![]() The “Annals of the Four Masters” tell us that Malahide was their chief and favourite centre of settlement. In “Historical Houses of the United Kingdom” 12 , in a chapter entitled “The Chevalier Richard Talbot”, it relates that: Robert Walsh, in his 1888 work Fingal and its Churches, asserts that “Before the Ostmen settled in Ath-Cliath, Inbher-Domnainn (Malahide) was the chief centre for their raiding expeditions into Fingal and Meath.” 1 Another 19th century account states that “the headquarters of the Danes in Fingal were at Malahide, formerly called Inver Domnon.” 6 That there was a Norse presence in Malahide, however, is indisputable. Remains of Glasmore Abbey, Swords, Fingal The remains of Glasmore Abbey can be seen today, standing on an open green space in the Lios Cian estate, off the Murrough Road near Swords. However, they were driven out in the same year by Cearaball, son of Murigin an Irish chief.” According to WE Vandeleur in “Notes on Malahide” 11, the attack took place in 897 when the Norsemen, having made Malahide their centre “overran the district, destroying the monastery of Glassmore, one and a half miles from Swords, on the night of February 10 th. It is more likely that the attack took place in the 9th century. The accuracy of this account must be questioned as it predates the generally accepted period for the beginning of Viking raids in Ireland by about 200 years. Cronan was living about the year 631 or 6.” 5 The Monasticon hibernicum account of the raid refers to ‘Danish pirates’ as the perpetrators of the act †, recounting how Cronan was “inhumanly butchered, together with all his monks, by a party of Danish pirates, who landed at Inbher-domhnann, a port in the east part of Leinster, and not far from Dublin the year in which this uncompassionate act was perpetrated, is uncertain, but we are told that St. ‘Northmen’ has the same meaning as ‘Norsemen’. There was the entire company crowned with martyrdom.” 1 In the “Annals of the Four Masters”, Glasmore is described as “…a church near Swords in the south, whither came the Northmen of Inbher-Domnainn *, and slew both Cronan and his entire fraternity in one night. In his “Neighbourhood Of Dublin”, Weston St John Joyce’s describes it as follows: “A mile and a quarter to the north-west of Swords are the ruins of Glasmore Abbey, an ancient ecclesiastical establishment which was destroyed in the 7 th century by the Danes who murdered the entire community.” 4 In the same century it is recorded that the Vikings of Cave’s Marsh attacked and destroyed Glasmore. Some accounts say it was founded by Saint Cronan about a century after Saint Columba founded his monastery at Swords, which would put the date somewhere about the 7 th century. There are conflicting reports about when the abbey was founded. Glasmore was an abbey one and a half miles from Swords. The Cave’s Marsh site would also have been an ideal location from which to launch attacks on the major monastic sites at Lusk, Swords and smaller ones such as Glasmore. Present day – water channels that surrounded the island are now silted up If there was a temporary Norse settlement at Cave’s Marsh, the island would have been a logical choice being an easily secured and defended site. With t he construction of the railway viaduct in the 1840s, creating what is effectively an artificial saline lake with a vastly reduced tidal range, the island gradually disappeared as the surrounding water channels silted up (the island is also visible in the Clarges Greene & Son map of 1851). Historical maps made between 18 show a 2 acre island at the northern end of Cave’s Marsh. The longphort at Linn Duachaill (Louth) and the one which eventually became the city of Dublin (dating to the 9 th century) are good examples. ![]() 3 This might then develop into something more permanent with added fortifications and living quarters. Initially, a longphort would be built by beaching a long ship and then building up a bank of earth against it on the landward side. The sites were easily defended, sheltered, and gave speedy access to the open sea if required. Intended as overwintering sites, longphorts were found along rivers (usually at a tributary) or in estuaries (such as the Broadmeadow estuary) where ships could be safely moored and protected. ![]() A longphort was basically a fortified naval encampment which served as a base for raiding parties as they attacked and plundered sites in the surrounding area. The term longphort is a compound word that may have been coined by Irish monks – long meaning ship from the Latin word “longus” and port from the Latin word “portus”, meaning landing place or shore. “The headquarters of the Danes in Fingal were at Malahide, formerly called Inver Domnon.” 6Īve’s Marsh is believed to be the site of a Norse ‘longphort’ which existed probably in the late 9 th century.
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