The Thingmount of Dublin

The Thingmount of Dublin is a much sought after and often mis-located piece of Irish heathen history. The actual location and function of, has been studied by many interested parties over the centuries and few have had the access to documents and accounts as Charles Haliday did when researching his works on the Scandinavian Kingdom of Dublin (reprinted by Irish University Press, 1969). What follows is an account of his findings.

N.B. A version of this article appeared in the Irish Asatru newsletter 'Nine Virtues News', but this is a more recent and more complete edition.

Almost all official acts of the Northmen from the election of a king and the promulgation of a law to the trial of a criminal, or the decision of a title to land, was governed by the judgement of a people assembled at the Thing. These Things were established throughout the world of the vikings and many are still in evidence today. And, as the town of Dublin was establised by the vikings in can be of no great suprise that it too had a similar place. However no sources in Scandinavia give a record of the Thingmount of Dublin, therefore Charles Haliday had to look to local sources for it's location.

He found, in the register of the Priory of All Hallows, a grant made to the priory in about 1241 and the land being described as situated in "Thingmotha, in the parish of St. Andrew Thingmote", and also an enrolled deed of 1575 which gave a further clue by describing the property conveyed as bounded by the road leading to Hoggen Green called Teigmote. If we then assume that Thingmotha had its name from the Thingmote, these records show that the Thing place of Dublin was on Hoggen Green in the parish of St. Andrew. Further, other (un-named) documents that Haliday saw left him with no doubt that the precise position was at the angle formed by Church Lane and Suffolk Street, nearly opposite the church of St. Andrew (today the location of the main tourist office in Dublin), and about 40 perches east of the old ediface (1 perch=16 feet)

Haliday had a drawing of a survey of the mount showing it to be a conical hill about 40 feet in height and 240 feet in circumference. The survey was made in 1682 and it showed the mount had steps or terraces similar to other Thingmounts. The mount was preserved for so long due to the care of the municipal authorities for the health of the citizens. Down to the year 1635 there were many edicts decreeing that "the common pastures of the city should be reserved to walk and take the air by reason as the last ordinance adds that the city was growing very populous". These ordinances preserved the ground surrounding the Thingmote uninclosed until 1661.

In that same year Dr. Henry Jones, Bishop of Meath, obtained a portion of this ground on lease from the Corporation of Dublin for a small rent but with the inserted proviso that "a passage six feet wide and thirty feet square from the top to the bottom of the hill should be reserved to the city for their common prospect, and that no building or other thing should be erected on the premises for obstructing of the said prospect".

But in 1671, the foundation of the new church of St. Andrew having been laid, and the Bishop of Meath having surrendered his lease, a new lease was made to William Brewer, without any reservations of "prospect" from the mount which shortly after was emcompassed with buildings.

In 1682 the mount itself was demised to Sir William Davis, Recorder of the city and then Chief Justice of the King's Bench. He had a residence adjoining the mount and a fee-farm grant was made to him with the avowed object of clearing the ground. His petition for this grant states that "the ground on which the mount stands, being very small and the mount itself being very high, the cost of levelling it and carrying it away would be a vast charge". A mass of earth and stone, 40 feet high and 240 feet in circumference could not be removed without great expense, but the site was, ultimately, too valuable to lie unhindered and was used in the raising of Nassau Street, then called Saint Patrick's Well Lane, to prevent further flooding and the street elevated 8 to 10 feet above it. This can still be seen today as Nassau Street is on quite a height above the adjoining grounds of Trinity College.

Haliday also relates that similar to other Thingmounts, some 200 perches (remember 1 perch = 16 feet) eastward of the mount was the Hangr Hoeg or Gallows hill of Dublin. Here on a rocky hill, surrounded by a piece of barren ground, the gallows were erected and criminals were executed until the beginning of the 18th century. At which time the gallows were removed farther south to permit the rock to be quarried for building purposes. The "Gallows Hill" is marked on the maps of Dublin until after 1756 and the locateion of the quarry was in the area between Rock Lane and Mount Street, from where these streets surely got their names. This would tie in with the function of the Thingmount as having a judicial as well as civic and religious function.

If the site of a höf or temple connected with the Thingmount could be discovered then the link would be complete. However, as the mount was destroyed long before archeological digs took place this is now most unlikely. It is shown in history however, that christian monks and bishops sometimes simply converted the heathen höf to a christian church by removing the idols and sprinkling the area with holy water. Indeed, this was even recommended by Pope Gregory in a letter to the Abbot Mellitus as recorded in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastics. Could the church of St. Andrew be built on the site of the main höf in viking Dublin?

The heathen vikings left many marks on Dublin which have survived on throughout the millenia since they converted to christianity, but what functions the Thingmount of Dublin fullfilled can only be speculated about. In the mean time we can only hope that one day further archeological evidence will come to light confirming that the Thingmount of Dublin was indeed the site of the Thing for the Heathen vikings in Ireland.

This article is © 2004 to Askeladden and may not be reposted in any format without the consent of the author.

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