Book Review

Three Castles Burning: Entertaining stories from Dublin’s past allows hidden gems to shine

Based on the Three Castles Burning podcast, historian Donal Fallon picks 12 streets in the capital to paint a bigger picture of the city through the ages

Dublin of yesteryear: in his book, Donal Fallon uses individual streets as a base, from which he extrapolates into the surrounding environs and those who lived, worked or imbibed there. Picture: Getty

Donal Fallon is a former Historian-in-Residence at Dublin City Council and presenter of the hugely popular Three Castles Burning podcast. It’s a social history dedicated to our capital city with an emphasis on some of its lesser-known human stories.

In this book based on the podcast, Fallon uses a dozen Dublin streets to paint a bigger picture. The format allows him to move through eras with ease, veering from Georgian splendour to tenement squalor, from ...