‘She is no small town, and this is no small story…’

On the Dublin streets we walk every day, there are hidden reminders of the lesser-known heroes and events that have contributed to the evolving story of our capital. The city’s motto, ‘the obedience of the citizens produces a happy city’, may feel outdated and loaded today but the three burning castles of its ancient coat of arms have come to represent the indomitable spirit, creativity and vision that define this big town.

Inspired by the No. 1 podcast, Three Castles Burning: A History of Dublin in Twelve Streets champions the activists, workers, architects, poets, migrants, artists and merchants who have made and remade the city we know and love by going beneath the many layers of twelve key streets where they lived and worked. Because, in the city Joyce called the ‘Hibernian Metropolis’, the disobedience of its citizens is the cornerstone of its past, present and future.

DONAL FALLON is a historian of Dublin, with a particular interest in the social history of the city. A founder of the popular Come Here To Me! blog in 2009, since 2019 he has presented the Three Castles Burning podcast, exploring the many histories of the Irish capital. His previous publications include 14 Henrietta Street: From Tenement to Suburbia (2021) and he is formerly Historian-in-Residence to Dublin City Council.