Hidden Dublin introduces the reader to the scandalous and fantastic lives of infamous criminals and other leading Dublin personalities in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Criminal incidents, accidents, whippings, beatings, jail escapes and hangings were all part of Dublin’s ‘brilliant parade’ in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including actors, clergymen, scientists, politicians and rogues and rascals of every hue. Hopkins describes the poverty, soup kitchens, food riots, street beggars and workhouses that were all a feature of Dublin life.

He also introduces us to the weird, wonderful and often downright strange customs and pastimes of Dubliners stretching back to the Middle Ages, such as the ‘bearing of balls’ annual parade by the city’s bachelors and the ritual humiliation of would-be bridegrooms at the bullring.