FROM Gaels to Vikings to Norse and Anglo Normans, Winetavern Street in Dublin has witnessed a bustling, occasionally raucous, often starving, once plague ridden parade of humanity.
The early Gaelic settlements of Ath Cliath, the ford of the hurdles, and Dubhlin, the black pool formed by the two tidal rivers, the Poddle and the Liffey, bowed to the Vikings for a brief period. In 902, the Irish reversed the status quo, ousting the Vikings. In the words of the Annals of Ulster, the heathens were driven from Ireland.
Thriving Medieval Town
But not for long. In 917, the Norsemen returned and King Sitric Gale refounded Dublin. From the mid 10th century onwards Dublin was a thriving medieval town. It clustered around the modern day Christ Church area, with Christ Church, then called Holy Trinity Church, founded in 1030 by Dublin's first bishop, Dunan. The quays were thronged with trading ships and Winetavern Street provided a passageway from Wood Quay and Merchant's Quay up to High Street.
All of this (and more) is contained in Emer Purcell's short history of Winetavern Street and its environs. The book was commissioned by the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland, which has its headquarters in Winetavern Street.
"Beside us and around us were schools and guilds. We continue in that noble tradition ... From our Ard Oifig, one of the newest buildings under the shadow of Christ Church, we look across at the oldest dwelling in Dublin," writes Tommy Francis, past president of the ASTI.
Back to plundering Emer's history in Anglo Norman documents, Winetavern Street is referred to as vicus tabernariorum vini, the street of the wine taverners. Indigenous trade was protected by Dublin's royal charter of 1192, which also exacted customs duty.
"No foreign merchant shall have a wine tavern, unless on ship board, liberty being reserved to John, that, out of every ship arriving with wines in Dublin, his bailiff in his place may select two butts of wine, one before and one behind the mast, for John's use, at 40 shillings." The John referred to was the son of Henry II, of England. Surely the forerunner of today's punitive taxes on wine?
In early medieval Dublin the street was home to craftspeople who produced practical wooden items such as lathe turned bowls, woven baskets and stave built buckets and barrels. Pegged antler pieces found on Winetavern Street suggest board games served as a diversion from the mundane work.
Merchants' Guild
In 1192, the year of the Royal Charter, Lord John granted citizens the right to form guilds. The Merchants' Guild was established late in the 12th century, with its main function to control and monitor trade. The Merchants' Guild Hall was located on the eastern side of Winetavern Street. The mayor of Dublin, his provosts and the majority of aldermen of the town council were chosen from among the members of the Guild.
There was an unpleasant interlude in the mid 1300s when Dublin's citizens were infected by the Black Death. Plague carrying fleas travelled on the bodies of rats which, in turn, travelled in the hulls of medieval ships, merrily spreading - boils and blisters in their wake.
Many of the ships putting in at Wood Quay and Merchant's Quay may have been home to these loathsome creatures, which would have scurried up the slopes of Winetavern Street and Fishamble Street and into the medieval city.
In the late medieval period, many of the customs of the city cent red on the various guilds. Membership of the Merchants' Guild was initially open to all but became confined to the merchant class. Craft guilds were probably in existence throughout the greater part of the medieval period but were not formally recognised until the 15th century.
There was an order of precedence among the guilds on the town council with the Merchant's Guild providing the mayor and bailiffs and as much as one third or more of the aldermen.
The tailors' and smith's guild were each allocated four places and the number of places awarded to other guilds decreased according to the perceived importance of the guild. The tailors' guild hall stood on Winetavern Street until 1583 when a new hall was built in Back Lane. The carpenters had their first hall in nearby St Audoen's Lane, and when they moved out the tanners took over the hall.
In the 17th century, taverns in Winetavern Street included the Whitehorse the Golden Lion and the King's Head and much business was conducted over a glass of wine or measure of ale.
However, in the 17th and 18th centuries Dublin's social and economic emphasis was to move from the medieval city core of Winetavern Street and Wood Quay to the area northeast and south east of the city wall. In the 19th century the street was redeveloped by the Wide Streets Commissioners, and many of the houses built then were to gradually decline into tenements.
Contentious Development
This century, Winetavern Street's main claim to fame is the contentious development of Wood Quay into civic offices. In September 1978, about 20,000 people streamed up Winetavern Street protesting at, the destruction of Wood Quay. The protest was to no avail and much of the original city wall was destroyed as the new offices rose.
Farther up the street, the new red brick Inns Court Building, home to the ASTI, includes a tower which "pays homage to the medieval past by acknowledging the former presence of the city wall; the buttress features at the bottom of the building are reminiscent of a medieval gate..."
A short history of Winetavern Street and its environs, written by Emer Purcell, and published by the ASTI, also includes a series of short historical essays by Anne Clare.