Dundrum

History

One of the earliest mentions of the area concerns the location of the original St. Nahi's Church in the 8th century on which site today's 18th-century church currently stands. The ancient name for Dundrum is "Taney" which derives from Tigh Naithi meaning the house or place of Nath Í. Modern archaeological excavations near the church have revealed three enclosures associated with the church, the earliest dating from the 6th century, and one of the finds included an almost complete Flemish Redware jug from the 13th century. The first reference to the placename of Taney occurs in the Charter of St. Laurence O'Toole to Christchurch in 1178 as "half of Rathnahi" and in the following year in a Papal bull of Pope Alexander III to the same archbishop as "Medietatem de Tignai". Variations of the spelling continued until the mid-16th century. When the Normans arrived in 1169, a series of fortifications were built around Dublin. A castle was built in Dundrum as part of this series of outer fortifications around the 13th century. Later in 1590, a newer castle was built by Richard Fitzwilliam as part of a strategic line of castles within the Pale. The original village clustered around Dundrum Castle and was a rural defensive outpost against assaults and raids from Irish tribes and families such as the O'Tooles and the O'Byrnes. In 1619, a relation, William FitzWilliam, 3rd Viscount FitzWilliam was granted the castle in recognition of his courage while defending against these assaults but was driven out in 1642. He returned by 1646 but left again, never to return, in 1653. His family held onto the Fitzwilliam seat until 1790. The castle was never reoccupied and exists today as ruins overlooking the Dundrum bypass and the shopping centre. Excavations in 1989 recovered green…