The Quays
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This boardwalk really has gone to their heads, hasn’t it?
Dick Gleeson is generally very clued in, so I’m disappointed he’s mooting it.
As said already, you absolutely couldn’t put a boardwalk on Inns Quay (Four Courts quay).
That whole area – with the Four Courts and its flanking classical stone bridges – is the essence of Dublin.Not only could you not put a boardwalk between those bridges, but you couldn’t put one leading up to them from the other side either. So no boardwalk west of Grattan Bridge then. And no boardwalk between the Four Courts’ west bridge and the next bridge down, Mellowes (aka Queen Maev) Bridge, which is the most drop dead beautiful of all the Liffey’s old stone bridges. Then the next two stretches of quay are probably too short for a boardwalk, thanks to the Calatrava bridge being stupidly shoved in between two existing bridges, destroying the regular spacing of bridges on the Liffey 😡 (but that’s another story).
So that just leaves the long stretch outside Collins Barracks Museum. A boardwalk might be ok here. This quay is so long that the boardwalk wouldn’t even have to come near the bridges – thereby obviating the boardwalk’s fundamental design flaw: that it crashes into bridges.
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Mellowes (Queen Maev) Bridge – you absolutely couldn’t put a boardwalk anywhere near this gem.
Obvious point here but after Grattan Bridge, at low tide, the river stinks, there’s not enough water beyound Grattan except at high tide to made the walk pleasureable, If they build boardwalk on to Heuston, they will have to put in a weir.
And wasn’t that the main reason the new Custom House was built further downstream, because ships kept hitting a huge rock outside the old Custom House at Grattan (Essex) Bridge?
I wonder will the weir ever come about? On the one hand you would be upsetting the natural flow and beauty of the river; on the other, the area around Heuston looks (and smells) particularly disgusting at low tide and something needs to be done about it.
ive seen the boat plying the waves down at the IFSC but its not operating for paying passengers yet . Looks well but it seems that there’s no outside seating so passengers will all be cooped up inside.
Although slightly unrelated, has anyone noticed the distinct lack of water in the Liffey at low tide during this recent dry spell? When passing over the Liffey on the LUAS at Heuston the past few mornings, the liffey is looking more like a small stream with mud and trollies and cones everywhere (and a nasty smell!). Maybe the rain forecast this weekend will alleviate things somewhat.
Yes – I had reason to wait about on Grattan Bridge for a while about two months ago, and was astonished at just how low the Liffey can actually go – the western side of the bridge’s waters were virtually non-existant!
All that was left were pools of water amongst acres of mud plains and shoopping trollies and all the rest.
It was extraordinary, not to mention fascinating just to rest on the side and spot all the various ‘items’ on the river bed – has anyone ever seen it this low before? The gulls were having a great time on the river bed, eating all forms of life 🙂When does the Four Courts stretch of balustrading date from does anyone know? Always assumed around 1810-30 due to its Regencyish appearance….
And when were the balusters painted? A criminal offence were stone be painted over today, but you have to admit it works exceedingly well :). 1930s perhaps?
It’s a great pity more of the quays weren’t fitted with these, indeed indicative of the lack of attention paid to Dublin’s quays throughout the centuries, with the exception of Ormonde’s move.@Graham Hickey wrote:
When does the Four Courts stretch of balustrading date from does anyone know? Always assumed around 1810-30 due to its Regencyish appearance….
Yeah, it would seem to: The two almost identical stone bridges to the east and west of the Four Courts were built at about the same time (circa 1815), and as the balustrade on Inns Quay links the balustrade of these two bridges, it must date from that time also. The bridges and balustrade make a setpiece with the Four Courts.
I’m nearly sure the balusters are of cast iron.
@Graham Hickey wrote:
It’s a great pity more of the quays weren’t fitted with these
I have say I like the way the balustrade appears only along the quay in front of Four Courts.
Another pic of the balustrade.
It has a beautiful deep roll-moulding at the base of the balustrade on the the inside wall – seen here.They didn’t do things by halves back then!
I remember reading that Chaill O’Neill was once employed to draw up a plan for the regeneration of the quays (never implimented of coruse). Is there any UCD students (past or present) that know of a copy of the report.
there’s definately a copy of this in Bolton St library, as part of a compendium I believe. I think that ENFO have a copy as well.
It isn’t related to the “Dublin, a City in Crisis” report by the RIAI in the 1970s by any chance.
Don’t think so- not really sure. Its part of a series of suggestions for urban renewal in the city. The Heuston plan called for a monumental entrance into the city – very Parisian. Its can be found in the planning section of the library.
There was an interesting tidbit in the Irish Times today saying that planning is being sought for a seven-storey 99-bed hotel on a site at Ormond Quay, Charles St West and Ormond Square.
This derelict site has been a real sore point for the City Council for years as it’s an obvious blackspot, which is all-too visible from the City Manager’s balcony.
Anyway, good to see something is finally happening. It certainly has the space to do something really daring. I can’t see that happening but it’s one of those sites where anything would be better than what’s there.
The developers are Pierse Contracting if anyone did have access to the models/plans.It looks over scaled and is a poor relation to the design that the same architectural practice submitted to win a competition on the site in 1999. Seven Soreys at this location would obliterate the vista of the Four Courts Dome from the Lower Quays.
If the CC were so concerned as to its derelict state then why did thye leave it in this condition for so long. It was only sold last year…maybe the year before. Its a disgrace it should have been left like that.
Still movement at last. I hope its a better design than the Ormond Hotel. I agree that its a significant site that needs a sensitive design. All the muck thats been put up along the Quays over the years. Can we please have something worth talking about
What would people think of the idea of re-rooting the luas away from Collins Barracks on to Wolfe Tone Quay and returning through Liffey St. West to Benburb St. So that the section of track on Benburb St. that would be removed, could facilitate the intigration of the Croppies Acre into the grounds of the museum.eg the section of Benburb St. that seperates the Croppies Acre and the museum grounds would be merged into the park land.
Crestfield, I think it would have been a nice idea but the expense involved could not be justified so soon after actually finishing the line.
Considering that it is a Luas only street, you could still integrate the Croppies Acre and Museum.
However, i’d say the real issue in not opening up that area more, especially the park is because of a fear of anti-social activity.
The eventual aim should be for an open public space running from the quays up through Collins Barracks with permanent access to Arbour Hill rather than sending people around and down Montpelier Hill.
It’s actually shameful that the Luas (which 95 per cent serves the southside) only moves on to the northside here and then doesn’t even provide ease of access for the residents of Stoneybatter (the only significant northside population who get any use out of it) who are forced to walk the long way around instead.
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