The Walls of Ireland (not Just Derry)
If you’ve watched the hit series Derry Girls (and who hasn’t at this stage), you’ll have no doubt come across THE WALLS.
Pictured: Derry Girls still shot
source: yarn memes
But if you thought Derry was the only city with walls to show off, you’d be far from the truth! Most major medieval cities were surrounded by massive defense walls, but only a few have survived until now.
We can start, though, with the star of the show, Derry itself.
Pictured: the Derry Walls, and the mural of the Derry Girls Cast
Source: CuriousIreland ; Hopsskipsandjumps
The Derry Walls are the famous ones, mostly because they are complete. It is rare, especially in Ireland, to find a complete set of Medieval walls, that we can still climb and walk around on today. The old firing holes and cannons mounted, and ready for attack if needed.
The walls themselves not only protected the city, but they made a clear line of where the city’s limits ended. You can’t debate what is and isn’t in the walls. One side paid city taxes, one side didn’t.
Dublin
As modern as we would like to think the capital is, we still have the shadows of the past that hide in the back of the city’s alleyways and streets.
The Dublin Wall remains
from visitdublin.com
The Dublin walls are a shadow of their former selves, but are still like looking at ghosts, haunting, reminiscent of a different time, and strangely beautiful. We can almost see our ancestors walking through the town and in and out of the walls, trading goods at markets, and having a chat.
Founded in the 800’s by the Vikings, the walls separated the inner city from the outer. Calling the outer city “The Liberties”, as they were “at liberty” from paying the taxes of the inner city folks. We now know this area for the whiskey and beer distilling, exactly for that reason.
Pictured: the Liberties outside the original City walls
From libertiesdublin.ie
Galway
The Galway walls are not what you’d expect. They aren’t towering over the city, they aren’t on display in a museum, they aren’t even tucked away in the back roads of a cobbled street.
They’re in a shopping centre.
pictured: the Galway’s Walls in Eyre Square
From eyresquarecentre.com
That’s right, Eyre Square in Galway is home to cafes, shops, and the ancient Medieval wall founded to keep enemies at bay, and enclose the Old Town of Galway in the 1200’s.
I myself have visited the walls, touching history with one hand, a Costa, low-fat, vanilla latte in another. I can’t help but wonder what the ancestors would have thought about my choice of beverage. Or if they would have opted for a more exciting latte flavour.
Eyre Square Wall
Kilkenny
After being founded by Anglo-Normans in the 1200s, the walls protected the city as any others would. And though the walls look sall by comparison today, about 75% of the walls are actually beneath our feet. and the remaining 25% still are visible to the anolooker today. So we can imagine how big they really were during their hayday.
Kilkenny Walls
In 1650 the Oliver Cromwell himself breeched the walls, and took the city, and by the 1700s, the city was enjoying relative eace. So much so, the walls were used for roof gardens, and aesthetic uses.
Which walls are your favourite? And which ones will you be checking out on your trip to Ireland?