Robert Emmet

HAROLD’S CROSS BRIDGE AND NEARBY – ROBERT EMMET BRIDGE

Connecting Harold’s Cross Road to Upper Clanbrassil Street.

Up until recently I had assumed that it was Lower Clanbrassil Street as it was the section nearest the Grand Canal but as it is the section furthest from the River Liffey it is Upper rather than Lower.

A single-arch bridge, built 1935-6, carrying road over the Grand Canal. It was originally named Clanbrassil Bridge but was rebuilt in 1935-36 and renamed in honour of the 1803 rebellion leader Robert Emmet.

The original canal bridge at this location was named for James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil, and was constructed around 1790. The current structure was rebuilt in 1935-6, its design echoing the composition of the eighteenth century bridges on this stretch of the Grand Canal. It was renamed Robert Emmet Bridge to commemorate the member of the United Irishmen who led a failed rebellion against the British in the early nineteenth century. Emmet was captured in Harold’s Cross and executed in 1803. A limestone plaque and relief bust by Albert George Power and an inscription in Irish add artistic and historical interest.