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44 YEARS AGO in 1974 Pat Wallace was a young archaeologist tasked with excavating what was to become one of the most controversial sites in Irish living memory.
Wood Quay was the planned location of the new headquarters of Dublin Corporation, what is now the city council. However the area it was being built on contained some of the most historic Viking artefacts in Irish and indeed European history.
Wallace, a relatively new employee of the National Museum, was given the job of assessing the archaeological value of Wood Quay, including anything he found there, so that building work could commence quickly.
What was to be a relatively short project, soon consumed Wallace’s life. He would be on the site in Wood Quay in Dublin city centre from 1974 to 1981.
Wallace is now the subject of a new documentary on TG4’s Finné programme. To discuss this and the long-lasting impact of Wood Quay on his life, Wallace sat down with TheJournal.ie.
But first: What was all the fuss about?
The plan to develop Wood Quay as Dublin Corporation’s headquarters was announced in the early 1960s. However by the following decade the scale of the plan was causing some concern.
Archaeological digs in other parts of the city had already uncovered some of the capital’s history and experts believed the four-acre site of Wood Quay, along the Liffey and next to Christ Church Cathedral, would be of similar if not greater value.
This would be the largest and most significant project ever taken on by Wallace.
As the dig got underway more and more evidence of Dublin’s first citizens, the Vikings of the ninth and tenth centuries, was uncovered.
However the corporation continued unabated and forced Wallace’s team of archaeologists to work day and night in order to excavate and document as much as possible.
The development and bulldozing of the site by the local authority quickly caught the attention of activists in the capital city and further afield.
The works led to a now famous protest in 1978 which saw 20,000 people take to the streets, calling for Wood Quay to be named a national monument.
The case eventually went to court, and the site was given the classification. However the local authority did a deal with the Minister of the day, under a loop-hole in the legislation, which allowed them to remove the historic artefacts from the site to allow the construction of the new office block go full steam ahead.
I had no power on my own
“I was on that site from May 1974 until March 1981, with some short breaks in between” said Wallace.
In the first two years we unearthed a huge area of the wooden area of the dockside, the first generation of the Normans.
Wallace and his crew then moved further up the site towards Fishamble street and then he said “the you-know-what hit the fan”.
“The corporation wanted us to get on with the building, they weren’t very anxious for us to be still excavating and digging there. They actually started bulldozing the earthen bank that had been built around the town, Wallace said.
I stopped that, but I had no power on my own.
A voluntary group led by Fr FX Martin came together and formed ‘The Friends of Medieval Dublin’ to protest and demand that Wood Quay be named a national monument.
However Wallace was caught in the middle between the corporation on the one side and the academics and historians on the other.
“I supported them of course, I was on Fr Martin’s side,” Wallace said. However he couldn’t vocalise his opinions on the matter: “I was a government employee, a civil servant.”
Shouldn’t the site have been preserved?
“When you think of a national monument, you think of something like Newgrange or the Rock of Cashel”.
Wallace explained that Wood Quay was a different affair:
This was also a national monument but the idea in this case was the corpo (corporation) and the board of works made a deal whereby the national monument could be removed.
We were brought back in to finish the excavating along Fishamble street and that’s where I discovered the remains of 140 house foundations.
I discovered the best evidence in Europe for town layout, how a town looked at the time of Brian Boru.
Wallace said it simply wasn’t possible to preserve the site then or even now:
You had a succession of 12 different levels, one on top of the other, which one do you preserve? How do you preserve it?
“It’s really basketry in muck to put it crudely.” It was the detritus of everyday life according to Wallace, “How do you preserve that in situ?”
Wallace maintains that if the project had been allowed proceed at its natural pace a better picture of life in Viking Dublin would have been gleamed. He said this could have led to the creation of a dedicated museum.
“We certainly lost elements of the site that were bulldozed and we never got our claws on those areas.”
Wallace said money wasn’t an issue, but time was. “We had a budget of £2 million punts.”
“We were finding the origins of their city”
“It really stretches you alright because you had to be on every side,” Wallace said of the challenges he faced on a personal and professional level at Wood Quay.
He said the media was easy enough to deal with at the time. The corporation on the other hand was harder work:
They wanted it done yesterday. They had no interest in what we were finding, even though we were finding the origins of their city!
On his employer the National Museum of Ireland, Wallace said “The hardest job of all was dealing with my bosses at the National Museum”.
Wallace said the body should have advocated for Dublin’s history, “They should’ve done more”.
“I respected the National Museum, I love it, but they wanted the project finished,” he said.
Present day
Turning to 2018 and Dublin City Council’s offices loom large over the river Liffey. In the hours of darkness the building is often illuminated, a beacon of 1970′s architecture, a sculpture the only hint to the site’s historic past.
Wallace has positive memories of his time at Wood Quay: “I always remember the site and the great laughs and the great staff I had there.”
I always remember what was there.
They were ordinary men and women just like us, they were the same really, just the technology was different.
Wallace said he isn’t saddened by the events of the late 70s at Wood Quay, but the lack of recognition of Dublin’s history is a source of regret.
“What saddens me is Dublin hasn’t grasped the opportunity. It hasn’t realised what it has,” he said.
I regard Wood Quay and those sites in Dublin, the archaeology of Dublin, as the equivalent of Newgrange, honest to God.
I think we should have by now a museum of Dublin, that’s my dream and it won’t be realised in my lifetime, but I hope it will be in yours.
Pat Wallace went on to become Director of the National Museum of Ireland. He maintained a close relationship with Fr FX Martin, who presided over his wedding.
Wood Quay changed my life, it was a difficult time. I knew from day one it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I knew I would never again do anything as important.
You can watch this story in full on TG4′s Finné tonight at 9.30pm.
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To all the avid no campaigners on the journal, a very big and very assured F*** YOU.
For months I have endured your abuse, I’ve been called every name you can imagine, from paedophile to Nazi, freak of nature to child stealer. My mental health has taken a battering as I sought to expose the hypocrisy and bigotry of the very lowest participants of this forum. From one particular commenter that repeatedly told me I had a mental illness to another who told me to go to coppers and get the ride as though that would fix me.
I don’t hate you though, I pity you. You live lives full of anger, hatred, confusion and utter bitterness. I wish you were happier people.
So to Paul Roche, Tom Doyle, Tony Kilduff, Top Cat and his many aliases, Paddy Scully, Ugly Truth, David Fitzpatrick, confused Zoe, Gerard Devaney, Gary, David Doyle, and many more who campaigned to oppress me, to silence me, and all the while abused me and tested my resolve, today is MY day. Today is OUR day. I hope you all reflect on the battering you have given me and how you all very nearly broke me.
I am not broken, I will be equal!
Ailbhe O’Nolan (hopefully finally equal)
Well done if you win, but l think you may be a paranoid nutter.
Ailbhe posts about being called names and then you call her a paranoid nutter. Awesome logic, right wing. Maybe she has a point.
Holy crap girl, if you’re taking every thing that commenters in here say to heart then I think you’re prob as well staying away from the journal. If a few nasty comments on here nearly broke you as you say then how do you cope with the stresses of real life situations?
It’s not compulsory to press the big J icon on your phone.
If you can’t handle the Heat get out of the kitchen
And thank you for proving my point! Love you all. You’re brio cute
Al, I cope perfectly well thanks. Better than most in fact. And this has been the most ‘real life situation’ one can find, where a nation debates your worth and smears your character. I coped and have come out the other side stronger.
Love to all of you, desbite what you have shown to me. Now off to town!
It will be your day Ailbhe.
Ireland will do us proud today, I just know it
Ailbhe, I have witnessed what you had to endure, the expression of slurs, contempt and hate against you for having had the bravery to stand up and to say why you and all gay peole in Ireland deserve full legal equality.
I was appalled by the utter venom and the scurrility of the remarks made against you and other gay peole. I was shocked that many of these homophobic remarks were left up even though some were not merely hateful. They were an incitement to hatred.
You have been articulate, brave and rational. You managed to persuade a few No supporters to the side of yes and you motivated many such as me by your passion and by your strength.
Ailbhe, my total respect. Today is your day. The gay community, part of our society, should not have had to earn what is theirs’ by right and justice. But you earned it many times over.
Total respect, huge admiration and looking forward to the great joy of this afternoon’s victory.
Sums up a lot of this referendum …’F**k you’ to ‘avid campaigners’ on the opposite side…your words. There was so much positivity that emerged from this regerendum – a real feel good factor that we are on the brink of change in our country. So people disagreed with you…get over it and don’t drop down a level. Keep your own dignity.
Groovus, let me clarify. Not a f*** you to all no campaigners. A f*** you to those that verbally abused me, made personal attacks against me and even went on to attack me via private message because their incideous remarks would not be tolerated by the journal.
If all I give them is a F*** you, that pales in comparison to what they said to me. I will leave them with that and hope they think again before spouting such abuse.
Wow , your really Come across as a right b1tch who expects equality but doesn’t give it.
Kind wish I could change my vote now
Ailbhe named some of the culprits. In fact, I was amazed by Ailbhe’s patience and politeness towards the non abusuve no supporters.
I can’t figure out the hostility towards Ailbhe. Perhaps, it is because Ailbhe was one of the main, if not the main, advocate on the Journal for marriage equality and was therefore targeted by some highly emotionally disturbed individuals, some of whom have been named above by Ailbhe.
I suspect some of these Twitter and Facebook identities will disappear.
Lots of love Brian. You clearly didn’t see what I was subject to. But now all I feel is love! Have a great day. Here’s to a better Ireland!
Brian, you have missed Ailbhe’s point.
And shur, what’s one more bit of abuse from random strangers, for old times sake eh Brian ;)
Thanks Anthony. Let them attack me. Let them abuse me. They only prove my point or miss it entirely. I’ve risen above all that. I hope I shed tears of joy today. Thanks for everything.
Alibhe your the one who came on here abusing people. I just pointed out , how you were coming across .
remember there is Dignity in defeat, and dignity in victory.
Always be the better person and don’t stoop to the level of gutter rats.
Ailbhe just named a few of the more abusive and obnoxious culprits, as she was entitled to do. Personally speaking, I hope that this is a totally joyful day for Ailbhe. She has worked so hard and given so much. She is exhausted. This afternoon will be about joyful celebration.
Ailbhe, I’ll be at the RDS count today, maybe I’ll see u there? Here we go folks
Fair enough Ailbhe, your first sentence threw me. If you put your opinions out there on a site like this you will always attract different responses and some will be distasteful; but that’s the freedom we embrace. Everyone is EQUAL to an opinion. If you think you are the subject of abuse as you say, then you should be more annoyed with the moderator of this site!!
So happy, cried with happiness multiple times. Going for a beer soon. Thank you all!
How is it going to work? Will the 27 centres be announced individually or will it be one big announcement in Dublin? Any estimates on what time?
Following this from Melbourne hoping for a massive yes
Final overall result should be known by 3.00 PM Irish time, GMT. The results will trickle in before then. thankfully, it looks like a Yes vote by a clean margin.
The No side will then likely start on their legal challenge to the democratic result. That’s what they do.
I hope they don’t, Anthony. My estimation of the ‘no’ side has been shot to sh*t over the past few months but I’d have hoped they’d at least respect the will of the people enough to accept the outcome of their referendum, even if it’s not the outcome they would have hoped for.
It’s basically going to work like the Eurovision – Panti and Ursula Halligan will present the event at the big screen in Dublin Castle and a local celebrity will phone in the result from each of the 27 centres. For example, Daniel O’Donnell will call in the “huit points” from Donegal while Marian Keyes will joyfully deliver “douze points” from Dun Laoghaire. Technical specialists are currently working to create an artificial time delay on the video link so that audiences can enjoy the same level of stilted awkwardness we have come to expect from the flamboyant song contest.
Before any count takes places the question has to be asked how so many people who are clearly not living in the country were allowed to vote. This has being a problem for years but this referendum has highlighted the issue. I also seen on facebook last night where a girl said she had voted in Dublin and was headed to her home town in wexford where she also on the register to vote again. There is something very wrong here that goes to the heart of our democracy.
And you asked the question you feel should be asked well done. Any chance you might actually do something about it other than complain? If you think it has resulted in an unfair result there are lots of friendly people in the Law Library who will be only too happy to agree with you …….for a price.
The problem for the no challengers is that they would have to prove that it would have been a no victory had it not been for these few votes. Facebook messages are not proof of actual voting.
By the way, I’m very happy that some of our emigrants returned to vote yes. Respect and thanks to them.
Larry. Democracy shouldn’t come at a price. I remember when George w was made president by the supreme court in 2000. Is this the idea your suggesting?
I’m suggesting we count the votes that were cast and accept the result like adults.
Larry, well said. That’s democracy.
So if I live abroad for a few years I’m not entitled to have a say in my home countries constitution. A lot of these people were forced abroad for work and hopefully will come home some day. The problem is not that they came home but that they had to. If u are a citizen u should be entitled to vote abroad through the Irish embassy.
Or maybe you’ll not return but you’d be entitled to decide how the people who stayed and paid the high taxes should live. A relative of mine found us when she came to find her roots. Her grandmother left Ireland during the 1940′s. She claims to be Irish. Do you think she entitled to vote in an irish embassy.
Donna, I totally agree.
The problem is the wrong that our emigrants would bring a more progressive, expansive and enlightened view into Irish politics. Travel, especially working abroad, broadens the mind, opens the perspective. Then add to that that it is over our most get up and go people who get up and go.
Our politicians would not be able to handle this.
It is fantastic the way that those emigrants who could get back did so and we’re still registered to vote.
My preference would be remote online voting from abroad subject to verification of identity. I think that emigrants have a huge amount of real value to contribute.
Well in the some countries they allow citizens to vote up to a certain point. So 15 years for example. Something like that would be fair.
If you live abroad for a few years then yes you’re not entitled to vote. Why should you have a say in running a country that you don’t live in? Why should someone permanently resident in Ireland, paying taxes and abiding by Irish law care what someone thousands of miles think? Why should a person who emigrated (forgetting about their reason for emigrating) have the same voice as a permanent resident of this country?
‘referenda’…..not referendums!
Both are correct – you flippin idiot!
You can use either http://www.dailyedge.ie/lets-figure-this-out-whats-the-real-plural-of-referendum-261522-Oct2013/
Since, I’m living in modern Ireland and not in the ancient Roman Empire and because I speak English, not Latin, I will opt for Referendums, that is if Skippy does not mind.
If its Yes (as seems likely) – where does this leave the Catholic Church who are/were against the same-sex concept?
Will they marry their members in their churches?
Very unlikely I’d say
The Referendum was on civil marriage. It has no impact on Church weddings. The Roman Catholic Church is legally entitled to continue pursue its policy of discrimination against gay people.
Thank you AL.
A likely outcome is for the Catholic Church to agree to ‘bless’ the marriages – subject to conditions!
Bill Rooney, I would like to think that you are right but only some Priests may do so, if at all and then unofficially.
Roman Catholic dogma remains strongly anti homosexual relationships.
They wont be forced to because Article 44 protects the independence of religious organisations. However I think the RCC in time would do well to reflect a changing world and change its teachings on homosexuality.
They won’t have to. I think there’s legislation which allows places of worship to refuse on, can’t think of a better way to put this, religious grounds.
Id say it will go through. But I will be very interested to see whether my county votes yes or no. It is 62% rural but only voted against divorce 51.5% so perhaps our rural folk are not as conservative as in other counties. I’ll be sure to avoid counties that demonstrate a strident position against LGBT rights – unless of course it includes my own as I can’t afford to move.
Many rural areas may surprise you. Likely, there will be a higher Yes vote in some urban areas but there will be a large Yes vote in many rural areas.
I want to express my admiration and regard for the activist yes campaigners. The yes campaign, except for the politicians, was wonderful.
Today’s successful outcome was grass roots in a real sense, a people’s movement and politicians merely provided the opportunity for us to have the two Referendums.
If you believe in equal rights then don’t put countries on a blacklist. Network, lead by example, change opinions and hopefully you’ll see grassroots changes take place within them. Alienating only leads to misunderstanding.
have your say