Gateway

The National Monuments Service's description

St. Audeon's Gate in St. Audeon's Park/Cook St, annotated 'St. Audoen's Arch' on 1863 ed. OSi 25-inch map. St. Audeon's Gate, was first mentioned in 1240 and was subsequently called the Watergate. It was let in 1602 to the Master of the tanners who used it as a meeting place until the mid-18th century (Healy 1973, 22). The gate was formerly a proper gatehouse with a tower above it. It has been heavily restored as a gateway with shallow side towers topped with crenellations at a level with the town wall (Wth 4.6m, H 4.15m). There are three external buttresses, which appear to be later additions (Bradley and King 1987, Vol. 1, 54). There is early masonry surviving in the external face (Simpson 2000, 41). A section of town wall survives to the E and W of the gate (Thomas 1992, Vol. 2, 80). A projecting tower at the W end has a mock Gothic door (Clarke 2002, E11; Clarke, Dent and Johnson 2002, 33).

Compiled by: Geraldine Stout

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 28 April 2023

References

Clarke, H.B. 2002 Irish Historic Towns Atlas No. 11: Dublin, part I, to 1610. Royal Irish Academy. Dublin.

Clarke, H., Dent, S. and Johnson, R. (eds.) 2002 Dublinia: The Story of Medieval Dublin. O'Brien Press. Dublin.

Bradley, J. & King, H. (1988) Urban Archaeological Survey, Dublin, Volume 4. A report commissioned by the Office of Public works (Unpublished).

Healy, P. 1973 The town walls of Dublin. In E. Gillespie (ed.), The Liberties of Dublin, 16-23. Dublin. O'Brien.

Clarke, H.B. 1978 Dublin c. 840 - c. 1540: the medieval town in the modern city. Dublin.

Simpson, L. 2000 Forty years a digging: a preliminary synthesis of archaeological investigations in medieval Dublin. In S. Duffy (ed.), Medieval Dublin I, 11-68. Dublin. Four Courts Press.

Thomas, A. 1992 The walled towns of Ireland, 2 vols. Dublin. Irish Academic Press.