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Civic Engagement
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North Dublin - History Workshops

A course of four lectures/workshops, focusing on elements of history in North Dublin City, which is both local, international and rich with personal stories and social and cultural legacy.

Lecturer : Eamon Delaney.
Historian, former diplomat and author of many books including the best selling 'An Accidental Diplomat'. Eamon is the director of a military history project The Lion and the Shamrock.

History Workshops will take place in DCU in the Community (Unit 1 - Shangan Court, Shangan Road, Ballymun, Dublin 9, Eircode: D09 E8H4) from 10:30am to 12pm on the following days:

  • 27 June 2024
  • 28 June 2024
  • 3 July 2024
  • 10 July 2024

The lectures wil be approximately 90 minutes, and will comprise extensive slide shows, distribution of material and the use of online resources such as Census and military archives, as well as prescribed reading material.

Lecture 1:  North Dublin and the Great War - Enlistment, the 'Pals' Battalions and a brutal wake up call in Europe The outbreak of World War in Europe.

  • Why Irishmen enlisted : to support Home Rule - or to oppose it.
  • The economic conditions, the effect on the families, the long tradition of soldiering, and the 'Pals' Battalions.
  • The reality of war : Western Front (1914), Gallipoli (1915) and the Somme (1916).
  • The 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin - a 'World War One event', after the split in the Irish Volunteers
  • Aftermath : housing, PTSD support, employment and getting honoured.

Lecture 2:  Finglas and World War One - Lost love letters and a tragic case of being Shot at Dawn
-Life in the trenches, stalemate and stagnant war, shell shock, constant death and comradeship.
-The 15 deaths from the Finglas area and some of their stories :

  • John Bell, farm labourer who deserts and is Shot at Dawn by his own side as a punishment.
  • Captain Henry Telford Mallet, upper class officer, killed in No Mans Land and how his personal letters are recovered by German soldiers.
  • Henry Alexander Sloan, Bohemians and Ireland football player from Dunsink.
  • Finglas brothers who died in this wasteful war: the two Emmetts and the three McDonagh brothers.
  • The battles they fought in : Ypres, Greece and Gaza etc.

Lecture 3:  The old tenements and the new suburbs - How inner-city communities were recreated in Cabra, Coolock and Ballymun

  • The creation of Georgian Dublin and the great houses of Parnell and Mountjoy squares.
  • The Act of Union 1800: the departure of the aristocrats and arrival of the ordinary people.
  • Tenement life: poor, overcrowded but with a strong sense of community.
  • The movement of families from inner city tenements to new suburbs of Cabra, Finglas, Coolock and later Ballymun and Darndale.
  • The lack of facilities but also the recreation of tenement life and social bonds of community (Comparison with similar population transfers on the Southside).

Lecture 4:  The Northside rocks: teds, punks, skins and mods - how youthful subcultures have enriched our communities.

  • The development of youth cultures since World War Two, and the impact on north Dublin.
  • The Teddy boys imitating the Edwardian costumes of the early century. Rock and roll and rockabilly music.
  • 1960s Mods, scooters, neat suits, influences from the UK.
  • The Hippies: reaction against authority, music festivals.
  • Skinheads - the emergence of gangs and a severe working class look.
  • The punk rockers - Finglas/Ballymun and the emergence of U2, and their rivals, the Black Catholics.
  • The Atrix from Finglas, a ground breaking art rock band.
  • Mod revival in the late 1970s. The Cabra scooter gangs.
  • New Romantics and Goths: an early exploration of non-binary identity and transgressive experiments.

  • The Rave scene of the late 1990s: the clubs, the look, the participants. And the archiving of all these scenes and communities.

     

Registration is required:

Unfortunately, places are limited and therefore we recommend that you register your interest as soon as possible by clicking below.

Fee: Free of Charge

Register Now!

 

Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us at  Najwa.achour@dcu.ie