Historical location These two liberties are mentioned in Allen's Register of 1529, but without describing their exact location. After the dissolution of the monasteries by
Henry VIII the liberties of Thomas Court and Donore was granted to William Brabazon, ancestor of the
Earls of Meath. In 1579 the city of Dublin claimed the abbey to be within the jurisdiction and liberty of the city, but they lost their case. From then on the head of the liberty was the Earl of Meath. The family lent its name to places and streets in the district e.g. the Meath Market, the
Meath Hospital and
Meath Street. They also named Brabazon Row, Brabazon Street and Ardee Street (they were Barons Ardee since 1616). In 1728 Charles Brooking published a detailed map, the
Map of the City and Suburbs of Dublin, which contained a description of the boundaries of the liberties. The Manor of St. Sepulchre boundaries stretched from Bishop St. to
St. Stephen's Green, along
Harcourt Street to
Donnybrook, across
Rathgar to
Harold's Cross and back along
Clanbrassil Street to Patrick Street. In 1837 the Ordnance Survey started developing their maps, and that of Dublin published in 1840 showed all the liberties, from the smallest (Christ Church Liberty, one acre and two roods) to the largest (the Earl of Meath's Liberty, 380 acres).
17th and 18th centuries In the late 17th century, development started in order to house the weavers who were moving into the area. Woollen manufacture was set up by settlers from England, while many
Huguenots took up silk weaving, using skills they had acquired in their home country, France. They constructed their own traditional style of house, Dutch Billies, with gables that faced the street. Thousands of weavers became employed in the Coombe,
Pimlico, Spitalfields and Weavers' Square. However, English woollen manufacturers felt threatened by the Irish industry, and heavy duties were imposed on Irish wool exports. The Navigation Act was passed to prevent the Irish from exporting to the whole colonial market, then in 1699 the English government passed the Wool Act which prevented export to any country whatsoever, which effectively put an end to the industry in the Liberties. A
weavers' hall was built by the
Weavers' Guild in the Lower Coombe in 1682. In 1745 a new hall was provided, financed by the Huguenot, David Digges La Touche. In 1750 the Guild erected a statue of George II on the front of their hall "as a mark of their sincere loyalty". The hall was demolished in 1965. In the eighteenth century a revival took place, based on importation of Spanish wool, helped from 1775 by the
Royal Dublin Society, but the events of
1798 and
1803, in which many weavers in the Liberties took part, and the economic decline that set in after the
Act of Union, prevented any further growth in this industry in the Liberties. Similarly, the successful growth of the silk and
poplin industries, which was supported by the
Royal Dublin Society in the second half of the 18th century, was hindered by an act passed by the Irish government in 1786, which prevented the society from supporting any house where Irish silk goods were sold. When war was declared against France under Napoleon and raw materials were difficult to obtain, the silk weavers suffered greatly.
19th century The Tenter House was erected in 1815 in
Cork Street, financed by
Thomas Pleasants. Before this, the poor weavers of the Liberties had either to suspend work in rainy weather or use the alehouse fire and thus were (as
George Newenham Wright expresses it) "exposed to great distress, and not unfrequently reduced either to the hospital or the gaol". The Tenter House was a brick building 275 feet long, three storeys high, and with a central cupola. It had a form of central heating powered by four furnaces, and provided a place for weavers to stretch their material in bad weather. The lack of significantly more casualties is attributed to the fact that one of the first buildings to be caught in the blaze was a pigsty that sent screaming livestock through the streets to warn residents.
20th century to present day memorial at the junction of Reginald Street and Gray Street (1929) |thumb|upright The urban fabric of the Liberties was significantly altered by the road widening schemes of the 20th century which impacted on
High Street,
Bridgefoot Street, Bridge Street,
Winetavern Street and
Clanbrassil Street. As early as 1941 there were plans to widen
Cork Street leading to buildings being left to fall into decay while the threat of compulsory purchase orders seemed possible. The road widening was eventually completed in 2003 and there followed an extensive reconstruction of the street including landmark residential buildings by
O'Donnell & Tuomey Architects and FKL Architects and the development of a new park, Weaver Park, by Áit Urbanism + Landscape. == Culture ==