Walled towns first began to be built in Ireland in medieval times by the Anglo-Normans. Ireland has 56 known walled towns, and their mighty walls defended important settlements.
Some of these Anglo-Norman towns took the place of earlier Irish monastic settlements like Kildare, while others were redevelopments of Viking towns like Dublin, Limerick, Wexford and Waterford.
At the top of the article you can see artist Marc Guernon's image of how Castledermot in Co Kildare would have looked.
Building these large defensive walls cost huge amounts of money as they required skilled masons and a large workforce. The money was generally raised by taxing the residents of the town who directly benefitted from the protection.
But, despite the shelter provided by the walls, town citizens were not always happy about having to contribute towards their construction and maintenance. According to the historical sources, the people of Kells, Co. Meath were furious about having to pay taxes to fund repairs to the town walls, so many citizens chose to leave and take their chances outside the walls rather than pay the taxes.
In 1221, Dublin was the first town to receive a grant to help to pay for stone walls (known as a murage grant) from the English crown. As well as keeping out enemies, walls allowed the towns to charge taxes on food and craft items which were brought to the marketplace for sale. This made many walled towns very wealthy.
These stone walls were excellent at halting attacks. 2,000 cannonballs bombarded Athlone's Castle and its town walls during the 1691 siege, and the Derry Walls have never been breached or overwhelmed by an invading army. Derry/Londonderry is the only walled town to have survived all attacks and is nicknamed the 'Maiden City’ because of this impressive feat.
Nearly 800 years after they were built, remains of the Anglo-Norman walled towns can still be seen around Ireland. The Irish Walled Towns Network (IWTN) was formed by the Heritage Council in 2005 to help to protect and to tell the story of these walled towns. For centuries the walled towns defended the citizens, in turn, the Network is here to protect the walls. So far, 29 of Ireland’s 56 walled towns are part of the Network.
To discover more about the story of our walled towns, download this free Irish Walled Towns Network workbook full of fun facts, quizzes, a word puzzle, colouring pages and even a walled town-building challenge.
Check out The Irish Walled Towns Network website for loads more information.
