victorian hay-day of sail or today’s modern giants of the seas, the sailing barque, Bay of Bengal, three-masted, 260 feet long, built of ‘Government standard, best, best best iron’, to beyond Lloyd’s highest specification, was a large ship. Launched from the Fairfield Yard at Govan on the Clyde by the respected shipbuilder, […]
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Battle Of The Piers

At 2.30 PM, Sunday, September 7, 1845, a large public meeting was convened at Kingstown [Note 1.], on the property of builder, James Nugent. The topic was Repeal of the Union, and a large crowd with a number of celebrated speakers attended. Among them was the colourful emancipationist, Thomas Steele, who stirred the crowd with […]