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SCANDINAVIAN ANTIQUITIES OP DUBLIN. 231
the mind the fact, that at that day the sea flowed almost to Ap>g!* DIX<
the foot of Merrion-square. ' That such however were the
grounds for the selection, appears in the letters of the Earl
of Essex, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the report of Mr.
Jonas Moore, in the year 1675, stating, " that if his Majesty
should think tit to proceed in the design of building a fort
royal on the strand, near Ringsend, as was designed by Sir
Bernard de Gomme, it is doubtless the only proper piece of
ground where a fort can be built so as to be relieved by sea,
although for arms the sea air will be ''
2
veiy prejudicial an
objection, however, which did not prevent a fort being
subsequently erected at the Pigeon House, nearly a mile
seaward of the site selected by the royal engineer. 3
In considering the grounds for selecting this site, it must
1 ["" 26th January, 1792: Apart
of the South-wall suddenly gave
way and a dreadful torrent broke
into the lower grounds inundating
every quarter on the same level as
far as Artidioke-road. The communidt^jpn
to Ringsend and Irish-
town is entirely cut off and the
inhabitants are obliged to go to
and fro in boats. "
Dublin
Chronicle, 26th January, 1792:
" Yesterday his Grace the Duke of
Leinster went on a sea party and
after shooting the breach in the
South-wall sailed over the low
ground in the South Lots and
landed safely at Alerrion-square."
Ibid., 28th January, 1792,
W. M. G.]
" Letters of the Earl of Essex,
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the
year 1675," 8vo, Dublin, 1723, p.
132.
8
[The Pigeon House,
first as an
hotel, and then aa a fort or
magazine was preceded, by a block
house for storing wreck. The
Dublin newspapers of 1 760 mention
that a vessel being wrecked, a
number of '
rockers '
who always
came down lor plunder, were by
this means disappointed. It got
perhaps the name of 1'i^eonhouse
from John Pigeon employed there.
U 8th June, 1786, ordered that
John Mullarky and John Pljio.i do
attend on Saturday next.'' Journal
of Ballast Office. " 2.>th August,
1787 : Your committee have provided
a ground plan of the block-
house which accompanies this
report," and thereby allot one
portion to Mr. Francis Tunstall,
the inspector of the works of the
Ballast Board, and other part of,
O'Brien and his wife during
pleasure as housekeeper" without
salary but with liberty
to retail
spirits, they undertaking to keep
the Corporation rooms clean and
in good order and provide breakfast
when directed for any members of
1 '
the Board.
Ibid. In 17:>t>, was
built an hotel, and in 17y8, arose