Mountjoy Square

Article summary

Mountjoy Square ( ) is a garden square in Dublin, Ireland, on the Northside of the city just under a kilometre from the River Liffey. One of five Georgian squares in Dublin, it was planned and developed in the late 18th century by Luke Gardiner, 1st Viscount Mountjoy. It is surrounded on all sides by terraced, red-brick Georgian houses. Construction of the houses began piecemeal in 1792 and the final property was completed in 1818. Over the centuries, the square has been home to many of Dublin's most prominent people: lawyers, churchmen, politicians, writers and visual artists. The writer James Joyce lived around the square during some of his formative years, playwright Seán O'Casey wrote and set some of his most famous plays on the square while living there, W. B. Yeats stayed there with his friend John O'Leary, and more recently, much of the Oscar-winning film Once was made in the square. Historic meetings have taken place there, including planning for the Easter Rising and some of the earliest Dáil meetings. Prominent Irish Unionists and Republicans have shared the square. Mountjoy can boast of being Dublin's only true Georgian square, each of its sides being exactly 140 metres in length. While the North, East and West sides each have 18 houses, the South has 19, reflecting some variation in plot sizes.…

Key claims

1. date of birth: 1868 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
2. date of birth: 1956 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
3. date of death: 1755 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
4. date of death: 1803 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
5. publication date: 1978 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of birth is "1868". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. The record states that the date of birth is "1956". What evidence would count against this claim?
4. The record states that the date of death is "1755". What evidence would count against this claim?
5. The record states that the date of death is "1803". What evidence would count against this claim?
6. The record states that the publication date is "1978". What evidence would count against this claim?
7. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
8. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1366858816