The original settlement called Dubhlinn took the form of a Gaelic monastery due south of the pool in what is now the Aungier Street district. This was a typical enclosure site, still partly preserved in the pattern of streets focused on medieval St…

At the time of the takeover of Dublin by Anglo-Normans in 1170, what is now Essex Street West may still have been serving as a place for loading and unloading ocean-going trading vessels. Before then, the archaeology of Wood Quay revealed flood banks…

The modern history of Dublin Port begins in the early 1700s, when a bank was constructed to protect the south side of the channel at the mouth of the harbour, enabling ships to reach the city even in high winds. This was replaced by the South Bull…

I was born on the South side of Dublin. My family moved to Sheriff St. on the North side when I was four years old. I attended St. Laurence O’Toole’s Girls’ Primary School until age 13. I began working in the kitchen of the Brown Thomas store and,…

This experience was created by combining 'Dublin's Deep Sea Port' Map & Guide and 'North Wall Campshires' Map & Guide, Illustrations by John D. Ruddy.Scroll down to download the walk. North Wall The North Wall is an area which stretches…

Welcome to our audio theatrical experience! This piece takes you on an adventure, discovering Dublin Docklands and the lives that shape it. Rua and Hannah, two theatre makers from Dublin, guide you to 5 locations; Epic Museum, the Bottle Boy pub,…

First built between 1770 and 1773, the Hibernian Marine School (also called the Marine Nursey, or the Hibernian Marine Society’s School for the Children of Decayed Seamen) is located on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in the Dublin Docklands, and acted as a…

From the first manned hot air balloon flight in Paris in November 1783, balloons exerted a powerful force on the public imagination. Early observers of hot air balloons were not sure exactly what they were for, but ballooning’s capacity for setting…

From the eighteenth century on, ship captains were able to rely on precise timepieces, known as chronometers, to tell the time accurately, no matter where they were in the world. Still, it was good practice to double check these nautical instruments…

In Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Sylvia’s Lovers (1863), the provincial whaling town of Monkshaven (based on Whitby in the north of England) is thrown into a state of excitement by the return of a Greenland ship, and a crowd immediately gathers around…

This poem addresses Anna Livia, a carved keystone figure. Keystone heads were carved by Edward Smyth in the late eighteenth century. Anna Livia keystone heads grace Dublin's Custom House and the warehouse at 30- 32 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay.Anna Livia…

After the introduction of the uniform penny post in the United Kingdom in 1840, postal volumes grew rapidly and were an increasingly important part of goods traffic between Great Britain and Ireland. In 1849, the Post Office invited tenders for a…

Refurbished in 1989 and 2015, the diving bell is an imposing reminder of the industrial and engineering history of Dublin Port, as well as of teams of men who worked beneath the waters of the River Liffey. Dublin port was historically hazardous for…

Get to bell before the low tideSlow down the pipe mind your stride.Compressed air makes the breathing hardWorking for hours in heat and dark.Levelling out the seabed get it rightQuay stones to be laid before the night. Six in our gang in our metal…

At one stage in Dublin Port, roughly as many ships were worked outside the dock gates as inside. Ships were worked on the North Wall and along the South Quays. Cranes would lower their gibs into the ship's hatches, where cargo would be put on hoists…

Kay Foran sat down with Ports, Past and Present and shared the story of how at 16 years old, she started working in the Odlum's flour silos in Dublin port, although the manager was looking for a boy.

Tethered, tossed and twinkling,A beckoning beacon between bar and bull,Paving pathways in a bending bay of swirlingsurf and smiling shores.Invitation to our harbour of doubtFailte, céad mile, come surge like a stormin our settling stout. Tested in…

Audrey MacCready sat down with Ports, Past and Present and shared the story of an encounter between Dublin dockers and a tiger on board one of the arrived ships. Of all the unusual goods the dockers handled, this one came equipped with teeth.

The Dublin Dockers started by collecting old photographs and are delighted to report that our collection has broken through the 4,000 mark. In addition, people have donated over 6,000 documents which we have passed on to Dublin City Council. Most of…

Dublin port during the early twentieth century was a place of great business trade and work. Having been refurbished in the 1800s to give way for more shipping of trades and goods, the port had become a huge employment area for most of Dublin.…

Port health has been an important aspect of public health since at least the middle ages. The practise of quarantine began in the early modern period, and focused in particular on ensuring isolation for a period of forty days during outbreaks of…

At 5 o’clock on the morning of 31 January 2020, a handful of reporters and press photographers huddled in the pre-dawn rain at Dublin Port, where a group of senior Fine Gael politicians had donned yellow high-viz vests for a photo op. Then Tánaiste…

Dr Cordula Scherer leads the Irish Research Council-funded project, Food Smart Dublin. The project investigates how the seafood consumption of Dublin people can be encouraged by reconnecting with our coastal cultural heritage through the discovery of…

Dr Cordula Scherer leads the Irish Research Council-funded project, Food Smart Dublin. The project investigates how the seafood consumption of Dublin people can be encouraged by reconnecting with our coastal cultural heritage through the discovery of…

The close association of St Patrick with Ireland extends back to Patrick’s own writings, probably dating to the fifth century. In these letters he states that he came from a Christian family in Britain. The location of his upbringing in Britain has…

Hearing the name Dublin, most people think of the city sitting on a landmass. Gary Brown talked with Ports, Past and Present about how Dublin already begins out at sea at the Kish Lighthouse as it is the first visible marker that people encounter on…

The statue of Réalt na Mara (Our Lady, Star of the Sea) was erected from subscriptions from dockers, others working around Dublin Port, and a range of companies. It was sculpted by Cecil King and unveiled and blessed on 24 September 1972. Realt…

Dr Tomas Buitendijk is a postdoctoral researcher in UCD’s School of Biology and Environmental Science working on the Ecostructure project. Tomas spoke to James L. Smith about the formation of the North Bull Island behind Dublin Bay's North Bull…

Jenny Kilbride is a former competitive kayaker and the owner of Kayaking.ie. She spoke to Jonathan Evershed about her passion for the water, the natural heritage of the Dublin Bay Biosphere, and the joy of getting to know the seals on Dalkey…

The official first flight from Britain to Ireland took place on 22 April, 1912 in a Bleriot monoplane piloted by Denys Corbett Wilson, who flew from Fishguard in Wales to Enniscorthy in Wexford. But two years earlier another attempt came within a…

In years gone by in Ireland, there had to be taxes paid on certain goods as tobacco and wine coming from foreign lands to Ireland. But the people who were poor at the time they could not afford to be paying tax on these goods. They often decided to…

There are around 29 martello towers dotted around the bay; coastal, circular buildings with curved, nearly-windowless walls. Some have been taken up as unique seaside homes or museums, but many are unused and inaccessible. Most were built in…

By October 1918, it had become apparent that the First World War was slowly drawing to a close. It was not yet foreseeable whether it would be over by Christmas, a hope annually revived since 1914, but an end to the fighting lay in the near future.…