Municipal Dublin

Chapter VII

Municipal Dublin

Custom House, Essex Bridge, 17th century. (20329 bytes)

The municipal history of Dublin may be said to commence with the charters of Henry II. and John; but for centuries thereafter the citizens had little control of the affairs of their city. The fact that Dublin was the capital of the Pale, and the headquarters, as it continued to be for at least four centuries, of the English garrison in Ireland, brought it under the direct control of the resident Viceroy, under whatever title he might exercise that office. Nevertheless certain civic rights were from time to time conceded, rights stiffly upheld by the sturdy descendants of the Bristol colony and their Welsh co-partners. (We find in 1671 a special sermon preached to the Lord Mayor, Sir John Totty, a native of Chester, and to ‘the rest of his worthy friends and countrymen of that ancient city.’)

It was not, however, till the close of the 17th century that the complete control of the city was placed in the hands of the civic authorities, and for well-nigh two centuries thereafter they continued to rule it with a rod of iron. But we must not hastily conclude that this implied what would now be meant by popular control. It closely resembled the Government of Florence in the thirteenth century ‘by the ‘Arti’ or Gilds, (*History of the Commonwealth of Florence. *T. A. Trollope, vol. i.) and had nothing in common with modern municipal rule; and it was not till the election of the New, Corporation in 1841, under the provisions of the Irish Municipal Reform Bill, that, by the exertions of Daniel O’Connell, Dublin could rightly he termed an Irish city, or that her citizens, as a whole, had any voice in the ordering of her affairs.

The present Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Walsh, emphasised these facts when, in an address, delivered on 12th March 1905, he referred to Dublin as ‘at one time the capital of the Pale, later on . . the chief home and centre of the English colony in Ireland, but to-day the chief centre of one of the greatest forces at present working for the restoration of our national life,’ re ferring to the Irish language movement.

The charter of Henry II. gave, as we to the burgesses of Dublin freedom from all imposts throughout the United Kingdom; and that of King John ordered that ‘the citizens shall have all their reasonable gilds as the burgesses of Bristol have or had.’ In 1217 Henry III. granted the city of Dublin to the citizens in fee farm at 200 marks per annum; and gave permission to them and their heirs ‘to elect from among themselves annually a loyal and discreet Mayor,’ though the title does not seem to have come into general use for nearly two centuries.

In 1308 John le Decer was appointed the first Provost and Richard de St. Olave and John Stakebold the first sheriffs. By an ordinance of Edward III., dated 22nd November 1363, citizens should be impleaded nowhere but in their Gildhall within the city, - in Winetavern Street.

In 1402, during the Lord Lieutenancy of Thomas of Lancaster, the citizens, headed by John Drake, marched south along the coast, and defeated the O’Byrnes near Bray, killing 500 of them; and on the feast of Corpus Christi 1406 inflicted another defeat on the Wicklow Irish, and fixed the heads of the slain over the city gates.

King Henry IV. granted to the Provost in recognition of these services the privilege of haying a gilt sword, ‘in like manner as the Mayor of London,’ borne before him. Three years later Thomas Cusack was the first to assume the title of Mayor, Richard Boye and Thomas Shortall being his bailiffs, and in 1548 the title of these latter officers was, altered to that of sheriff by Edward VI., John Ryan and Thomas Finiary beiiig appointed the first sheriffs of Dublin.

In 1485 Richard III., probably in recognition of the notorious Yorkist sympathies of Dublin, had constituted the Mayor and Recorder justices of oyer, terminer, and gaol-delivery.

17th century foray from Dublin. (17231 bytes)In 1660 the loyalty of the Dublin citizens to the restored Charles II. was by him rewarded by conferring on the Mayor the right to have borne before him a cap of maintenance, presenting him at the same time with a golden collar of S.S., and giving him the command of a foot company in the standing army of Ireland. The latter questionable privilege was commuted five years later for a sum of £500 per annum, to be paid in perpetuity out of the revenue of Ireland, and the style of Lord Mayor was authorised for the chief magistrate, the first to bear that dignity being Sir Daniel Bellingham.

In 1672 new rules ‘for the better government of the city of Dublin,’ were introduced by Arthur, Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant, which placed matters, on the footing which they occupied till 1759.

In the troubles attending the war between James II. and William III. in Ireland the gold chain of the mayoralty had disappeared. (It was said to have been carried off by Sir Michael Creagh, Lord Mayor, who, in the words of a later rhymester:-

‘stole the collar of gold

And sold it away to a trader.’)

In 1697 Bartholomew van Homrigh, then Lord Mayor, obtained from the King a royal donative of a new collar of S.S., value £1,000, having a miniature likeness of William III. attached thereto. In 1759 a further Act for regulating the Corporation of Dublin became law, whereby the junior gilds acquired considerable privileges. It must be remembered that no person was qualified to be elected to the common council of the city ‘who for the time does not, or some time theretofore did not follow as his public and known occupation some trade, or did not serve an apprenticeship therein’; that is to say was not a member of one of the gilds.

The Lord Mayor and Board of Aldermen had the power of rejecting a number not exceeding 10 out of the 96 who constituted the common council, who should be ineligible for election for three years, in order that ‘no person who shall distinguish himself for raising factions and dissensions among the guilds shall have any chance to succeed by means so prejudicial to every other individual. (Petition, 25th January 1760.)

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the constitution of the municipal Government of Dublin was as follows. The Corporation consisted of a Lord Mayor, 23 aldermen, and a common council. The Lord Mayor was annually elected from among the aldermen by a majority of that body with the approbation of the common council, and the consent of the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council. He was *ex officio *a justice of the peace for the county of the city, admiral of the port of Dublin and chief judge of the Lord Mayor’s and Sheriffs’ Courts.

The aldermen, who were also justices of the peace for the city, were elected for life from among such common-councilmen as had served the office of sheriff; and were termed sheriffs’ peers; each on his election paid £400, £105 of which went towards the support of the King’s Hospital and the remainder for the repair and embellishment of the Mansion-house.

The sheriffs were annually elected at Easter by the Lord Mayor and aldermen from a list of eight freemen nominated by the common council, and must possess the qualification of real or personal property to the clear amount of £2,000. Their appointment was subject to the approval of the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council.

The members of the common council were chosen by ballot from the different gilds. Of these latter there were 25, at the head of which, corresponding to the Arti Maggiori of Florence, stood the gild of the Holy Trinity or gild of Merchants, mentioned as the ‘Trinitie Yeld’ in the Assembly Roll of 1551, which returned 31 representatives out of the total of 96. The others known as minor gilds were the Tailors, Smiths, Barber-surgeons, Bakers, Butchers, Carpenters, Shoemakers, Saddlers, Cooks, Tanners, Tallow-chandlers, Glovers, Weavers, Dyers, Goldsmiths, Coopers, Felt-makers, Cutlers, Bricklayers, Hosiers, Carriers, Brewers, Joiners, and Apothecaries. In some of these certain early gilds had been absorbed as ‘wings.’

In 1840 the Irish Municipal Reform Bill became law, and the following year the first town council under the New Corporation Act was ejected on the 26th of October, Daniel O’Connell, Esq., M.P., who had been mainly instrumental in procuring the change, being sworn in as Lord Mayor on the 18th November following.

The subsequent history of the City’ fathers, though often stormy, has been in the main uneventful. The Home Rule movement of the last quarter of a century has done much to limit the choice of the citizens in respect of their municipal representatives; the *popolani grassi, *to use the cognate Florentine term, or wealthier merchants, being largely Unionist in politics, the *povulo minuto, *or small folk, have been enabled to rule the roost.

Having thus briefly sketched the main facts of the municipal history of Dublin, it may be of interest to go into some of the details of that history. At an early period struggles with the clergy were of common occurrence. In 1262 a contention arose with the convent of Christchurch concerning the tithe fish of the Liffey, a moiety of the waters of which had been granted to the citizens by King John in 1200, with its appurtenances for fishing. In the *Liber Albus, *or ‘White Book of Dublin,’ (This book, consisting or 111 leaves of vellum, came in to possession of the municipal authorities in 1829.) containing transcripts of documents from the 13th to the 17th century, we find that the Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary claimed the right ‘for a little bote to fish on the Liffe and the presmeysy (or right to take a ‘mease,’ about 500 herrings) ‘claymed by the said Abbotte of Dublin.’.

But fishing rights, then doubtless much more valuable than now, including the right to place stake-nets in the tide-way, were not the only subject of dispute. In 1267, for an alleged violation of the privileges of the church, the Mayor and citizens were solemnly excommunicated, and the quarrel only composed by the intervention of the Lord Justice and Council.

Fifty years later the contending parties were for once in agreement, having united to burn one Adam Duffe O’Toole on ‘Hogging Grene,’ now College Green, ‘beside Divelin’ for blasphemously denying the Incarnation.

But in 1434 the Mayor and citizens had again to do penance for violating the privileges and abusing the Abbot of St. Mary’s. In 1512 the Mayor was obliged to walk barefoot through the city in public procession, in expiation of the offence of the citizens in profaning the sanctuary of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, by engaging in a riot with the followers of the Earl of Ormonde, the Dubliners having constituted themselves a body-guard for the Lord Deputy, the Earl of Kildare.

On the other hand the clergy were of no small service to the city on many occasions. The Old Bridge, hence known as the Friars’ Bridge, was rebuilt by the Dominicans, and a toll levied by them of one penny for every carriage or beast of burden that crossed it.

The citizens, as was natural from the proximity of their Irish neighbours, the turbulent septs of O’Byrne and O’Toole, early developed warlike proclivities.

In the City Assembly Roll, 1454, it is enacted that ‘no prentise of merchande shulde be admitted unto the fraunches of the saide cittie till he have a jake-bowe, shefe, sallet (a light helmet, cf. Shakespeare’s Henry IV*. ***Part II. Act IV. Sc. 4, line 13.),’ and swerde of his owne, and all prentises of other craftes to have a bowe, arrouys, and a swerde.’

In 1402, John Drake defeated the O’Byrnes at Bray. In 1410 a force led by the Lord Deputy in person was less successful in an invasion of the territories of the same sept, but nine years later ‘taxed’ Castlekevin ‘in Wick low. In. 1423, and again three years later, the citizens were recouped for their expenses in fitting out an expedition against the Irish of Louth, a ‘concordatum of £19, 17s. 4d. being’ granted on the first occasion, and £20 on the second.

In 1472 the fraternity of arms or Gild of St. George was established by parliament for the defence of the Pale, of which the Mayor of Dublin for the time being was always to be a member, but it was abolished after having been in existence for only 24 years. At the beginning of the 16th century the mayor and armed citizens took part in the bloody and decisive battle of Knocktuogh, in Galway, besides engaging in many ‘hostings nearer home in Wicklow, Leix, and Meath.

In 1556, owing to the turbulence of the Kavanaghs, who were plundering the southern parts of the county Dublin, a strong body of the citizens marched against them, hemmed them in in their stronghold of Powerscourt, and forced them to surrender. No less than 74 of the prisoners were hanged in Dublin; and the mayor, John Chaloner, was encouraged to import, at his own expense, cannon and muskets for the use of the city.

The castle of the. Kavanaghs became the property of Marshal Wingfield, ancestor of the Viscounts Powerscourt, in whose residence, Powerscourt House, Enniskerry, on the site of the old stronghold, is an oil painting of the Marshal. Again, 10 years later, William Sarsfield, then Mayor, marched to the relief of Dundalk, forced the great Shane O’Neill to raise the siege, and returned to Dublin with great booty. For this exploit he received the honour of knighthood.

Nor were military operations the only outlet for the warlike spirit of the people of Dublin. In 1405 a fleet fitted out by them ravaged the coast of Scotland, and made a descent on Wales, whence they carried off the shrine of’ St. Cubie, which they deposited in Christchurch; and in 1558 Rathlin Island, off the north coast of Antrim, was taken by the Lord Deputy Sussex with the assistance of the citizens.

Iii the 17th century the gilds maintained their military organisation. In the records of the Gild of the Holy Trinity, or Dublin Gild of’ Merchants, we find in 1623 William Bushopp, (*Journal R.S.A. I. *for 1900, vol. XXX. pp. 6o-61.) captain, Alderman Patrick Gough, lieutenant, and Thomas Taylor, ancient (or ensign).

In 1664, the old colours being ‘much torn and unfit to march with for the credit of the gild, new colours were ordered to replace them,’ and two years later ‘every brother attending the display was ordered to wear a decent feather, according to the colours of the civic jurisdiction, the bound’s of which were minutely determined in the charter or John, then Lord of Ireland and Earl of Mortain, dated 15th May 1192. This grant authorises ‘his citizens of Dublin, both within and without the walls there, to have their boundaries as perambulated on oath by good men of the city under precept of his father, King Henry - namely, from the eastern part of Dublin and the southern part of the pasture which extends so far as the gate of the church of St. Keivin, and thus along the way so far as Kilmerecaregan, (Or Kilmakergan (between Ranelagh and Leeson Park) and so by the mear of the land of Duvenolbroc (Donnybrook) as far as the Dother (Dodder), and from the Dother to the sea, namely at Clarade, (Probably a smail stream entering the sea at Merrion) near the sea, and from Clarade to Renniuelan (Probably Kill o’ the Grange, near Monkstovin); and on the western part of Dublin, from the church of St. Patrick, by the valley (Coombe), so far as Karnanclonegunethe, and thence so far as the mear of the land of Kylmenan (Kilmainham), beyond the water of Kilmeinan, near the Auenelith (Liffey), so far as the fords of Kilmehanoc; and beyond the water of Auenelith, towards the north, through Ennocnaganhoe, and thence so far as the barns of the Priory of the Holy Trinity; and from these barns so far as the gallows, and so by the mear between Clunlith (Clonliffe) and Crinan, so far as Tolekan (the Tolka), and thence to the church of St. Mary of Houstemanebi (Ostmanby). (Dublin Assembly Roll. *Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin. *Sir John T. Gilbert)

The perambulation of the boundaries referred to in this grant gave occasion to the triennial ‘riding and perambulating of the franchises, libertys, meares, and bounds of the city,’ a picturesque ceremony whose description was commonly corrupted into ‘riding the fringes.’ In this procession all the 25 gilds took part, each preceded by a large platform on wheels drawn by teams of handsome horses, and showing the nature of the handicraft practised, with the banner or other representation of their patron saint. In the White Book of Christchurch occurs a description of the route taken in riding the franchises in 1488, as follows:-

‘In primis: the said Mayr and his breethrne tooke ther way, in the name of God, first owte of the Damey’s Gate, and soe forth by the long stone of the Stayn, levyng All Hallous (now Trinity College) on ther right hand, and soe by the Ampnlyffy (Liffey) is side tyll they came to the Rynge’s ende … and soe estward uppon the Strone (strand) on the south side, as far as a man might ride and keste a spere in to the see; and then a yeman named William Walsh rode into the watyr and keste a spere into the see at lowe watyr as far as he moghte, and so fer extendeth the fraunches of the seid cittie estward in both the sides of the watyr. And then they ridde bakward till thei came to the blak stone be Este Myrrionge (Merrion), and left Myrrionge on the righte hand, and ridde over a meare westward till thei came to Our Lady well, and so straight over the said mer tyll they came by the gate of Smothescourt (Simmonscourt) and so about the greene and over the ford of Donabrooke … and so forth the streygt wey till thei came to St. Kevynes gate, and from that northward unto the lane that the cros of stone ys in: and be cause the dyche of that lane was faste they brake a shard and put men over the dyche, and went throw the lane to the hy way be este Seynt ‘Pulchris (St. Sepulchrw’s), and so left Seynt Pulchus and all St. Patrikke’s close over the lyfte hand till they came to an old lane ionnynge (joining) faste to the north side of the chauntor is (his) orchard or hagard place … and so threw the strete southward till they come to William Englysh is (his) hous, and so throw that hous and over the roffe of an other hous and throw the gardynes till they came to the Combe, and owte at the Combe gate till they came to the Cowe Lane, and so forth from that to Carnaclongynethe, that is bei Dolfynesberne (Dolphin’s Barn),’ and so by Kilmainham through the Liffey by the lands of the Prior of Christchurch to Glasnevin, skirting the gallows of the Abbot of St. Mary’s Abbey, to Balliboght and the river Tolka, and over the river southward to the sea, thence westward by the Liffey to St. Mary’s Abbey, where they encountered the Abbot, who said ‘that they did hym wrong, for they shold have ridden be west the Abbey, and so forth to the see.’ (Dublin Assembly Roll. Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin. Sir John T. Gilbert.)

In 1603 a similar account has been preserved. In all these it is noticeable how minute are the particulars of the route when it borders on the liberties of St. Sepulchre, St. Thomas, and St. Mary’s Abbey, and of the Prior of Christchurch as the struggle for jurisdiction between the clergy and the citizens was a constant source of friction.

How extensive were the powers of the spiritual authorities may be inferred from the constant mention of the gallows erected within the liberties of each of them. Even the maritime sway of the Mayors was subject to ecclesiastical encroachments. In a petition to King Edward III.,*** ***dated 5th July 1358, the citizens complain that, owing to want of deep water at the mouth of the Liffey, vessels laden with wine, iron, and other commodities have to anchor at the port of Dalkey, a town of the Archbishop of Dublin; and ‘upon an inquisition ad *quod damnum, *21st March 1372, the jury found that it would be of no damage to the King or others to grant to the Mayor and citizens of Dublin the customs of all merchandise brought for sale, either by land or sea, between Skerries and Alercornshed, otherwise Arclo. - 46 Edward III.’ (White Book of City of Dublin)

Many references to the riding of the franchises occur in such records of the gilds as have been preserved. For instance, in 1731 the Barber-surgeons were directed ‘to ride in the same dress with Tye perukes and long cravats as usual’; and from *Faulkner’s Journal *of 1st August 1767 we find that the colours of the Barbers ‘were purple, cherry, and red, while those of the Apothecaries were purple and orange.’ (*Journal R. S. A. I. for 1903, vol. xxxiii. p.232.) The Gild of Cutlers, Painterstainers, and Stationers, or Gild of St. Luke the Evangelist, borrowed the ‘long-tail horses’ of the Earl of Kildare, whom they had presented with their freedom, in 1755, and the brethren on this occasion all wore ‘hatts edged with gould, cockade red, blew and yellow, with yellow gloves tipped with blew, shirt with red silk, and bound with red ribbond. All to be of Irish manufacture.’ (Ibid. 1900, *vol. xxx. p. r45.)

In 1649 a warrant signed by John Pue, Mayor, required the Goldsmiths’ Company to attend on the 10th September at Christchurch meadow at four o’clock in the morning, decently furnished with horse and arms. Each brother was supplied by the gild with two yards of broad ribbon of their own distinctive colours, yellow and red, to which purple was added in 1692.

In deference to a similar precept of the Lord Mayor in 1701, ‘two new trumpet-banners were ordered, two silver trumpets having been purchased a short time before, and the standard and staff were directed to be painted. (Journal *R.S.A.I. *for 1901, vol. xxxi. pp.127-29.)

Another civic ceremony took place on May Day. On that day it was customary for the young men of the city to assemble for martial exercises on Oxmantown Green under the leadership of the Mayor of the Bullring (‘The musters on Maie daie and Saint Peter his eeve are assigned to the Major and Sheriffs of the Bull-ring.’ - Stanihurst), a custom revived in 1666 by William Smith, then Lord Mayor; and at the beginning of the 18th century the Mayor and Corporation were wont to assemble on May Day in St. Stephen’s Green, accompanied by the city gilds.

Pageants were not of infrequent occurrence. As early as 1538 plays were acted at Hoggen Green before the Earl of Ossory, Lord Justice. The practice of performing plays or mysteries had indeed been discontinued in the 17th century, but they were replaced by less pretentious exhibitions, to which each gild contributed something having reference to its own peculiar craft, from classical mythology or from Holy Writ. Thus the Smiths presented episodes from the myths of Vulcan and his consort Venus, the Vintners personated Bacchus, the Adam and Eve, the Carpenters SS. Joseph and Mary.

The festival of Corpus Christi (first Thursday after Trinity Sunday) was commonly selected for these festivities; but St. George’s Day (April 23) had a special representation of the old legend of the Dragon in honour of the Saint. For the latter pageant very special regulations are to be found in the ‘Chain Book of Dublin, (Said to have been chained in the Gild-hall for reference by the citizens.) or rather in a transcript made in the 17th century headed ‘Out of the Chaine Book of Dublin, preserved in the British Museum.’ From this we find that ‘the Mayor of the yeare before’ was ‘to find the Emperour and Empress with their followers well apparelled-that is to say the Emperour, with two Doctors, and the Empress, with two Knights, and two maydens to beare the traine of their gownes, well apparelled; and the Gild of St. George was directed to pay them their wages. *

‘Item: *Mr. Mayor for the time being to find St. George a horseback, and the wardens to pay three shillings and four pence for his wages that day. And the Bailives (Sheriffs) for the time being to find four horses with men upon them, well apparelled, to bear the pole axe, the standard, and the Emperour and St. George’s sword.

*‘Item: *the elder master of the zeald (gild) to find a mayd well apparelled to lead the dragon; and the clerk of the market to find a good line for the dragon.

*‘Item: *the elder warden to find St. George, with four trumpettors, and St. George’s to pay their wages.

*‘Item: the younger warden to find the King of Dele and the Queen of Dele, with *two maydens to beare the trayne of her goune, all wholy in black apparell, and to have St. George’s chappell well hanged and apparelled to every purpis with cushins, russlies, and other necessaries belonging for said St. George’s day.’

From the last item it would seem that the action took place in the chapel of St. George.

For the Corpus Christi celebration the glovers enacted Adam and Eve ‘with an angill followyng berrying a swerde,’ the corvisers or shoemakers Cain and Abel, the ‘maryners, vynters, ship-carpynderis and samoun takers (salmon fishers), Noe, with his shipp,’ the weavers the sacrifice of Isaac. The goldsmiths appeared as ‘the Three Kyngs of Collyn (Cologne) ridyng worshupfully with.the offerance, with a sterr afore them.’ The barbers presented Annas and Caiaphas ‘well araied accordyng,’ the ‘bouchers’ enacted ‘tormentours, with their garmentis well and clenly peynted,’ and the ‘smythis, sher men (cloth-shearers), bakers, sclateris, cokis, and masonys, Pharo with his hoste.’ The ‘skynners, housecarpynders, tanners and browders’ (embroiderers), were cast to represent the flight into Egypt, and were to provide the ‘body of the camell and Oure Lady and hir Childe well aperelid, with Joseph to lede the camell, and Moyses with the children of Israeli, and the portors to berr the camell,’ - a crowded programme; and finally, ‘the steyners and peyntors’ were to ‘peynte the hede of of’ the camell.’ An important official in all these ceremonials was the Mayor of the Bull-ring, an officer elected by the citizens to be, as it were, capteine or gardian of the batchelers and the unwedded youth of the civitie. He is termed the Maior of the Bull-ring, of an iron ring that sticketh in the Corne-market, to which the bulles that are yearlie bated be usuallie tied. (*Description of Dublin in *1577 by Richard Stanihurst (Holinshed’s Chronicles)) the office fell into desuetude during the reign of James I., and is last mentioned in 1632.

Nor were banquets, as befits municipal dignitaries, of infrequent occurrence. In 1561 Thomas Fitzsymon, Mayor of Dublin, had entertained the Earl of Sussex and the Privy Council at a dinner which was followed by a performance of the ‘Nine Worthies,’ (Cf Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost.) and ‘a rich banquet,’ after which ‘the Mayor and his brethren with the city music attended the Lord-Lieutenant and Council to Thomas Court by torchlight.’

Indeed, eating and drinking occupy no small space in the accounts of the city gilds. In November 1691 the Goldsmiths’ Company voted £6 for carrying on a treat for General Ginckel, General-in-chief of the forces in Ireland of their Majesties King William and Queen Mary. The feast was given in a very large apartment on the eastern side of the Tholsel in Skinners’ Row, in which the city banquets were usually held, and concluded with a hall and most excellent fireworks.

In 1703 a warrant from the Lord Mayor was received by the Corporation of Barber-surgeons, announcing a dinner to the Duke and Duchess of Ormonde for the 12th August at St. Stephen’s Green. ‘Each brother was ordered to pay a sum of three shillings towards the dinner, for which sum, in addition to dinner, he would receive a bottle of wine. (*Journal R.S.A.I *for 1903, vol. xxxiii. p.232) On this occasion the Corporation of Dublin marched through the city with their pageants on their way to the entertainment. The music for these pageants and banquets must have been for the city fathers a subject of anxious thought. We have seen the purchase of two silver trumpets by ‘the Goldsmiths’ Company. But the trumpeters were at least equally necessary. And in the records of the Gild of St. Luke the Evangelist we read that:-

Whereas Charles Linvel, trumpeter, was hyred to sound before our Corporation on last Fringe day, but he not performing as he should, the House have thought fitt not to give him full demand, being four guineas, but offered him two lowedores (Louis d’or), which he refused, and the House then ordered that if the Master pleased to offer him two guineas, which, if he do not take, the House will stand by the Master in refusal of payment thereof.’ (Journal R.S.A.I. for 1900, vol. xxx. p.146.) 1 In addition to the civic trumpeters and drummers a company of musicians was employed by the municipality, and furnished annually with light-blue livery cloaks bearing the city cognizance.

Each gild had its own hall or place of meeting, most of which have now disappeared. The Gild of Glovers and Corporation of Brewers had their halls in Hoey’s Court, off Ship Street. The Joiners and Coopers were lodged in Castle Street, hard by. At St. Audoen’s arch at the close of the 18th century were the halls of the Smiths, or Gild of St. Loy, the Bakers (Previous to 1701 the Bakers had their hall in Casey’s Tower, demolished 1753) or Gild of St. Anne, the Butchers, or Gild of the Virgin Mary, the Feltmakers, and the Bricklayers, or Gild of St. Bartholomew; while the Corporation of Tanners kept their hall in the tower over the arch.

The site of the Carpenters’ hall is now occupied by the Widows’ Alms-House of St. Audoen’s Parish. Taylor’s Hall in Back Lane, built by John Shudell, Master of the Gild, in 1710, is still in existence. Here, in the beginning of the 19th century, the following gilds held their meetings, being without local habitations of their own, viz. the Butchers, Smiths, Barbers, Saddlers, Glovers, Skinners; Curriers, and Joiners. The Merchants’ Gild,or Fraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, were established in 1478-9 in the building called the Chapel del Marie du Grace on the Brygge End. Their modern hall, a’ substantial stone building on Merchants’ Quay, now shelters the Merchant Taylors’ Endowed School, removed in 1873 from the hall in Back Lane. The Weavers’ Hall in the Coombe, a venerable red-brick building, still exists, but in a very dilapidated condition. Its front is still decorated with a statue, once gilt, of George II., placed in a niche over the entrance door, with the date MDCCL.; but the portrait of the same monarch in tapestry which once adorned the interior of the hall has been removed. The frame bore the doggerel inscription:

‘The workmanship of John Vanbeaver

Ye famous tapestry weaver.’

A portrait of one of the La Touche family, which once hung in the hall, has also disappeared. The hall of the Bricklayers and Stonemasons in Cuffe Street has a substantial granite front.

The influence of the gilds did much to ensure high-class workmanship in the various handicrafts; and any defection from their standard was visited with heavy penalties. In the bye-laws of the Gild of St. Luke the Evangelist we find the following:

The pillory. (5433 bytes)‘If any person of this guild being a painter-stainer, shall at any time hereafter paint or color any oyle work whatsoever that is to stand without doors in the weather, and shall instead of an oyle priming use size therewith, or shall not stop the cracks or sliffts in timber with oyle putty … upon complaint being made to the Master of such ill-work made and done, … the offending party for the first offence shall pay 6s. 8d. sterling, and for the second and more offences of this nature, the full value of the work ill done.’ (*Journal R.S.A.I. *for 1900, vol. xxx. p.138) Accordingly, we find records of one-third the value of the work levied on the offenders. The Goldsmiths’ Company were, as we might suppose, especially watchful of fraud on the part of the members of their gild. In 1717 a certain Mr. Hore complained concerning George Farrington, a goldsmith, that he had sold him a silver teapot not touched (Assayed by *pierre de touche *(touchstone).) at the hall, but which had a piece of silver, touched with the harp crowned, soldered in the bottom; this last had the mark of Richard Archbold, a goldsmith, thrice struck on it. Archbold having been summoned, and owning his marks and soldering, was fined £5 (Journal R.S.A.I. for 1901, vol. xxxi. **p.130.)

The bakers also were closely scrutinised. In the ‘Chain Book’ we find regulations for fines for faulty bread: for the first offence, fifteen pence; for the second, thirty pence; for the third offence they shall stand in the pillory, and swear to leave the city for a year and a day. The latter instrument of correction stood in the Cornmarket in front of St. Audoen’s Church.

The public also seem to have treated this craft with suspicion. In 1310, during a great scarcity, they had the bakers drawn through the city on hurdles attached to horses’ tails for the use of false weights. Nor did the barbers escape the vigilance of the Gild of St Luke. In 1701 a retainer fee of £1, 3s. was paid to the Recorder, and £2, 8s. 6d. to the Solicitor-General, for the prosecution of certain persons who ‘worked up horse hair and other unlawful hair’ in the wigs manufactured by them. A committee was soon after appointed ‘to enquire into abuses committed by barbers and periwigmakers in the city, who made a practice of shaving, and dressing wigs on the Lord’s Day.’ (*Ibid., *1903, vol. *xxxiii. *pp.232-233.)

The regulations of the various gilds with regard to apprentices were at all times stringent. In the charter of the Gild of Taylors *(artis scissorum), *of 1417, it is stipulated that no member of their fraternity should take any but those of English birth *(Anglicae nacionis) *as apprentices.

Similarly of the Carpenters, Millers, Masons and Heliers (or slaters), known as the Fraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the House of St. Thomas the Martyr near Dublin, in a charter granted to them by Henry VII., of which a memorandum is enrolled in the Patent Roll of the Chancery of Ireland, twenty-sixth Elizabeth,, it is enacted that apprentices should be free, of the English nation, and of good conversation, and should be bound for seven years. (*Journal R.S.A.1. *for 1905, vol. xxxv. p.324. *Ibid., *1900, vol, xxx) In the Goldsmiths’ Company none were admitted to the fraternity unless he were of English name and blood, and were a free citizen of the city.

Under a municipal ordinance of 1652-3 Protestants only were admissible to gilds and to apprenticeship in the city. Accordingly we find that in the Gild of St. Luke the Evangelist, in the terms of a Royal Charter of King Charles II., dated 4th October 1670, all members must swear allegiance to the King and be of the Protestant religion.

The first Roman Catholic was admitted 2nd July 1793, and the first Quaker 13th May 1712, with a special form of affirmation. The apprentices to the Dublin Gild of Merchants, while liable to the same seven years’ term of apprenticeship, had some special privileges, as they were entitled to wages not less than £8 after their first year of service. Sumptuary regulations were minute and strictly enforced.

We find in the case of the last-named gild, that ‘no brother might suffer his apprentice to wear any apparel (unless indeed it were old apparel of his master) but such as became his position, namely, a cloth coat, decently made, without guarding, [Ornamenting with braid, etc.; cfl Shakespeare, *Much Ado About Nothing, *Act

1. Sc. 1. 11. 288-289: ‘The body of your discourse is sometime *guarded *with fragments, and the *guards *are but slightly basted on neither.’] cutting, or silk to be put thereon; a doublet of something, so it be not silk, meet for a prentice’; also a shirt of the country’s cloth, and the ruff thereof to be but one yard long, not wrought with silk or other thing; also a pair of hose, made with not more than two yards of cloth; being yard-broad, and the breech of the hose was not to be bolstered out with wool, hair, or any other thing, but should be made with one lining, close to the thigh, not cut or stitched with silk, but plain in all respects.’ (*Journal R.S. A.I. *for 1900, vol. xxx. p.57.)

The apparel of the brethren of the gilds, though more sumptuous, was none the less carefully defined for its wearers. By an enactment of 1573 they were to appear ‘in seemly gowns.’ A regulation of 1608 prescribed for the senior aldermen scarlet gowns, violet for the junior, and ‘Turkey’ gowns were to be worn by the other members.

Discipline was strict and exemplary. The apprentices’ punishment for haunting taverns, playing at unlawful games, or wasting their master’s goods by pilfering and stealing, was that the offender, on conviction, be stripped naked and ‘whipped with “groine” (The old past participle of ‘grow.’) birchen rods, as much as his fault shall be thought to have deserved.’

Nor was the conduct of the brethren themselves less strictly regulated. One Thomas Lawler, of the Corporation of Barber-surgeons, was, during a sitting in August 17l5, suspended ‘for uttering scandalous words and casting reflections on His Grace the Duke of Marlborough.’ In 1700 a member of the Gild of St. Luke was fined 10s. for reviling the Master, and in 1726 another member was, for a similar offence, fined in a like amount.

The penalty for reviling a warden seems, strangely enough, to have been fixed at half the above amount-namely, 5s. In a case of the use of slanderous words in 1514 by Philip Bruen, a helier (slater), he, having contumaciously refused to appear when cited, was in absence fined a noble. Non-attendance at meetings was punishable by fine, and even a late attendance exposed ‘the delinquent to a penalty of 6d. to the poor-box. (*Journal R.S.A.I. *for 1900, vol. xxx. p.138.)

The hour fixed for the periodical meetings of the civic assembly was nine o’clock in the forenoon, and the members were summoned by the tolling of the Tholsel bell.

Nor were more serious punishments unknown.. One Thomas Newman, of the Corporation of Barber-surgeons, of which he had been warden in 1575, was, for an unrecited offence, in 1577 forcibly and against his will carried to New Gate, where he lay, with two pairs of bolts on his legs, until he ‘reconciled himself,’ by acknowledging on his knees his folly and ‘lewdness,’ craving pardon for the offence be had committed against the Master and wardens of his Company.

Already in 1624 we find the Dublin Corporation taking cognisance of the regulation of hackney cars, carmen being ordered to have licences from the Mayor and to bear badges with the arms of the city on the fore-part of their cars. The scavenging of the city, too - though, as we have seen, it was imperfect and indeed rudimentary - was the subject of municipal regulations.

In 1617 we find considerable, trouble with a certain Katherine Strong, (*Vide *Memorial of Sir James Carroll to Thomas Wentworth, Viscount Strafford, Viceroy. Harleian MS. 2138, British Museum.) a widow, who inherited from her deceased husband the post of city Scavenger, and a grant of tolls for performing the duties of that office. (*Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin. *Sir John T. Gilbert) The lady in question seems to have been much more active in collecting her dues than in removing the abundant filth of the city, notwithstanding the oath which the city scavengers were bound to take, as follows: ‘You shall cause the streets within your warde to be kept cleane from time to time. And also you shall cause each inhabitant within your warde to have the streets well and sufficiently paved where there is any defect or want, so far as each of their howses extendeth, uppon the chardge of the said inhabitants. Theise and all other thinges belonging to the office of a Scavenger, you shall well and truely perform and doe to your power. Soe helpe you God.’ (In 1635, during an unusually severe winter, an effigy in snow was erected of Katherine Strong bearing in her hand a representation of the unpopular ‘toll’ measure.) Amongst the tolls or customs in the fish market of Dublin we find exacted ‘of every woman retailer sitting in the street with a basket, for the week, one farthing, to be applied to cleansing the street at the stalls.’ The women retailers still sit in many of the back thoroughfares with their baskets, but the fee is no longer demanded.

The rate of wages was the subject of more than one municipal ordinance. In 1349 the newly enacted ‘Statute of Servants and Labourers’ (22nd Edward III.), was transmitted by writ to the Mayor and bailiffs (sheriffs) of Dublin, and provided that all such labourers should ‘serve another for the same wages as were the custom in the 20th year of our reign.’

In 1555 by an entry on the Assembly Roll, ‘It is ordeyned by auctoritie aforsaid that a maister mason, maister carpender, and so the maister of every occupacion shall have by the daie when he haith no meate nor drinke, fyftene pens, the jorneyman xii d., the prentice x d.; and when he haith meate and drinke, the maister shall have by the daie vi d., the journeyman iiii d., the prentice iii d.; every laborer shall have by the daye, without meate and drinke, vii d. oh. (seven-pence halfpenny), and with meate and drinke, iii d.; and if any within the franches of the cittie do take more than is here ordred, he shall forfait [halfe of] the some he taketh and the gyver shall forfait as mouche, halfe to the accusor or informer, and halfe to the treasure of this cittie.’ (Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin. Sir John T. Gilbert)

The freedom of particular gilds or of the city was sometimes conferred upon distinguished strangers, but this privilege was sparingly bestowed. Henry Cromwell was presented in 1656 with the freedom of the city and entertained at a banquet. In March 1688 a like distinction was conferred on Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell, enclosed in a golden casket, for which £46 was paid to the Goldsmiths’ Company.

In 1761 James Grattan, Recorder of Dublin, father of the illustrious Henry Grattan, was elected a freeman of the Barber-surgeons. Three years later a similar honour was granted to James Caldwell Bart, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, for his services to the King in raising a troop of horse, at his own cost, during the war with France and Spain.

Lieutenant-Colonel Howe was similarly distinguished for his services in Canada under General Wolfe, and in 1768 the freedom of the gild accompanied by ‘one of the emblems of the Corporation, namely, the Free Razor of Liberty,’ was conferred on James, 20th Earl or Kildare and first Duke of Leinster. The last named had 13 years previously, while as yet only Earl of Kildare, received the freedom of the Gild of St. Luke the Evangelist, enclosed in a gold box. The same gild presented also their freedom to John Philpot Curran, the Marquess of Ely, the Earl of Winchilsea, and the Duke of Wellington.

Perhaps a more suitable recipient than any of these was found in the person of one of Dublin’s munificent benefactors-Mr. Thomas Pleasants, founder of Pleasants’ School, Camden Street, and of the Stove Tenter House, (Now St. Joseph’s Night Refuge.) a brick building, 275 feet long, three storeys high, and having a central cupola, erected by him in the Earl of Meaths Liberty, at a cost of £13,000, for the use of the poor hand loom weavers; where clothes were tentered, warps sized and dried, and wool dyed for these artisans at a small cost to defray the expense of fuel, etc.

Amongst those on whom in modern times the freedom of the City of Dublin has been conferred are Isaac Butt, M.P., Right Honourable W. B. Gladstone, Charles Stuart Parnell, Sir Henry Irving, Doctor George Salmon, Provost TCD., Captain Thomas Potter (He commanded a large grain ship sent by the USA to relieve the famine of 1879-80.), Thomas Sexton, M.P., and the Right Honourable Stuart Knill, Lord Mayor of London in 1893.

The Gild-halls, as we have seen, have mostly disappeared. Perhaps the most interesting survival is Taylors’ Hall in Back Lane. The Gild of Taylors claimed precedence of all other gilds on the ground of antiquity, but waived their claim, as a matter of courtesy, in favour of the Gild of Merchants who met in the Tholsel.

The Taylors’ Gild had had their hall for centuries in Back Lane, at one time known as Rochelle Lane, doubtless so named by the Huguenot refugees, but the present building was erected by John Shudell, Master of the Corporation, in 1710. Prior to the opening of the Music Hall in Fishamble Street, in October 1741, it was one of the largest public rooms in Dublin; and was used, as we have seen, by many other gilds for holding their meetings. It was also largely patronised for halls, musical assemblies, auctions, and’ lotteries, and was even used as a dancing-saloon.

In 1731 a magnificent entertainment was given here by Lord Mountjoy to the Viceroy and the nobility resident in the metropolis. In 1792 the Roman Catholic delegates assembled within its walls and received the nickname of the ‘Back Lane Parliament.’ About the same time it was the meeting-place of the Grand Lodge of Dublin Freemasons, and was used for gatherings of the United Irishmen by Wolfe Tone and others.

On the discontinuance of the gild under the provisions of the Municipal Reform Bill, the hall passed in 1841 into the hands of the Trustees of Merchant Taylors’ School, an endowment maintained, by property of the gild secured at its extinction. In 1873, however, the school was removed to its present quarters on Merchants’ Quay, and the premises were leased to a committee for the purpose of holding prayer-meetings and a Sunday-school for the humbler dwellers in its neighbourhood.

On one of the outer walls is a slab bearing a half-defaced coat of arms, and the inscription, ‘This hall belongeth to the Corporation of Taylors, and was rebuilt by them in the year of our Lord AN. DOM. 1700. - John Holmes, Master; Albert Hannon, John Wilson, Wardens.’

The principal apartment measures 45 feet by 21 feet, with a gallery at one end approached from an upper storey. It was formerly adorned with portraits of King Charles II. and Dean Swift, and a curious painting of St. Homobonus, a tailor or merchant of Cremona canonised in 1316. Its walls were also ornamented with the Royal arms and those of the Taylors’ Gild, the latter bearing the appropriate motto, ‘Nudus fui et cooperuisti me.’ (St. Matthew xxv. 36) The mantelpiece of old Italian marble, valued by the late Mr. Law at £100, has the inscription: The Gift of Christ. Neary Master. Alexr. Bell & Hugh Craigg Wards. 1784.

The original Gildhall Corporation was in Winetavern Street. In 1311 t the Mayor and commonalty of Dublin granted to ‘Robert de Bristol, their fellow-citizen, all their tenement where their old Guildhall stood in the Taverners’ Street in the city … in exchange for 15 shillings of yearly rent from a tenement in the street and parish of St Nicholas, and for a sum of money given by Robert to the city.’

At the commencement of the 17th century the place of meeting of the Common Council of Dublin was the Tholsel, a building standing at the junction of Nicholas Street and Skinners’ Row, where it is marked on Speed’s map of 1610.

It was said to have been designed by Inigo Jones, and was afterwards adorned with statues of Charles ii. and James ii., removed on its demolition about the beginning of the 19th century, and still preserved in the crypt of Christchurch.

In 1718 some persons broke into the Tholsel, and cut to pieces the portrait of George I. which hung there. A reward of £1,000 was ineffectually offered for the discovery of the offenders. In 1752 the Tholsel was superseded by the present City Hall on Cork Hill, adjoining Dublin Castle and facing Parliament Street. This handsome structure, formerly the Royal Exchange, was built in 1769 from the plans of Thomas Cooley, whose design gained the first prize of one hundred guineas in a competition in which Thomas Sandby was second, and James Gandon third.

The funds for its erection were provided by the Dublin merchants, assisted by the Earl or Northumberland, then Viceroy, and by a parliamentary grant of £13,000, supplemented by the proceeds of lotteries.

The site chosen is a striking one, and was formerly occupied by Cork House, then Lucas’s coffee-house, removed by the Wide Street Commissioners in 1768, the old Exchange and private houses.

The building, of Portland stone, is a square of 100 feet having three fronts and a central dome. The north or principal front faces the imposing vista extending from Parliament Street across Grattan’s Bridge, in a straight line the whole length of Capel Street, a distance of nearly half a mile. It has a portico of six Corinthian columns, the last two at each end being coupled, with an entablature which is continued round all three fronts.

On the main front this is surmounted by a pediment, the other sides being crowned by a balustrade. The height of the building and the absence of a tambour to the dome renders the latter inconspicuous from any point of view. The sharp descent of the ground from west to east necessitated the construction in front of the main façade, of a terrace level with the ground a its western end, and accessible from the eastern end by a long and wide flight of steps. The terrace was protected by a metal balustrade resting on a rusticated basement.

On the 24th April 1814 the pressure of a large crowd, collected on the terrace to witness the whipping of a criminal, caused this balustrade to give way, when many of the concourse were killed and others severely injured. In consequence of this accident the eastern end of the terrace is now blocked by an unsightly wall supporting a heavy iron railing.

The present approach to the building is by two openings in the boundary wall facing north, raised respectively by three and four steps from the flagway of Dame Street, leading on the western side by a flight of four steps, on the eastern by one of 10 steps, to the level of the terrace. Facing the terrace are three entrances, each raised ten steps above it, and closed by iron gates suspended on Ionic pilasters. The western front, facing the offices of the City Treasurer, once Newcomen’s Bank, (Founded by Thomas Gleadowe who married Charlotte, daughter and heiress of Charles Newcomen of Carrickglas, in County of Longford, and who was created a baronet in 1781, when he assumed the arms and surname of Newcoinen.) has four columns only; with windows alternating; and the eastern, in Exchange Court, has pilasters only, and owing to the narrowness of the Court is comparatively gloomy and dingy.

On entering the building the visitor finds himself in a quaintly flagged central hall the original plan of which, similar to that of the Four Courts designed by the same architect, was an inscribed circle in a square. The effect has been greatly injured by the blocking of the once open ambulatories enclosing the circular area, to provide office accommodation and stairways.

It remains, nevertheless, a very beautiful interior, surrounded by twelve fluted columns, 32 feet high, forming a rotunda, and supporting an entablature above which rises an attic storey of 10 feet lighted by twelve circular windows and crowned by a well-proportioned dome with a central skylight. The dome is richly ornamented with hexagonal caissons in stucco-work, which, with the corresponding laurel festoons of the attic storey, are the work of Alderman Thorpe.

Opposite to the entrance is a fine bronze statue, by Van Nost, of George III. in a Roman military habit, standing on a pedestal of white marble. This statue was presented to the merchants by Hugh Percy, Earl of Northumberland, Viceroy 1763-65, at a cost to the donor of 2,000 guineas. (In 1906 a majority of the Dublin Corporation voted its removal, the grounds alleged being, first, that it was a statue of an English king; secondly, he was represented as ‘a Roman Highlander’; and thirdly, that it was the work of a Dutchman.) A very remarkable statue of Doctor Charles Lucas, by Edward Smyth, then a pupil of Van Nost, and statues of Daniel O’Connell and of Thomas Drummond, Under-Secretary 1835-1840, both by Hogan, and one of Henry Grattan, by Chantrey, also ornament the central hall.

Introduced into the black-and-white pattern of the pavement are brass standards of lineal measure. At each side of the entrance are staircases, ornamented with handsome stucco-work, leading to the upper hall, extending along the northern front, in which the meetings of the Corporation are now held.

The Liffey, South Wall. (8971 bytes)A gallery opposite the seat of the chairman gives admission, during their deliberations, to an audience-at times rather noisy-of citizens. The Lord Mayor’s throne is of Irish oak, having the conventional Irish wolf-hound in its carved design. The room is. adorned with portraits of H. Sankey (1791-2), Daniel O’Connell the ‘Liberator,’ Edward Dwyer Gray, and Thomas Sexton, all former occupants of the civic chain In the muniment-room are preserved the City Regalia, the *Liber Albus, *and ‘Chain Book,’ or *Liber Niger, *and a valuable collection of Royal charters and Corporation records, the former including the grant of Henry II. to ‘his men of Bristowa.’ These have been edited by the late Sir John T. Gilbert.

Since 1715 the Lord Mayor resides, during his term of office, in the Mansion House in Daw son Street. The building, originally of red brick, is faced with stucco, and a porch has been added. The principl rooms are the Oak-room (so called from its panelling), and the Roundroom, 90 feet in diameter, built by the Corporation in 1821 for the purpose of entertaining George IV. It is surrounded by a corridor and lighted by a lantern 50 feet from the floor.

In the garden on a pedestal overlooking Dawson Street, from which it is separated by a railing surmounting an opening in the boundary wall, is the equestrian statue of George I., transferred from Essex Bridge. The pedestal bears the inscription:-

‘Be it remembered that, at the time when rebellion and disloyalty were thee characteristics of the day, the loyal Corporation of the City of Dublin re-elevated this statue of the illustrious House of Hanover . … A.D. 1798.’

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