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Turk's Head Chop House est. 1760 (previously The
Parliament Inn) Bar and restaurant
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Although, one has to eat and Temple Bar offers plenty of
choices. So I did take a few photos, mostly on Parliament Street.
The Temple Bar area had a completely different feel from when I used to visit Dublin more regularly in the 1990s; I didn’t see many cobbled streets, and no old bookshops or record stores, nor bohemian and alternative outlets, but rather, many sleek places, “pop culture” “cult entertainment,” “galleries,” “cocktail menus,” cafés, expensive food…
I tried to save on space by taken only one picture of the-nice-shop-front-with-the-reflections-of-the-bicycles-and-the-statue-in-the-window-beside-the-granite-milestone-or-is-it-a-litter-bin-I-don’t-know…
It is called Chariot of Life. It was unveiled in 1982,
the year following the death of its author, sculptor Oisín Kelly (born in
Dublin). The sculpture is made of copper and bronze and represents Reason
controlling Emotions.
< This is the back of Smock Alley Theatre (1662) which was a church between 1885 and 1989 and is now the theatre once more (http://picturesofdubhlinn.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/fishamble-street-christ-church-cathedral.html)
To get to O’Connell Bridge (next post), I preferred walking along the river, where the street’s name keeps changing: Wellington Quay, Crampton Quay, Aston Quay.
<
This large and unusual looking building on Essex Quay is
a protected structure. It is used by a solicitors firm. There are quite a few
of them around here, so near the Four Courts.
The most surprising features are the colourful friezes. They are illustrating the history of hygiene, although the top one
seems to depict various hard jobs (farming, building, boat making) the types
that make one very dirty.
The building was originally designed for William Lever
(1851-1925) of Lever Brothers, the soap-making company – he had started the
business by manufacturing Sunlight Soap.
Lever was big on advertising and this façade must have
been seen as a marketing tool. I guess Lever also washed his hands of the
forced labour used in Africa for getting cheap palm oil…
< Ornate cast iron lamp standard on Grattan Bridge,
featuring the mythical half-horse and half-fish hippocampus.
Named after Henry Grattan (1746-1820) an Irish politician., this stone bridge was built in
1755, where the Essex Bridge had collapsed. It was widened in 1872 with cast
iron supports and supposedly modelled on Westminster Bridge in London (http://gherkinscall.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/westminster-bridge.html)
I don’t know how many bridges in the world are called
Millennium Bridge, but this might be the least eventful one! Installed in December
1999. Steel and concrete. One span pedestrian footbridge. One photo was plenty.
The Millennium Bridge is less than 200 metres from the 211-year-old
Ha’penny Bridge.
In 2013, Dublin City Council removed 300 kg of ♥ padlocks off the two footbridges: Ha’penny and Millennium bridges.
Ha’penny Bridge (1816) is a one span footbridge, in cast
iron.
First named the Wellington Bridge after the Duke of
Wellington who was born in Dublin, it was then known as the Liffey Bridge –
which is still its official name in Irish "Droichead na Life".
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Ha'penny Bridge, Liberty Hall tower and the dome of Custom House
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The bridge was constructed because the ferries used to
cross the rivers were considered unsafe, and a toll of half a penny, matching
the cost of using the ferry, was put in place for using the bridge. Although
that was supposed to be only for 100 years, it lasted until 1919 and the cost
had been increased to 1½ pence…
Nowadays, over 20,000 people use the bridge every day. It
was dismantled, rebuilt and strengthened by Harland & Wolff of Belfast in
2001 and reopened a few days before Christmas when the foot traffic had been estimated
to increase to 300,000…
