STEPPING STONES ACROSS THE RIVER DODDER – BUSHY PARK IN TERENURE
These stepping stones are frequently used by pedestrians from Rathfarnham and Churchtown to access Bushy Park in Terenure. However, if the water level is high the route becomes unusable but there is now a new footbridge nearby.
Stepping stones or stepstones are sets of stones arranged to form a simple bridge or causeway that allows a pedestrian to cross a natural watercourse, such as a river; or a water feature in a garden where water is allowed to flow between stone steps. Unlike other bridges, they have no spans. Although their origin is unknown, stepping stones, along with log bridges, are likely to have been one of the earliest forms of crossing inland bodies of water devised by humans.
In traditional Japanese gardens, the term “iso-watari” refers to stepping stone pathways that lead across shallow parts of a pond. Using iso-watari for crossing ponds, or shallow parts of streams, one can view the fish and plants around or in the pond, like carp, turtles, and waterfowls. It works like a bridge, in a slower way of crossing.
FITZWILLIAM QUAY – ALONG THE RIVER DODDER FROM BATH AVENUE BRIDGE TO RINGSEND BRIDGE
Today I walked along Fitzwilliam Quay from Bath Avenue to Bridge Street.
In February 2011 a 200-year-old section of quay wall beside the bridge at Bridge Street collapsed into the river Dodder. The collapse of around 40 metres of the wing wall on Fitzwilliam Quay happened early in the morning following high tide on the river. The reconstruction consisted of building approximately 50m of quay wall and tying-in the new masonry to the bridge at the junction of Bridge Street. As 26m of the original quay wall had collapsed into the tidal reaches of the river, it was necessary to remove all remaining elements prior to construction. The services in the location also had to be removed before being replaced with new chambers and ducts.
The replacement wall was built of approximately 38m of reinforced concrete, contiguous bored piles and 12m of anchored steel king-post wall. The contiguous bored piles were 600mm in diameter and varied in length, from 8 to 12 metres. Concrete foundations were installed below both the river bed and the low tide level. A stepped, reinforced concrete capping beam was also installed, in addition to ground anchor restraints for the king-post framework.
Hard landscaping on site was a team effort. Specialist skilled tradesmen were engaged to carry out the granite kerbing and limestone paving on the quayside. Expert stonemasons undertook the limestone random rubble masonry and capping for the quay wall. The bespoke railings were fabricated at our steel fabrication workshop in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. In addition to street furniture and bollards, the project also delivered a newly resurfaced road and public lighting.
The Ringsend Bridge is a bridge over the River Dodder in Dublin. The current bridge was opened to the public in 1812 after the previous structure was destroyed in a flood.
In 1623 Richard Morgan first petitioned Dublin Corporation to build a bridge but this was declined. A bridge was built in 1650 and this lasted until 1739 when it was washed away in a flood.
The new bridge lasted only until 1782 when another flood destroyed the structure. A replacement bridge was begun in 1786 but was destroyed by yet another flood the following year. A fourth bridge was built in 1789 but this succumbed to a flood in December 1802 when over 3 inches of rain fell in 24 hours. The same storm also destroyed Ormonde Bridge on the nearby River Liffey. The current structure was begun in 1803 and finally completed in 1812.
I have never been able to decide if there are three distinct lakes or one lake divided into three sections by walls and waterfalls but there are two separate bridges. To the best of my knowledge, the water for the lake(s) is fed from an underground supply and flows downhill [of course] in the same direction as the River Dodder.
Bushy Park dates back to 1700 when Arthur Bushe, Secretary to the Revenue Commissioners, built the house known as “Bushes House” on a site of four hectares. The property was obtained by John Hobson in 1772. He changed the name to Bushy Park.
In 1791, the park was purchased by Abraham Wilkinson who added almost 40 hectares to the estate. He gave it as a dowry to his daughter Maria when she married Robert Shaw in 1796. The Shaws (distant relatives of George Bernard Shaw) remained connected with Bushy Park until 1951, when they sold the estate to Dublin Corporation.
THE RIVER DODDER AT MILLTOWN NEAR THE PACKHORSE BRIDGE
The old bridge in my photographs is Packhorse Bridge which is a 17th century structure now protected under the Dublin Development plan 2011 – 2017.
For many years I could not find the old bridge near the Nine Arches in Milltown and then about two years ago a very old gentleman who was standing on the bridge told me that it was the oldest bridge in Dublin but he could not remember its name however it had something to do with horses. He claimed that Oliver Cromwell visited the area and crossed the Dodder via the old narrow bridge.
When I returned home I was able to establish that it is known as Packhorse Bridge but little information relating to the actual bridge is available online.
A packhorse bridge is a bridge intended to carry packhorses (horses loaded with sidebags or panniers) across a river or stream. Typically a packhorse bridge consists of one or more narrow (one horse wide) masonry arches, and has low parapets so as not to interfere with the panniers borne by the horses. Multi-arched examples sometimes have triangular cutwaters that are extended upward to form pedestrian refuges.
Packhorse bridges were often built on the trade routes (often called packhorse routes) that formed major transport arteries across Europe and Great Britain until the coming of the turnpike roads and canals in the 18th century. Before the road-building efforts of Napoleon, all crossings of the Alps were on packhorse trails. Travellers’ carriages were dismantled and transported over the mountain passes by ponies and mule trains.
DODDER FLOOD PROTECTION – BALLSBRIDGE NOVEMBER 2014
The river floods some surrounding areas from time to time, as it is too short and shallow to hold the volume of water which pours into it from its tributaries during heavy rain. The River Dodder “has a history of flooding and is known as a “flashy” river with a quick response to rainstorms.”
A flood on the Dodder in March 1628 claimed the life of Arthur Ussher, Deputy Clerk to the Privy Council of Ireland, who was “carried away by the current, nobody being able to succour him, although many persons…. his nearest friends, were by on both sides.”
The two greatest Dodder floods before 1986 occurred on 25 August 1905, and on 3 and 4 August 1931. Hurricane Charley (often spelt “Charlie” in Ireland) passed south of the country on 25 August 1986. In 24 hours, 200mm (almost 8 inches) of rain poured down on Kippure Mountain while 100mm fell on Dublin causing heavy river flooding, including the Dodder in many places, and hardship and loss were experienced.
It has long been recognised that the problem of flooding is very difficult to solve, due to the sheer volume of water which pours into the river during periods of heavy rainfall.
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