Towards an Environmental History of Nineteenth-Century Dublin

This chapter argues that nonhuman factors, including features of the landscape and animals, played an important role in shaping nineteenth-century Dublin. In the first section the chapter shows that the socio-economic gradient of the city was determined partly by human factors such as estate management and railway development and partly by landscape features such as Dublin’s rivers. The second section focuses on the role of animal businesses such as markets and slaughterhouses. I argue that the direction of urban modernization reflected economic and cultural dependence on certain types of animals. Despite new ideas in public health and new technologies of transport, animals remained in the city because Dublin’s economy and society depended upon them. The final sections reflect upon how environmental history approaches might help us to frame new understandings of Dublin.