It is long accepted in Dublin that Bull Island did not exist until the building of the North Bull Wall – which was built in an effort to reduce the silt ending up in Dublin Port and as a result this silt was diverted elsewhere to North Bull. In 1871 the island was estimated at around 2km long, and now in 2020 it is about 5km long and 1km wide.
The North Wall Quay light house was sort of built in and around 1820. Except that the location where it sits did not exist. We are not even certain when the existing version of the lighthouse was built. Was it really in 1904? This article is also a minor celebration of the work of the great lighthouse hero Peter Goulding
For many years I have walked over a bridge, without knowing I was on a bridge. The small red brick Donnycarney Bridge, which was built in 1896 and stands just beyond the Collins Avenue and Malahide Road junction, replaced an ancient stone structure called Scurlogue’s Bridge.
Luke Kelly Bridge (formerly Ballybough Bridge) may have been the site of the Battle of Clontarf.
There was news that brought much joy to the people of Balbriggan lighthouse. Their lighthouse had finally got its head together.
In 2019 Shane Lowry from Clara in County Offaly won the British Golf Open and underlined his international sporting superstar status. But Lowry was not the first bearded superstar from Offaly. Bindon Blood Stoney was born in County Offaly in 1828 and he would go on to be an engineering heavyweight – though without getting the same acclaim as Lowry.
Monuments need to be reconsidered in order to see them in a fresh way. But as we have seen from other articles here, they are very much part of their time, and often related to tourism. The Spire was installed in Dublin in 2003, and was hated by more people than it was loved. Now sixteen years later, many Dubliners will walk past without noticing it – yes, even though it is 120 metres high. This summer I wanted to take some photos so I could rediscover the essence of what is the Spire.
Annesley Bridge is further away from the sea than when it was first built in 1797. There was a time you could stand on the bridge, and easily see Clontarf Island only a few hundreds metres away. But now Clontarf Island is no longer visible, because it is not there at all!
When you talk about Alexandra Basin, you are talking about the dreams of one young man: Bindon Blood Stoney. He was the assistant engineer who had considerable vision, and conceived of much larger ships one day arriving in Dublin port. Today all of the new quays and docks that were designed and built by him are still able to take the biggest ships that are capable of entering the port. Keep Reading
The Vartry Water Supply Scheme provides drinking water for a supply area stretching from Roundwood, through north Wicklow up to south Dublin and serves over 200,000 people. Not only was this an extraordinary feat of engineering, it also caught the imagination of James Joyce.