Finglas - a history

karengray

irishbird wrote: »

St. Canices Church

Did you know that the cemetery next door is rumoured to be the burial place of a King and it is thought that a relative of Princess Diana's is also amongst the dead at St. Canice’s. Certainly other rumours relating to the Church and cemetery have turned out to be true upon investigation and there is are several rich threads of information pointing to the strong likelihood that these rumours are likely to be true also. There are headstones with visible dates going back as far as 1612 (30 years before Cromwell) but the site is much more ancient and important than that. It was certainly the burial place of Vikings of Royal or High Birth as determined by the National Museum experts by the remains and brooch discovered ( one of the most impressive ever found in this country) when the foundations of this apartment block were being excavated. And indeed, one of the graves within the cemetery is that of an Aunt of Mary Shelley [ the creator of Frankenstein; daughter to a father who was a famous philosopher, advocate and practitioner of free love; mother who was an original radical women's liberation activist; wife of Shelley, the original notorious atheist punk-rock-star-hippy-free love-mystic romance poet (who spend some wild years of his lost youth as a radical pamphleteer in Ireland promoting Irish nationalism when it was most highly unfashionable) and close associate of his mad, bad and dangerous to know friend Byron. All heroes to William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Mahatma Ghandi and Karl Marx. Anyway the Shelley line itself produced a string of lords and ladies, barons and baronets so its to be expected these families would have had plentiful contact with Princess Diana's line.


The High Cross of Finglas

Apparently there used to be one of those High Crosses in Finglas (ie 2 metre tall carved granite crosses depicting scenes from the Bible and used to teach the bible to the illiterate population)

However, in 1649 Oliver Cromwell fresh from the brutal and unremitting slaughter of the men, women and children of Drogheda continued on his rampage down towards Dublin destroying everything Catholic he could find in his way.

( Aside: I can never think of the slaughter in Drogheda without thinking of the reported incident where Royalist Arthur Ashton was beaten to death with his own wooden leg - apparently because the New Model Army soldiers thought he had gold hidden in it.)

Anyway, on hearing of the approaching army the locals in Finglas knew that St. Canice's church would be destroyed. They also knew that their beloved ancient High Cross, (which would have been about 1,000 years old at that stage) would certainly be smashed to smithereens by the marauding Roundheads. So to avoid this outcome they apparently took it down, carried it off and buried it in some field out of harms way.

That was the story anyway and no one really ever knew if it was true or just something made up to counterpoint the tale of destruction left in Finglas with the passing through of Cromwell. But the myth persisted for another 167 years until 1816 when Rev. Robert Walsh, determined to prove that the myths and stories about a cross were true, set about looking for it. And would you believe that he found it, after all that time, in the Glebe Field near the village, safely buried deep under the sod. The cross was then repaired and erected in the south-east corner of the graveyard of the old St. Canice's Church adjacent to St. Canice's Square apartment complex where it stands today.



Remains of 10th century woman found

An extremely rare brooch has been discovered along with the remains of a 10th century woman, aged between 25 and 35, during an archaeological excavation at a site near Finglas in north Dublin. (St Canice's Square)
The large, bronze, silver and gold oval brooch has been described by Dr Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, as "very, very rare". He said it was "the best example of its type we have in Ireland to date". It is the first find of such a brooch in Ireland since 1902. "We are very, very fortunate to have found it," said Dr Wallace. Also found in what the National Museum is describing as a "significant burial" were a long bone comb, a bracelet, ring and other copper alloy instruments. The brooch, measuring about five centimetres by eight centimetres has been corroded and is almost totally covered in green copper oxide. Having been partially cleaned, however, silver and gold gilding could be discerned and, according to archaeological staff, it would have been "very brilliant, very dazzling and in your face", when worn by the woman. Small moulded animal heads also protrude from the surface. The style is Scandinavian and there is no doubt that it was moulded in Scandinavia, said Dr Wallace. The woman's death is dated at about AD 950. The question is whether she was herself Scandinavian or an Irish woman "who meant a lot to a Scandinavian man", said Dr Wallace.

Specialists who investigate bone fragments are currently working on the remains on-site in Finglas before they are removed to the National Museum in Kildare Street. The brooch and the other artefacts will be displayed with the woman's remains in the museum "in and around St Patrick's Day we hope", said Dr Wallace. The brooch will be restored, as far as possible, to its original brilliance. The discovery was made by archaeologist and site director Mr John Kavanagh last Monday at the site in Patrick's Well, close to a medieval church. "I noticed a skull sticking out of the ground," he said, and he and his colleagues began to painstakingly clear the earth from the woman's skeletal remains throughout last Monday afternoon and Tuesday. "On Wednesday we saw the brooch." He said that although he had been involved in the uncovering of hundreds of skeletal remains in his career, this, combined with the rare brooch "was the best of the best". Dr Wallace said he was "astounded and delighted the minute I saw it [the brooch\]".

The excavation is taking place at the site of a planned apartment block. Excavations are required under planning regulations before building can begin. The woman's skeleton was intact apart from her feet which were removed when pipes were lain in the area. The closing ditch of a monastery, a number of wells and the defensive ramparts and ditch of the townland of Finglas have also been found. The Vikings were already well established in Dublin by this stage, said Dr Wallace. Dublin had a population of about 3,000 then. He said he was pleased at the greater awareness among the public of the importance of archaeology and preserving artefacts. "I do have some concerns that those in local authorities and councils are not as concerned as they should be, however," he added.

Taken from The 'Irish Times'

I wonder if any Indy media readers would take up the fact that this significant historic location has been given planning permission by Dublin City Council to develop another private apartment complex. Finglas is one of the oldest villages in Dublin and this site is located in the heart of the old village beside the site of a Celtic abbey. The name Finglas (Fion-glaiss), meaning a clear streamlet, is derived from the rivulet, which flows through the village and joins the Tolka at Finglas-bridge.

Finglas first appeared in history as the site of a Celtic abbey, the origin of which has been associated, from early times, with the name of St. Cainnech, or Canice, the patron of Kilkenny. According to an ancient legend, the ground on which it stood had been sanctified by St. Patrick, who is said to have uttered from it a prophecy that a great town would arise at the ford of hurdles in the vale beneath. Since then, Finglas has continued to have an interesting history spanning Celtic times, the Anglo-Norman invasion, Tudor and Stuart times, the Rebellion, the Restoration, the Revolution, the Union till the present day.



Finglas wasn't always a sleepy little village. Would you believe it was once a well-established and notorious Pagan party town of great fame? Interestingly, St. Patrick stopped here first before launching himself on the rest of the country. Probably just for research purposes. Get his bearings, no doubt. He hung around for a while all the same. Probably peacefully contemplating the Pagan mentality. Where better to do such work than in the island most notorious party zone. Anyway, he established an abbey before moving on.

Below is the historical record/travelogue. I enjoyed the delicate turns of phrase that still manage to tell you all you might need to know

>About three miles from town, on the Ashbourne road is the far famed village of Finglas. There are few who have not heard of it, being equally celebrated for its "May sports" - its *** races, its pigs, with their tails shaved, and a host of other amusements - as for having been, from time to time, the theatre of some important, scenes in Irish history.

Indeed, there are few villages in Ireland can lay claim to much greater antiquity than the village of Finglas. It is supposed by many to have been a place of some notoriety even before Christianity was introduced, from the May sports instituted to celebrate the Spring, or, perhaps, in honour of Ceres, the goddess of grain and husbandry.

[The famous Finglas Maypole was once a permanent fixture until it was replaced in the place where the memorial to McKee of 1916 Rising now stands]

... Finglas existed long before Christianity in this country [and] in the first years of the Christian era Saint Patrick resided in this town. He also founded an abbey here, [Indicating] that Finglas was a place of some note, and consequently of some age, to induce him to go to so much expense at that early period.

Hi would you have any addictional information on Rosehill house in Finglas Village, the finglas historic socitey and myself have the same basic stuff, we know who built it, who lived there, not sure when it was built perhaps the 18th century. Is there any folklore for this house? I be very grategul for any information to pass it on to my tours of the Finglas Village.