
The book was launched in March 2009 by John Gormley, TD, the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government. It was released as a limited edition of 2,000 copies.
‘Enlightening and rewarding’, said The Irish Times. ‘Fascinating and insightful’, agreed Cara, the Aer Lingus in-flight magazine. ‘If You Do One Thing This Week’, advised the Sunday Independent, ‘delve into this intriguing book’. ‘A stylish and superb insight into the changing landscape of one of the capital’s iconic areas’, agreed Social & Personal.
Who was Sir John Rogerson? How did a Boland’s millworker end up managing Barcelona Football Club? Why was Hanover Quay named after a German royal family? What is Samuel Beckett’s connection to South Lotts Road? Why is Misery Hill so called? Who were the Quakers running merchant ships from the Docklands to Philadelphia? How did U2 score their break at Windmill Lane? Who was Doris of Doris Street? Why was a caged canary kept in the Gasworks?
This handsome, illustrated and comprehensive history of Dublin’s inner city docklands was commissioned by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. Turtle subsequently escorted Nationwide‘s Niall Martin on a grand tour of the Grand Canal Docks for a show that aired on RTE One in February 2010.
Contents
Introduction
Timeline of the Dublin Docklands
Chapter 1: Custom House Quay
- Streetwise
- The Custom House
- Custom House Characters
- Custom House Quay & the Old Dock
- The Custom House Docks
- John Henry Foley
- Jeanie Johnston
- The CHQ building and EPIC – The Irish Emigration Museum
- The Crimean Banquet of 1856
- The Victorian Age
- Seán O Casey Bridge
- Connolly Station & the Iron Horse
- Great Northern Railway
- Sir Isaac Butt Bridge
- The Loopline Railway Bridge
- The 20th Century
- The Guinness Barges
- Talbot Memorial Bridge
- Custom House Docks Development Authority
- International Financial Services Centre
Chapter 2: North Wall
- Streetwise
- The North Lotts Project
- The Industrial Age
- The 20th Century
- Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges
- The MV Cill Airne
- The London & North Western Railway Company
- B&I (The British & Irish Steam Packet Company)
- The 100-Ton Crane & the North Wall Extension
- St Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band
- The Halpins – Father & Son
- Bindon Blood Stoney, Port and Docks Engineer
- Sir John Purser Griffith
- St Laurence O’Toole Church
- St Laurence O’Toole GAA Club
- National College of Ireland
- St Laurence O’Toole Girls School
- Luke Kelly
- The Sheriff Street Flats
- Spencer Dock & The Royal Canal
- Luas Bridge at Spencer Dock
- North Wall, 2008
- The Three Arena
Chapter 3: East Wall
- Streetwise
- Creation of a Community
- The 20th Century
- School Boy Strike of 1911
- Sporting Times
- Splendid Isolation
- Rathborne Candles
- Seán O’Casey
- Seán O’Casey Community Centre
- St. Barnabas Church
- The Building Parson
- Local Heroes
- Virginia House (Wiggins Teape), now Gateway, East Wall
- Modern Times
- East Point Business Park
Chapter 4: Westland Row & the South Quays
- Streetwise
- City Quay & Townsend Street
- Westland Row
- The Hospital on Lazar’s Hill
- Pearse Railway Station
- City Quay – A Potted History
- Sculpture & Chip Shops
- The Brothers Pearse
- The Guinness Ships
- Asgard II
- The Gilbert Library & Queen’s Royal Theatre
- St Andrew’s Resource Centre
- The Hibernian Marine School
- Sir John Rogerson
- Dublin’s German Gasometer (1934–1993)
- Sir John Rogerson’s Quay
- The Diving Bell
- The Samuel Beckett Bridge
Chapter 5: Grand Canal Docks
- Streetwise
- The Opening of the Grand Canal Docks, 1796
- Grand Canal Quay
- Grand Canal Square – The Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, The Marker Hotel and the Martha Schwarz Cracked Glass
- Grand Canal Street
- Maquay Bridge
- Aeneas Coffey and the Docks Distillery
- Boland’s Mill & Bakery
- The Boland Garrison of Easter 1916
- Charlotte Quay
- The Glass Bottle Strike and Lock-Out
- General Seán MacMahon Bridge
- The Coalmen and Coal Yards of Dublin City
- Hanover Quay – Resurrection of a Gasworks Coalscape
- U2 – A Docklands Band
Chapter 6: Ringsend, Irishtown & Poolbeg
- Streetwise
- History of Ringsend and Irishtown
- London Bridge, Bath Avenue and the Swan River
- Ringsend Bridge (River Dodder)
- Ringsend Cars
- The South Wall
- The Legend of the Ouzel Galley
- The Tale of the Pidgeons
- The Pigeon House – Hotels, Barracks and Power Stations
- Captain William Bligh (1754-1817) and the Dublin Bay survey
- Ringsend Gasholder
- Ringsend Sport & Community
- Poolbeg Peninsula and Power Station
- Dublin Docklands Development Authority
Acknowledgements

