This section of the Old Dublin City Wall at Cornmarket, in Dublin City, is one of the last visible reminders of the old walls that enclosed the city during the Middle Ages.
Dublin was surrounded by a wall enclosing less than a square mile during the Middle Ages. These first fortifications were constructed of earth and wood to protect the settlement of Dyflinn, then a largely Viking town that developed along the south bank of the River Liffey.
When the Anglo Normans' took over the medieval city of Dublin in the early 1170s they strengthened its defences by repairing the original wall and by constructing a new boundary to the south of the city.
There were seven gates into the city and this section, part of New Gate can be found at Lamb Alley, off Cornmarket. This surviving section of the wall was most likely built during the 12th century. Only a few remnants of the old city walls now remain in Dublin.
