This is a study of the medieval region that contained and was defined by the presence of Ireland’s largest nucleated settlement. The overriding aim is to construct a picture of the medieval landscape and settlement features of the area using a wide range of archaeological and documentary sources.

It is primarily a study of the countryside rather than of the city, but rural-urban interaction is nevertheless an important theme. The city, then as now, profoundly affected its surrounding area, not least by its demands for food, fuel, raw materials and human resources. Although this is not a provisioning study, consideration is given to the ways in which resources may have been developed to service the city and how this affected the landscape and settlement features of the region.

In undertaking such a study, the Medieval Rural Settlement Project is breaking new ground in Ireland and is responding to a recognised need for research on urban hinterlands. It is hoped that the study will lay foundations both for future work on the relationship between capital and countryside and for studies of other urban hinterlands in Ireland. This would enable the hinterland of Dublin to be compared with the hinterlands of other Irish towns and urban centres elsewhere.