Remains of an Old Castle Tower at Dublin Castle
After the grand room at Dublin Castle, we were led outside. I was under the impression that that was the end of the tour, however, as we were gathered in the courtyard of Dublin Castle, our tour guide was still with us and he was continuing the tour. He was discussing how the original Dublin Castle was built by the English back in the 1200s. I was surprising to know that since I was expecting the castle to be an original Irish structure. The English built this soon after they invaded Ireland, and it was meant to be a fort. Back then it looked more like a castle than it does now. It had several large towers which were connected by walls.
Looking Down of the Archeological Dig Site at Dublin Castle
When Ireland finally got rid of the English, the succeeding Irish government decided to improve on the structure of Dublin Castle, unfortunately, this meant that existing structures needed to be torn down to make way for the new one. All but one of the towers remained, but surprisingly, remains of the other towers have been found. We were brought to a building which was opposite the remaining castle tower to continue our tour. It was then that we were showed the foundation of the old tower. From the outside you would not be able to tell that this building housed the traces of the castle tower. The remains have been cordoned off by archeologists, so as not to disturb the site. Somehow people are not careful as I saw some coins at the bottom of the pit. I was intrigued since this was not the first time I saw coins at an open archeological dig. I saw them in the other side of the world in China, where for some reason local tourists would throw coins into these sites. I can’t fathom why they would do that but I suspect this might be something similar. I don’t have proof but I won’t be surprised if that were the case.
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