Bridges

Dublin is the first city I visited as a child.

I teach languages, so I couldn’t resist using a few words of German and Irish. I’ve tried to spice up the dry, factual information with a bit of humour, including references to pop stars

To keep to the standard length, I speak quickly, so if you’re finding it difficult to follow, maybe you’re a learner of English as a Foreign Language, or there’s background noise, switch on the subtitles and download the PDF script. For more information, I recommend www.bridgesofdublin.ie, a project of Dublin City Council. So what hidden messages can Dublin’s bridges tell us? Does the statue by O’Connell Bridge look a bit like Terry Wogan and what’s all that about Johnny Rotten bridge? A bridge - eine Brücke in German - is a thing that spans a river or other hindrance and helps pedestrians, traffic, sometimes boats or even water - to get from one side to the other.

But the bridges in Dublin are more than that.

Unlike the London bridges, most have been renamed since Ireland became independent. They reveal telling facts about Ireland, its history and identity, that most visitors overlook. So let’s not be like most visitors. Let’s not just stumble from pub to pub in the Temple Bar district, though that can be fun, let’s open our eyes, take a few steps down to the river, and as I like to say, look explore and capture. The River Liffey defines Dublin and is crossed by a series of bridges, just like the River. Vltava in Prague. It rises in the Wicklow mountains and wends its way 132 km to the sea. Our first bridge is 5 miles or 8km west of Dublin city centre, the Westlink Bridge.

Just a standard motorway bridge like any other, you might think, but this one was a long time coming. Actually it’s two bridges, the first appeared in 1990, the second in 2003. The joys of the Autobahn came late to the Republic of Ireland, its first true motorway opened in 1983, around 60 years after Germany, 25 years after the UK. The next bridge is Farmleigh Bridge, a very English-sounding name. It is thought to have been built by the Guinness family to carry water across the river. It’s now disused. There was a walkway, but the decking has gone. In the village of Chapelizod, there’s a stone bridge built in 1753.

In 2011, it was named the Anna Livia Bridge, recalling a character in a novel by James Joyce. And here’s another telling fact. Dublin is a city of famous writers, three of whom have bridges named after them. Who are the other two? It was widened with pedestrian walkways, another sign of changing times: The rise of the motor car. This is Island Bridge, originally named Sarah's bridge after Sarah Fane, wife of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, a member of the ruling aristocracy, or Protestant Ascendency, with origins in England. But something struck me. The English name Fane sounds like Sinn Fein, the nationalist party founded in 1905.

Was her name a portent of the future or was it just a co-incidence? King’s Bridge was opened in 1828 and was named after the controversial King George IV, whose mother was born in Germany. The nearby station was also called Kingsbridge. In 1922 it became.

Sarsfield Bridge and in 1941 both bridge

And station were renamed after sean heuston, a leader of the 1916 uprising.

Confusing? Definitely! My dad never stopped calling them both Kings Bridge. A bridge named after a dissolute British king renamed twice after nationalist heroes, commemorated in Irish on a plaque with full Irish script. This historical tension, this transition from colonialism to nationalism, is part of the Irish identity. But isn’t there another famous Irish hero called is it Heuston? No, actually it’s Paul.

Hewson, alias Bono. Maybe he should have a bridge named after him. Today this early 19th century bridge is reserved for early 21st century trams and pedestrians. Dublin’s tram system is called Luas. Some years later, Frank Sherwin Bridge was built. So who was Frank Sherwin? Country music star? Hero of the independence movement? No, he was a Dublin independent TD, i.e member of the Irish parliament. We’ll stop in a small park to view the statue of Anna Livia, the personification of the River Liffey. The popularly named ‘Floozy in the Jacuzzi’ was created by Eamonn O’Doherty and was moved here from O’Connell Street to make way for the Spire.


Rory O'More Bridge is located near the Guinness Brewery. The present cast iron bridge was opened in 1859 and was made in St Helens, near Liverpool. There’s another hidden clue: At that time Ireland was economically integrated with Britain, unlike today. So who was Rory O’More? A rock guitarist? No, that was Rory Gallagher. Rory O’More was an organiser of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. And there, another key to the Irish identity. The past in Ireland is, what’s the word allgegenwärtig - it’s everywhere in the present. Our next bridge is named after Ireland’s most famous writer, James Joyce.

The bridge was designed by Santiago Calatrava and opened in 2003, but I feel its high tech, over-complex design has no connection at all with the era of James Joyce and clashes with its surroundings. That’s him in the picture on the house where his short story ‘The Dead’ was set. Turning left and looking east along this section of the river, the view reminds me of the old. Ireland, a place caught in a time-warp, bearing a heavy mantle of the past, remembered in sepia tones with fondness and bitterness. This is a digital photo, sepia done in Photoshop. Now it’s Mellows Bridge Dublin’s oldest surviving bridge, built in 1768, a powerful relic of a distant age. Who’s that singer from Manchester called Liam, with Irish parents? No, not that Liam, Liam Gallagher! This Liam, Liam Mellows took part in the Easter Uprising of 1916, but he was born and spent part of his childhood in Ashton-under-Lyne near Manchester. By the way, these photos capture the Quays before the Port Tunnel, at a time when they were clogged with HGVs.

Father Mathew Bridge was built in 1816 and is on the site of the oldest bridge in Dublin, Dublin Bridge, dating from 1014. In 1938 it was named after Father Mathew, Catholic priest and teetotalist reformer. So there’s three hidden messages in one - Dublin has ancient origins, Ireland has a strong Catholic identity, as well as a problem with alcohol. The former Richmond Bridge - very English sounding - was renamed in 1923 O’Donovan Rossa bridge. Sounds like an ancient warrior or maybe a traditional musician, but he was a leader who campaigned for Irish independence.

You can never really get away from

That issue here.

Intriguingly, the illuminated keystone head is eroded.

Our next bridge has three names: Grattan Bridge is its official name, Capel Street Bridge its popular name, Essex Bridge its original name.

Very English, reminds me of the singer David Essex, but the name comes from the 1st Earl of Essex, Arthur Capell, from Watford near London, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1631-1683. Are you taking all this in? There’s going to be a test at the end, only kidding. Henry Grattan was an Irish politician and lawyer. This was once the last bridge before the sea. Can you visualise the river in 1780 full of tall sailing ships? Then in the 19th century more bridges were built and the centre shifted downstream. I love the ornate seahorses and lanterns, another symbol of Dublin. The Millennium Bridge is symbolic of changing times, a bridge only for pedestrians it is - to use the German word - barrierefrei, it’s free of barriers, a much better word than. English ‘accessible’, unlike its venerable but for the disabled, inaccessible neighour, the Halfpenny Bridge.

The Millennium Bridge was designed and built in Ireland and opened in 1999. The Ha’penny Bridge remains the best loved, most celebrated, most photographed and most crossed bridge in Dublin. I’ve walked across it many times. There was a toll of half a penny, hence the name. My mother remembers it as the Penny Halfpenny bridge, showing 19th century inflation. It was named after a British military hero who was born in Dublin, the Duke of Wellington, renovated in 2001, but I think the lighting is too bright. They should ideally go back to oil lamps as used, I think, when it opened in 1816, or get some imitation ones from Ikea. Our next bridge is named after a towering figure of 19th century Irish politics, Daniel O’Connell.

Formerly Carlisle Bridge, it’s said to be a perfect square but in fact it’s 45 by 50 metres, that’s 148 by 164 feet. The keystone head, a woman, looks almost new. She symbolises the river Liffey. The statue of Daniel O’Connell watches over the bridge. Is there a resemblance with another towering Irish personality,Terry Wogan? My mother’s maiden name is O’Connell, so I’ll dedicate it unofficially to her. These are my parents on O’Connell Street, around 1954. Next, another new bridge from 2014, but sorry, Autos sind verboten - cars are not allowed! It carries Luas trams across the river. It’s named after Rosie Hackett.

Now that reminds me of Steve Hackett, lead guitarist of Genesis, but this was Rosie Hackett, trade union leader, the only bridge named after a woman, apart from Sara’s Bridge. Butt Bridge sounds vaguely rude to modern ears. It was named after Isaac Butt, lawyer and politician. It has a separate Irish name - Droichead na Comhdhála, recalling the. Roman Catholic Eucharistic Congress, a major international event held in 1932. The Loop Line Bridge can be seen as an early example of bad planning. It carries the north-south railway line across the river but blocks the view of the magnificent. Custom House.

It was built in 1891.

Alternative routes have been proposed but have never materialised.

There are great views from trains crossing the bridge. The Talbot Memorial Bridge dates from 1978. I remember it being built. ‘Droichead’ is the Irish word for bridge. It’s named after Matt Talbot, an Irish ascetic revered by many Catholics for his piety, charity and mortification of the flesh, that’s from Wikipedia. He moved from alcoholism to teetotalism and extreme religious devotion.

There are not many like him around today. Now we reach the bridge named after our second Irish writer, Sean O’Casey, another pedestrian-only bridge. It was opened in 2005. For me, the design doesn’t bring to mind the era of Sean O’Casey, but then how could it? It has a similarity to London’s Millennium Bridge. So perhaps London could follow Dublin’s lead and rename some of its bridges after influential cultural figures, maybe London musicians of Irish descent. How about Johnny Rotten Bridge or possibly Boy George Bridge? Okay let’s continue to my favourite modern bridge, Samuel Beckett Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava, built in Holland and floated into place - eingeschwommen - in 2009. It’s similar to a harp and so has become a national symbol. Irish writer Samuel Beckett, who like me went to TCD, lived in Paris and wrote in both French and English.

Finally we reach the East Link bridge opened in 1983, later renamed after Thomas Clarke, a leader of the 1916 rising. You can see this bridge in U2’s Pride in the Name of Love article, along with the iconic Poolbeg Chimneys. The next bridge due east of here is the Britannia Bridge in North Wales, which carries the A55, Dublin’s eastern approach road across the Menai Straits and on to the M53 for Liverpool and the M56 for Manchester. So I hope you enjoyed this tour along the river in the great city of Dublin. Every person on the island of Great Britain, resident or visitor needs to visit Dublin and I’ll explain why in another article.