This lecture will look at two sites that are integral to the story of the Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland.
This lecture will look at two sites that are integral to the story of the Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland. In the mid-12th century, Diarmait MacMurchada, King of Leinster, established a monastery in Ferns. Some 25km due south of Ferns, a natural promontory forms a pinch point in the River Slaney as it enters Wexford harbour. This strategic site was chosen by Robert FitzStephen, one of the leaders of the advance wave of the invasion in May 1169, as the site for a Ringwork Castle, the first Anglo-Norman stronghold to be built in this island.
Speaker: Dr Stephen Mandal is co-founder (with Dr Denis Shine) of the Irish Heritage School, a private educational organisation. Stephen graduated from TCD (1991) with a degree in Geology and completed his PhD in Geoarchaeology in 1995. He has co-authored three academic books and contributed to numerous books and journals on subjects as wide ranging as geoarchaeology, medieval archaeology and community heritage.
