We live about a twenty-second walk from the River Liffey. So we see it every single day. It plays an important role in the life of Dubs, too! The bridges of Dublin are surprisingly numerous (about two dozen, of different kinds). You can hop back and forth from the north to the south every five minutes. And – since we do just that most days – we thought we’d learn a little more about these bridges and their namesakes. Those we’ve described below will give you a vivid sense of the defining characteristics of the Irish, from a revolutionary spirit, to unwieldy bureaucracy, to the avoidance of alcohol (really!) to literature, to fondness for dynamite, to the inability to resist a good joke. And some of them are just cool bridges.
- Tom Clarke Bridge: this is the one furthest east, a traditional toll bridge that rises up in the middle, in less than a minute! And Tom Clarke was one of the Irish Republicans shot in Kilmanhaim Gaol for his involvement in the Easter Uprising. (Several other bridges, less pretty, are named after other revolutionary heroes).
- Samuel Beckett Bridge: (the next one upstream, going west) is interesting both for its namesake and appearance. Samuel Beckett is probably the most famous playwright in Ireland (though Shaw and Wilde and Heaney give him a run for his money, don’t they?). We have more to say about him, so we’ll stick to the bridge here. It’s a beauty, a steel swing bridge, i.e. one end opens up, to a 90-degree angle, to allow ships through. From an engineering perspective, that means – well, how would we know? But, clearly support for the bridge comes from only one side, unlike most moving bridges, which separate in the middle. Also, it looks like a harp!
- Seán O’Casey Bridge (one further upstream), is also a swing bridge, but a much less impressive-looking one. We like this one ever since we found out that the mechanism that opened the bridge didn’t work for four years (2010-14). Also because of Seán O’Casey, who wrote plays about the Irish working classes. And it’s called ‘the quiver in the river’, because it moves.
- The Loopline Bridge (two over, finished in 1891) isn’t much to look at. It is notoriously ugly, on most Dubs’ lists of the worst eyesores in the city, even after they stopped using it for giant Irish Rail billboards. (It’s a railway bridge.)
- Rosie Hackett Bridge (two more over), was a labor leader in the early 20th century and an early member of James Connolly’s Irish Citizen Army (a kind of precursor to the IRA). She performed first aid in the Easter Uprising and spent ten days in Kilmanham Gaol.
- O’Connell Bridge (one over): takes its name, as does the street it joins, from Daniel O’Connell, a key figure in Catholic emancipation (1829). He’s cool and all that, but what we really like about this bridge is the hoax plaque in honor of Father Pat Noise. City officials removed it, but a new one appeared shortly thereafter.
- Liffey Bridge (Ha’penny Bridge; one over): This cast-iron bridge is the most famous, not least for its history (for nearly a century, pedestrians paid a half-penny toll to cross it). Many consider it the most beautiful of the bridges of Dublin.
- Grattan Bridge (two over) is on the site of one of the earliest bridges (the Essex bridge) built in 1676. It’s another beauty; we love its cast iron hippocamps!
- O’Donovan Rossa Bridge (one over) takes its name from a leader in the Irish Republican Brotherhood (a more direct precursor of the IRA). Elected to the Irish parliament, he couldn’t serve because he had been convicted of a felony. He left for the US and from there organized several ‘dynamite campaigns’ (this means just what you think it does), especially in London, for the Republican cause.
- Father Mathew Bridge (one over): this is the site of the earliest (wooden) bridge, right in the medieval core of the city, ca 1014. Father Mathew founded the temperance movement in Ireland, and originated the pledge. This one is also famous for its location to our flat, where temperance is in shockingly short supply.
- James Joyce bridge (two over). You already know all about this guy from our Bloomsday post. His bridge opened on Bloomsday 2003. And the flat on the south side of the street is the setting for Joyce’s short story The Dead. Also, the bottom is transparent.
We hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about the colourful people and bridges of Dublin!
