Irishtown is located a short distance outside Dublin's medieval city walls. Dublin was originally a Viking city and after 1171, when an Anglo-Norman army conquered it, Dublin became the center of English rule in Ireland. The native Gaelic Irish were therefore seen as an alien force in the city. Suspicion towards them was aggravated by the constant raids on and around Dublin by the O'Byrne and O'Toole clans of the nearby Wicklow Mountains. By the 15th century, Gaelic migration to the city had caused English authorities to fear that the English language and culture would become a minority there. As a result, Dublin's Irish inhabitants were expelled from the city proper around 1454, in line with the Statutes of Kilkenny. They settled in Irishtown, outside the city walls, giving the area its name. There is a charm in maritime trade that offsets the grim aspects of the districts that constitute its entrances and outlets. There are few seaside towns or villages in Ireland with a more historic past than Old Ringsend. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There is some small difference of opinion regarding the derivation of the name of this ancient part of Dublin. The Rev. E. Mangin in his book Parlor Window states that "Ringsend" is an absurd corruption of "Wring Sand", the proper name of the suburb. The Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1846) describes Ringsend as a town in the parish of St. Mary, Donnybrook, originally called Rinn-Ann, "the tide point" from its position at the confluence of the Dodder and the Liffey. This suggests that the modern name is a singular corruption of the first, or may perhaps have derived from the large stone blocks into which iron rings were inserted for mooring ships. DA Chart, in his History of Dublin, jokingly infers that it is a typical Irish bull since a ring has neither beginning nor end. An alternative suggestion is that Ringsend may indeed derive from Rinn Abainn, the head of the river. “Ringsend was first noted in the 17th century as a landing place for passengers heading to Dublin. From the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion until the 16th century, Dalkey was the port for goods and passengers, but with the increasing traffic of the Elizabethan period, Dublin merchants found it more convenient to unload their ships near the place of their business. With the goods came passengers and from the 17th to the 19th centuries Ringsend was the main place of embarkation and disembarkation, until the completion of the ports of Howth and Dun Laoghaire caused a diversion. A fort was built in I582 to secure the shares. Breaches of the Revenue Laws were so frequent that in 1620 it became necessary to station a Revenue Inspector at Ringsend and a house was built there to house him. Thomas Cave was its first occupant. Ringsend was a very busy village in this period, as can be deduced from the fact that in 1637, ten boats were blown away from their anchorage in a heavy storm and were never heard from again. However, the population in 1660 is fifty-nine English and twenty-one of Irish descent. During the Cromwellian period, says Ball, Ringsend was almost surrounded by water flowing over the low-lying land between Irishtown and Beggar's Bush, then much infested with robbers. This led to the use of the very famous Ringsend Cars: a seat suspended on a leather strap between two trees. In 1665 - 5,000 spectators watched the races between these vehicles for prizes offered by the Lord Deputy. Ringsend played no small role in the great historical event of the 17th century. Oliver Cromwell landed there in 164p9 and in 1655 Henry Cromwell and his retinue arrived, rowing boats from Dun.