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Ireland has a very significant urban tradition stretching back well over a millennium. The earliest stages of town development can be traced at a few of the larger early medieval monastic sites such as Armagh and Kildare. A new wave of urban growth was instigated by Scandinavian settlers - five of Ireland’s largest cities were founded primarily as trading ports at strategic locations by the Vikings in the ninth and tenth centuries. The arrival of the Anglo-Normans in the second half of the twelfth century initiated another crucial phase of urban generation, with more than fifty towns being founded. A further stage of town creation was the plantation era of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Through archaeological, documentary and other sources, this module will trace the development of urban Ireland from the early medieval period through to the seventeenth century.
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