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Book Details

Published by Royal Irish Academy

January 1996

Hardback

Number of pages: 140

ISBN: 9781874045342

This volume brings together the first six towns of the ‘Irish Historic Towns Atlas’ series, previously published as individual fascicles. These towns - Kildare, Carrickfergus, Bandon, Kells, Mullingar and Athlone - illustrate characteristic periods of town formation in Ireland. Kildare and Kells, with their distinctive round towers, have their origins in Early Christian monastic sites, while Carrickfergus and Athlone, with their strategically-placed castles, are part of the extensive network of colonial towns built by the Anglo-Normans after their arrival in the late 12th century. Bandon is a good example of an early modern plantation town, built by English settlers in the 17th century. Mullingar is a typical market centre, where the manorial element remained important from the town's beginnings in the medieval period, through to its revival in early modern times. The core strength of the atlas project is presenting large-scale town plans as historical documents, showing the different modes of origin and subsequent growth-phases of Irish towns. The topographical history of these towns aims to reflect the complex cultural identity of Ireland.

 
Authors: 
No. 1 Kildare (1986) J.H. Andrews
No. 2 Carrickfergus (1986) Philip Robinson
No. 3 Bandon (1988) Patrick O'Flanagan
No. 4 Kells (1990) Anngret Simms with Katharine Simms
No. 5 Mullingar (1992) J.H. Andrews with K.M. Davies
No. 6 Athlone (1994) Harman Murtagh
 
Series editors: Anngret Simms, H.B. Clarke, Raymond Gillespie; Consultant editor: J.H. Andrews; Cartographic editor: K.M. Davies.
 
The Irish Historic Towns Atlas is a research project of the Royal Irish Academy and is part of a wider European scheme. www.ihta.ie.
 

About the authors

J.H. Andrews

John Andrews was a consultant editor of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas project in the Royal Irish Academy. He was formerly an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, Trinity College, Dublin. He was an authority on the history of mapping in Ireland and amongst his many publications are Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 1, Kildare (1986) and Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 5, Mullingar (1992) with K.M. Davies.

Philip Robinson

Anngret Simms

Anngret Simms is an editorial board member of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas, a research project of the Royal Irish Academy. She is Professor Emeritus of Historical Geography at University College Dublin. She is a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Jointly with Howard Clarke she represents Ireland on the International Commission for the History of Towns, where she serves as a convener of the atlas working group. Her main research interest is the comparative history of towns in western (Ireland) and central Europe. She is author of Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 4, Kells (1990) with Katharine Simms and joint editor (with Howard B. Clarke) of Lords and towns in Medieval Europe (2015).

Katharine Simms

Patrick O'Flanagan

Harman Murtagh

K.M. Davies