URBAN PHOTOGRAPHS

Urban Expression And Depression By Infomatique

Bridge

VERY LOW RAILWAY BRIDGE AT BOSTON SIDINGS

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VERY LOW RAILWAY BRIDGE AT BOSTON SIDINGS[ GRAND CANAL QUAY – CLANWILLIAM TERRACE]

I had not noticed until day that traffic under this bridge is limited to cyclists/motorbikes and pedestrians.

Many years ago a friend was on his way home from school and saw a double deck bus crash into this bridge. We never found out why the driver decide that he could fit under the bridge. Some of the boys at school had mentioned that the driver who was well known in the area usually drove a single deck bus and that he often took a unapproved shortcut back, at the end of the day, to the nearby garage [maybe it was nothing more than an urban myth]. Also, looking at the bridge today I am fairly confident that no type of bus could every have passed under this bridge.

One side of the bridge is Grand Canal Quay while the other side is Clanwilliam Terrace. The Malting Tower is located at the bridge and it usually incorporated a restaurant [I say usually because there have been a number of different restaurants over the years].

I know very little about the Malting Tower other than it was built in 1860 and restored in 2002. Also,It was occupied by volunteers during the Easter Rising.

To the best of my knowledge the construction site to be seen in some of my photographs is known as Boston Sidings having frontage on to Macken Street and Grand Canal Quay/Clanwilliam Terrace and is likely to accommodate an office block of ten storeys.

NEW PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE

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NEW PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE CONNECTING DODDER VIEW ROAD TO BUSHY PARK

The Dodder Valley is the latest section of public land to be developed into a greenway for pedestrians and cyclists and to the best of my knowledge there are three pedestrian bridges. One of the bridges is located in Rathfarnham and crosses the Dodder from Dodder View Road into Bushy Park.

Approximately 14km in length, the greenway travels along the Dodder Valley from Orwell/Terenure, through to the outer suburbs of Tallaght and up into the rural and upland community to the entrance of the Bohernabreena reservoir at Glenasmole.

The scheme includes a number of elements, including the widening and upgrading of existing paths, bridges, underpasses and junctions – and the construction of new paths and bridges.

Improved landscape treatment is also on the cards alongside ecological enhancements including species rich grassland management, the planting of native trees and the provision of bat boxes and bat friendly public lighting.

New entrances to the greenway now exist.

The pedestrian bridges mentioned above are located over the River Dodder at the Tallaght Bypass and to the rear of the Bolbrook Enterprise Centre, which links the eastern part of Tallaght the N81 to the Greenway. The second bridge passes over the Dodder from Kilvere to Riverside cottages, linking Templeogue Village with the greenway park while the third bridge is the one shown in my photographs.

THE LIVING BRIDGE I USED A VOIGTLANDER 40mm LENS

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THE LIVING BRIDGE I USED A VOIGTLANDER 40mm LENS

This visit to Limerick I limited myself to using primes and I am not sure if it was a good idea and I may not limit myself in this way when I visit Belfast at the end of the month. Also, much to me surprise, there was a lot of dust on the sensor which was more than annoying. Much to my surprise as I had my camera professionally cleaned a few days earlier.

The Living Bridge – An Droichead Beo is a unique design by Wilkinson Eyre Architects, London and consists of seven 50-metre spans linked together by piers which create four platforms of refuge for walkers.

The platforms are designed to accommodate social gatherings, informal teaching sessions, music and dance performances, as well as a wide array of educational, social and cultural activities – all contributing to this facility’s status as a “living” bridge”.

The bridge alternates between rhythms of bridge and island, with lightweight bridge structures joining to more solid pier locations. This is reflected by the change in construction materials from steel to concrete and the transition from open parapets to solid pillars and glazed side walls which serve to shelter the “inhabitants” of this animated facility.

The architects designed the bridge to move in a beautiful flowing line across the Shannon, mirroring the river. The design conveys the sense of a series of bridges leaping from pier to pier, each supported by one of the existing islands in the riverbed. This gives the traveller the sense that they are crossing the river on stepping stones.

From the south campus, access to the bridge is through what presents itself as a hidden gateway in the Millstream Courtyard and provides a vital link between the Glucksman Library, Concert Hall and Millstream developments to the Health Sciences and the new Irish World Academy of Music and Dance on the north bank. An impressive Plaza will welcome you to Clare once you have travelled over the bridge.

The Pedestrian Living Bridge project was resourced through a partnership of private and public funding and was assigned to Arup Consulting Engineers in Dublin. Kerin Contract Management in Limerick managed the project while building work was undertaken by Eiffel Construction, France’s largest bridge builder.

NAMED AFTER MARY ELMES – CORK’S NEW PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE

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NAMED AFTER MARY ELMES – CORK’S NEW PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE

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Marie Elisabeth Jean Elmes (5 May 1908 – 9 March 2002) was an Irish aid worker credited with saving the lives of at least 200 Jewish children at various times during the Holocaust, by hiding them in the boot of her car.

In 2015, she became the first and only Irish person honoured as Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel, in recognition of her work in the Spanish Civil War and World War II.

Elmes was born on 5 May 1908 in Cork, Ireland to chemist Edward Elmes and Elizabeth (née Waters). Edward Elmes was originally from Waterford, and moved to Cork after qualifying as a pharmacist, to run a pharmacy on Winthrop Street, while Waters grew up in Cork. She had one brother, John, who later took over the family business.

Elmes attended Rochelle School in Cork and then in 1928 enrolled at Trinity College Dublin where she was elected a Scholar, and gained a first in Modern Literature (French and Spanish). In 1935, as a result of her academic achievements, Elmes was awarded a scholarship in International Studies to study at London School of Economics. She received a certificate in International Studies as well as a further scholarship to continue her education in Geneva, Switzerland.

In February 1937, after the completion of her studies, Elmes joined the University of London Ambulance Unit and was sent to a children’s hospital in Almeria in then war-torn Spain.

In 1942, the Vichy authorities made it clear that Jewish children were not legally allowed to be exempt from being sent to the concentration camps, as they had been. Elmes, with help from some colleagues, rescued dozens of children, taking them to safe houses or helping them flee the country altogether. Well aware that she was putting herself at risk, Elmes hid many children in the boot of her car and drove them to safe destinations. She aided many others by securing documents, which allowed for them to escape through the undercover network in Vichy France. She was not a Quaker herself, despite sometimes being described as the “head of the Quaker delegation at Perpignan,” but worked actively with local Quaker organisations.

In January (or February) 1943, Elmes was arrested on suspicion of aiding the escape of Jews and was imprisoned in Toulouse, later being moved to the notorious Fresnes Prison run by the Gestapo near Paris, where she spent six months.

Elmes married and had two children, and lived on after the war in Pyrénées-Orientales (Northern Catalonia) where she had been active, first in Perpignan and then in Canet-en-Roussillon and Sainte-Marie-la-Mer. She died in a nursing home there.

After the war Elmes was awarded the Legion of Honour (French:Légion d’honneur), the highest civilian award in France at the time, which she refused to accept on the grounds of unwanted attention for what she did. On 23 January 2013, 11 years after her death, having been nominated by one of the children she rescued, she was posthumously recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations, her children and grandchildren receiving the award on her behalf, and on 30 September 2016, she was posthumously awarded the Trish Murphy Award at the Network Ireland Business Woman of the Year awards in Cork, which was accepted by her nephew, Mark Elmes, on behalf of her family. On 25 February 2019 it was announced by Cork City Council that a new pedestrian bridge linking Patrick’s Quay to Merchant’s Quay would be named after Mary Elmes. It was opened to the public on 9 July 2019.

The Mary Elmes Prize in Holocaust Studies distributed by the Holocaust Educational Trust Ireland is named after Elmes.

GASWORKS LATTICE BRIDGE IN WATERFORD – RECENTLY RESTORED

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GASWORKS LATTICE BRIDGE IN WATERFORD – RECENTLY RESTORED

When I first photographed this bridge a few years ago I was under the impression that it was a new structure but it dates from from the late 1870s.

In early 2013, the Waterford Civic Trust became concerned that the Lattice Bridge connecting the Waterside and the Gasworks site would be removed and scrapped like the other connecting bridge. With the help of Waterford City Council a plan was devised and acted upon, whereby the bridge was safely removed for restoration. Work has been done to the bridge to bring it up to modern health and safety standards and to ensure it’s use in Waterford’s life.

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