Hidden Dublin

Dublin in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was a city of spectacle and disorder. Public whippings, street brawls, accidents, prison breaks and executions made up its daily life, and its cast of characters ranged from stage performers and churchmen to scientists, politicians and outright scoundrels.

Frank Hopkins also turns to the city's hardships. Poverty was widespread, and he examines the soup kitchens, food riots, begging on the streets and the workhouses that formed part of ordinary life for many Dubliners.

The book reaches back to the Middle Ages to explore the city's stranger traditions and pastimes, some of them quirky, some surprising. One example is an annual parade of the city's bachelors.