Fingal Gateway To Europe - by Kevin Thorp
This article originally featured in a “History of Town Twinning in Europe, 1987-1997”, edited by Kevin Thorp. It is reprinted here with Kevin’s original illustrations
FINGAL - GATEWAY TO EUROPE Far back in the mists of time when Fingal was thickly forested the first visitors arrived here from Europe. According to Celtic myth they were called the Parthalonians and came from eastern Mediterranean.
of a new wave of invaders in 795 AD.
by the monks in the monastery there.
The Vikings came from Norway and Denmark via the Isle of Man. These savage raiders who descended on the island of saints and scholars to plunder their monasteries regular as clockwork every springtime eventually got to like the place so much they decided to settle down here. The Norsemen settled to the north of the city of Dublin and the Danes established themselves in the city itself. Of all the peoples that have come here these were the one’s who have most indelibly stamped their mark on the area. Land of the Fair Strangers The Norsemen have done this by giving their name to Fingal which in Irish is Fionn-Gall or the land of the fair strangers, a reference to their long blond hair. The Danes who had brown hair gave their name to the Fingal town of Baldoyle, which in Irish is Baile- Dubh-Gall or the town of the dark strangers. Our place names Many Fingal place names give testimony to these Norsemen. Thus we have Howth (a nose), Holm (an island), Skerries (rocks), and Lambay (Lamb-eye or Lamb island) There are numerous names of Norse origin in Fingal. These include Seaver, Sweetman, Loughlin, form Lochlainn a Viking, and of course Doyle. The Round Tower in Lusk dates from the time of the Vikings and was used as a lookout post and place of refuge
After the Norsemen came the French-speaking Normans, led by Richard de Clare, better known by his other title, Strongbow, in 1170 AD. The Normans built castles at Balrothery, (Baile on Ridere, the town of the knights), and at Baldungan, a place whose Irish name is an amalgam of Irish and French (Baile Donjon, or the town of the fortress). These invaders, in turn brought their family names uch as Bissett, Martin, Beashel, St. Ledger, St. Laurence, Darcy and Lacey. Least number of Irish Speakers With so many newcomers crowding such a small area, the native Gaels tended to lose much of their identity under this onslaught and Fingal came to live up to its name as the Land of the Strangers. It became the most foreign of the Irish regions and the one with the least number of Irish speakers. For hundreds of years then, Fingal came to be the unofficial Ellis Island for immigrants to this isle, and has retained a toleration for newcomers and strangers that is probably unique in Ireland.
Recent discoveries in Sicily suggest that they originated in the region near the town of Sperlinga whose name has Celtic roots. These people were wiped out by a mysterious plague and many are interred in a mass grave at Tallaght to the west of Fingal. They were followed in turn by the Fir Bolgs and the De Danaans, the people of Dana who were responsible for the prehistoric cist graves and passage tombs such as the one at Four Knocks near the Naul in north-west Fingal. Red Haired Celts Around five hundred years before Christ the Goidelic Celts arrived in Fingal, bringing with them flaming red hair, their language, Erse, which with some modifications is still in use today, and iron weapons. Just like today when those with the most powerful weapons call the shots, the Celts displaced the indigenous inhabitants whose bronze swords and axes were no match for the razor-sharp blades wielded by the Celts. Irish remained the spoken language of Fingal until the arrival
20
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker