Phoenix Park Conservation Management Plan

History and Description
4.1 Historic Context
Early History and Habitation
Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Man had long associations with the lands that now form The Phoenix Park.
About five and a half thousand years ago man was attracted to the narrow strip of land along the southern
edge of the Park between Knockmaroon and Islandbridge. This land had a commanding view over the River
Liffey and offered unrestricted views across the valley to the Dublin Mountains.
Early Christian Period
Aerial photographs of the Fifteen Acres in The Phoenix Park show a series of earthworks and it has been
suggested that the smaller enclosures may represent ring forts or enclosed farmsteads which were constructed
in the Early Christian Period between 500 and 1,100 AD.
Viking Period
More than forty Viking graves were excavated at various times on the south bank of the River Liffey at
Kilmainham and Islandbridge during the 1840s and 1850s and again in the 1930s with the construction of
the National War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge, thus making it the largest Viking cemetery outside
Scandinavia. One of these graves, located in The Phoenix Park, was found, when excavated, to contain the
remains of a woman with jewellery of the period.
Norman and post-Norman Periods
The nucleus of the lands which were eventually to form The Phoenix Park consisted of lands attached to
Phoenix Manor. These were part of the lands of Kilmainham which were located on both sides of the River
Liffey. In 1174, a few years after arriving in Ireland with his Norman colleagues, Richard Strongbow, Earl
of Pembroke, granted the Kilmainham lands to the Knights Templar. When these were suppressed by King
Edward II in 1312 the lands became the property of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1542
these lands reverted to the Crown when they were confiscated by King Henry VIII only to be restored to the
Knights by Queen Mary in 1557 and then to revert to the Crown the following year when Queen Elizabeth I
succeeded to the throne.
In 1611 a new grant of land was made to Sir Edward Fisher, which consisted of all lands north of the River
Liffey extending from Oxmantown Green to Chapelizod and to the River Liffey which also included 330
acres of the Kilmainham demesne and sixty acres known as Kilmainham Wood. Fisher relinquished his
portion of lands and house to the King in 1618 for a sum of £2,500 which subsequently became known as
‘His Majesty’s House at the Kilmainham called the Phoenix’. The Phoenix House continued to be used as
viceregal seat until 1665 when Chapelizod became the preferred location for the viceroys.
The Formation of the Park
The Phoenix Park was established from 1662 onwards by one of Ireland’s most illustrious viceroys, James
Butler, Duke of Ormond, on behalf of Charles II. Conceived as a Royal deer park, it originally included
the demesne of Kilmainham Priory south of the River Liffey, but with the building of the Royal Hospital at
Kilmainham, which commenced in 1680, the Park was reduced to its present size, all of which is now north
of the river. The 350 th anniversary of the Park’s establishment as a Royal deer park will be celebrated in
2012.
20 THE PHOENIX PARK CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN