BRIDGESPOTTING

An important feature of the River Liffey in Dublin, similar to Glasgow and Newcastle, is the way the docks and warehouses of the port city evolved. Each city was developed at the furthest inland location where ocean-going ships could navigate. At that location, docks and warehouses were developed to support the shipping industry, but no bridges could be constructed because they would obstruct shipping. A short distance further inland, the river was narrower. Stone arch and early iron bridges were developed in those areas in the 1700s and 1800s, and are a major part of the appeal of these historic city centers to tourists.

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Fast forward to the twentieth century, and trucks and railroads had made overland travel and transport of goods more efficient. Because it was no longer necessary to bring ships as far inland as possible, docks and warehouses could be constructed in deeper waters closer to the coast, thus allowing larger, more efficient ships to be used for trade. This transition made the small-scale docks and warehouses near the city centers obsolete, and in many cities, such as Dublin, these areas became derelict and abandoned for much of the twentieth century. However, by the late twentieth century, the commercial and residential real estate value of the former dockland areas was recognized. The former warehouses were converted to offices and condos, and sparking, glass-sided new buildings were constructed. Most importantly for bridge enthusiasts, there was no longer any commercial shipping in these areas, so bridges could be constructed. In keeping with the modern architecture of the new development, many of these were modernistic, sculptural bridges, including pedestrian-only bridges.

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This evolution along the River Liffey, in Dublin, has resulted in 15 interesting bridges ranging from extremely old to brand new, from pedestrian to traffic-bearing, and from plain to extremely ornate. The river flows almost directly from west to east through central Dublin, for about four miles from the Seán Heuston Train Station on the west to the Docklands district of the city near the harbor to the east. The central part of the area is defined by several stone arch bridges (Mellows, Father Mathew, and O’Donovan Rossa) dating from the 1700s, intermixed with a few decorative iron bridges (Ha’Penny, Rory O’More, Grattan, and Seán Heuston from the 1800s. Then, there are two major modern, sculptural bridges (Sean O’Casey and Samuel Beckett) in the former Docklands area, and two other modernistic bridges (Millennium Footbridge and James Joyce) mixed in among the older bridges in the central tourist area.

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Because of the wide variety of interesting bridges in the central tourist area, there are descriptions of the bridges of Dublin scattered throughout my two Bridgespotting books. Chapter 4 of Bridgespotting: A Guide to Bridges that Connect People, Places, and Times, describes the decorations constructed on the Seán Heuston Bridge to celebrate the visit of King George IV to the city in 1821. Chapter 5 of Bridgespotting focuses on the modernistic, sculptural bridges that serve as prominent works of public, modern art, and Chapter 6 describes how the works of three prominent Irish authors (Joyce, Beckett, and O’Casey) have been integrated into the location, design, and decorations of three of the Dublin bridges. Finally, Chapter 9 of Bridgespotting Part 2 provides a comprehensive description of a tour of all of the bridges, four miles from the train station to the Docklands.