Grattan Bridge (Droichead Grattan)

Official Heritage Listing Information and Findings

Rating: Regional

Discussion:

Reg. Number: 50060361

Description
Five-arch granite bridge over River Liffey, foundations and piers being of bridge of 1753-5 and superstructure being rebuild of 1872. Three elliptical arches flanked by two narrower round arches, all with ashlar voussoirs. Ashlar granite spandrels, abutments and soffits, with piers fronted by V-shaped cut-waters. Cantilevered deck of wrought-iron girders with latticework parapets divided by panelled piers crowned with decorative cast-iron lamp standards embellished with entwined fish. Carries three lanes of traffic over Liffey, with wide pavement margins at either side.

Appraisal
One of several bridges over the River Liffey which have helped define the built environment of this area of central Dublin for several centuries, Grattan Bridge was constructed in 1875 to designs by Blinden B. Stoney, Engineer to the Port of Dublin, and is the third structure to have occupied this site. The first structure dated from from 1676, and was replaced in the 1750s by Essex Bridge, a stone structure erected to designs by George Semple. By the mid-nineteenth century Essex Bridge was deemed too narrow and access too steep, and the current bridge was commissioned. Architecturally, the bridge exhibits engineering technology and materials that are representative of the period, including the wrought-iron girder construction which facilitates the cantilevered decking, and decorative cast-iron lamp standards. The renaming of bridges along the Liffey is illustrative of changing cultural contexts within the city and beyond.