URBAN PHOTOGRAPHS

Urban Expression And Depression By Infomatique

river liffey

NORTH WALL QUAY – DUBLIN DOCKLANDS

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NORTH WALL QUAY – DUBLIN DOCKLANDS

Back in 1968 I was a stevedore and a union rep and had to operate in this area and in order to do so I had to have a bodyguard. In reality the union rather than my employer, the B&I Shipping Company, controlled my day to day activities.

When I visit the area today I often meet people who remember the good old days but soon realise that they have constructed a false history. However, if I engaged with them and explain my background they usually admit that they have no desire to return to the past as their children now have a superior lifestyle. While many many may have been in dire poverty some earned huge money, if they had skills or connections.

The area is much better now than it was black then but by the same token I have no problem with certain people believing that things were better in the 60s and 70s because they did not receive what they were promised when Dublin’s IFSC, which was set up by the Irish Government with EU approval, was established in 1987. At the time my father said that while an army cannot move the people native to an area there is no doubt that the builders and their bulldozers can.

North Wall is an area east of the inner north side of Dublin, along the River Liffey. It contains the entire north side of Dublin Docklands and includes the International Financial Services Centre, Spencer Dock, and further east the main part of Dublin Port.

The area is dominated by a combination of older housing, dockland activities and new development through the Docklands Strategic Development Zone Planning Scheme, including extensive construction of new retail, residential and office spaces.

Transport in the area includes the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (Docklands railway station on Sheriff Street), the LUAS (red line stations George’s Dock, Mayor Square, Spencer Dock, and The Point, and 8 dublinbikes stations (at Custom House Quay, City Quay, Excise Walk, Lime Street, Guild Street, Convention Centre, New Central Bank, and The Point).

NORTH WALL QUAY – DUBLIN DOCKLANDS

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NORTH WALL QUAY – DUBLIN DOCKLANDS

In the late 1960s I worked for the B+I shipping company and was based on the North Wall Quay and back then it was not a pleasant location but things have greatly changed since then but many of the original workers became unemployed during the following decades.

North Wall is an area east of the inner north side of Dublin, along the River Liffey. It contains the entire north side of Dublin Docklands and includes the International Financial Services Centre, Spencer Dock, and further east the main part of Dublin Port.

The area is dominated by a combination of older housing, dockland activities and new development through the Docklands Strategic Development Zone Planning Scheme, including extensive construction of new retail, residential and office spaces.

INNS QUAY [DUBLIN]

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INNS QUAY [DUBLIN]

The Dublin quays refers to the two roadways and quays that run along the north and south banks of the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. The stretches of the two continuous streets have several different names. However, all but three of the names (Swift’s Row, Bachelors Walk and Usher’s Island) share the same “Quay” designation. The quays have played an important part in Dublin’s history.

Much of the southern roadway and about half of the northern roadway is part of the R148 road while the other half of the northern roadway is part of the R801 road.

Both roadways run approximately 4.3 km (2.7 mi) from Sean Heuston Bridge in the west. The eastern end of the north roadway is at East-Link Bridge while the south roadway turns southward at the Grand Canal. Seventeen bridges cross the river along the line of The Quays; three of them are exclusively pedestrian bridges, one a railway bridge, one other for Luas trams (with another planned) and pedestrians, and the remainder for vehicular and pedestrian use.

The name designations of the north roadway are (from west to east): Wolfe Tone Quay, Sarsfield Quay, Ellis Quay, Arran Quay, Inns Quay, Upper Ormond Quay, Lower Ormond Quay, Bachelors Walk, Eden Quay, Custom House Quay and North Wall Quay.

The name designations of the south roadway are (from west to east): Victoria Quay, Usher’s Island, Usher’s Quay, Merchant’s Quay, Wood Quay, Essex Quay, Wellington Quay, Crampton Quay, Aston Quay, Burgh Quay, George’s Quay, City Quay, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and Britain Quay.

A majority of the roadways in the city centre are one-way with the north roadway being eastward and the south being westward.

CYCLING ALONG ORMOND QUAY

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CYCLING ALONG ORMOND QUAY

Ormond Quay was the first of the quays to be built on the north side of the River Liffey, complete by c.1680, developed by Sir Humphrey Jervis and named in honour of the Duke of Ormond who instigated the trend for building houses facing the river.

The Dublin quays refers to the two roadways and quays that run along the north and south banks of the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. The stretches of the two continuous streets have several different names. However, all but three of the names (Swift’s Row, Bachelors Walk and Usher’s Island) share the same “Quay” designation. The quays have played an important part in Dublin’s history.

Much of the southern roadway and about half of the northern roadway is part of the R148 road while the other half of the northern roadway is part of the R801 road.

Both roadways run approximately 4.3 km (2.7 mi) from Sean Heuston Bridge in the west. The eastern end of the north roadway is at East-Link Bridge while the south roadway turns southward at the Grand Canal. Seventeen bridges cross the river along the line of The Quays; three of them are exclusively pedestrian bridges, one a railway bridge, one other for Luas trams (with another planned) and pedestrians, and the remainder for vehicular and pedestrian use.

The name designations of the north roadway are (from west to east): Wolfe Tone Quay, Sarsfield Quay, Ellis Quay, Arran Quay, Inns Quay, Upper Ormond Quay, Lower Ormond Quay, Bachelors Walk, Eden Quay, Custom House Quay and North Wall Quay.

The name designations of the south roadway are (from west to east): Victoria Quay, Usher’s Island, Usher’s Quay, Merchant’s Quay, Wood Quay, Essex Quay, Wellington Quay, Crampton Quay, Aston Quay, Burgh Quay, George’s Quay, City Quay, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and Britain Quay.

A majority of the roadways in the city centre are one-way with the north roadway being eastward and the south being westward.

THE FOUR COURTS ON INNS QUAY

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THE FOUR COURTS ON INNS QUAY

The Four Courts is Ireland’s most prominent courts building, located on Inns Quay in Dublin. The Four Courts is the principal seat of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit Court. Until 2010 the building also housed the Central Criminal Court; this is now located in the Criminal Courts of Justice building.

The Battle of Dublin was a week of street battles in Dublin from 28 June to 5 July 1922 that marked the beginning of the Irish Civil War. Six months after the Anglo-Irish Treaty ended the recent Irish War of Independence, it was fought between the forces of the new Provisional Government and a section of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that opposed the Treaty. The Irish Citizen Army also became involved in the Battle, supporting the anti-Treaty IRA in the O’Connell Street area. The fighting began with an assault by Provisional Government forces on the Four Courts building, and ended in a decisive victory for the Provisional Government.

Inside the Four Courts building were 12 members of the Irish Republican Army Executive, including Chief-of-Staff Joe McKelvey, Director of Engineering Rory O’Connor and Quartermaster General Liam Mellows. The garrison consisted of roughly 180 men drawn from the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the IRA’s 1st Dublin Brigade, commanded by Commandant Paddy O’Brien, armed for the most part only with small arms (rifles, five Thompson submachine guns and two Lewis light machine guns) apart from one captured armoured car, which they named “The Mutineer”. The members of the IRA Army Executive were the political leaders of the garrison, but served as common soldiers under the command of Ernie O’Malley, commander of the IRA’s 2nd Southern Division. The Anti-Treaty side fortified the Four Courts to some extent, planting mines around the complex and barricading the doors and windows, but their leadership ordered them not to fire first, in order to retain the moral high ground, and so the Free State troops were allowed to surround the Four Courts.

After the first day’s bombardment proved ineffective, the British gave the Free State two more 18-pounder cannon and proffered 60-pounder howitzers along with an offer to bomb the Four Courts from the air. Collins turned down the latter two offers because of the risk of causing heavy civilian casualties. On the 29th, Free State troops stormed the eastern wing of the Four Courts, losing three killed and 14 wounded and taking 33 prisoners. The republicans’ armoured car, “The Mutineer”, was disabled and abandoned by its crew. Early the next day Paddy O’Brien was injured by shrapnel and Ernie O’Malley took over military command in the Four Courts. By this time the shelling had caused the Four Courts to catch fire. In addition, orders arrived from Oscar Traynor, the anti-treaty IRA commander in Dublin, for the Four Courts garrison to surrender, as he could not reach their position to help them. At 3:30 p.m. on 30 June, O’Malley surrendered the Four Courts to Brig. Gen. Paddy Daly of the Free State’s Dublin Guard unit. Three of the republican garrison had died in the siege.

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