The Vikings settled on this part of the north bank of the Liffey, already known by that stage as Oxmantown. In the 17C it was redeveloped on a grid plan around Oxmantown Green, the present-day Smithfield, with its hospital and free school, the Bluecoat School. On the waterfront are many solicitors’ offices, which have flourished since Ireland granted tax breaks to the foreign companies whose statutes they draw up.