35 Things You Probably Never Knew About Dublin
1. Dublin's O'Connell Bridge was originally made
of rope and could only carry one man and a donkey
at a time. It was replaced with a wooden
structure in 1801. The current concrete bridge was
built in 1863 and was first called 'Carlisle
Bridge'.
2. O'Connell Bridge is the only traffic bridge in
Europe which is wider than it is long and Dublin's
second O'Connell Bridge is across the pond in
St. Stephen's Green.
3. Dublin Corporation planted 43,765 deciduous
trees in the Greater Dublin area in 1998.
4. Dublin's oldest workhouse closed its doors for
the last time in July 1969. Based in Smithfield,
the premises housed 10,037 orphan children during
the one hundred and seventy years it operated.
5. Dublin was originally called 'Dubh Linn'
meaning 'Black Pool'.
6. None of the so-called Dublin Mountains are high
enough to meet the criteria required to claim
mountain status. The Sugarloaf is the tallest
'Dublin Mountain' yet measures a mere 1389 feet
above sea level.
7. The headquarters of the national television
broadcaster, RTE, in Montrose, was originally built
for use as an abattoir.
8. Dublin's oldest traffic lights are situated
beside the Renault garage in Clontarf. The lights,
which are still in full working order, were
installed in 1893 outside the home of Fergus
Mitchell who was the owner of the first car in
Ireland.
9. The Temple Bar area is so called because it
housed the “Temple” Family-who were a wealthy merchant family
10. Tiny Coliemore Harbour beside the Dalkey
Island Hotel was the main harbour for Dublin from
the fifteenth to the seventeenth century.
11. Dublin is the IT Call Centre capital of Europe
with over 100,000 people employed in the industry.
12. In 1761 a family of itinerants from Navan
were refused entry to Dublin. The family settled
on the outskirts of the city and created the town
of Rush. Two hundred and fifty years later, a
large percentage of the population of Rush can
still trace their roots back to this one family.
13. Dubliners drink a total of 9800 pints an hour
between the hours of 5.30pm on a Friday and 3.00am
the following Monday.
14. Dublin is Europe's most popular destination
with traveling stag and hen parties.
15. Harold's Cross got it's name because a tribe
called the 'Harolds' lived in the Wicklow
Mountains and the Archbishop of Dublin would
not let them come any nearer to the city than
that point.
16. Leopardstown was once known as Leperstown.
17. The average 25-year-old Dubliner still lives
with his/her parents.
18. Three radio stations attract over 90% of all
listeners in the Dublin area.
19. There are twelve places called Dublin in the
United States and six in Australia.
20. Buck Whaley was an extremely wealthy gambler
who lived in Dublin in the seventeen hundreds.
Due to inheritances, he had an income of seven
thousand pounds per year (not far off seven
million a year at today's prices). He lived in a
huge house near Stephen's Green which is now the
Catholic University of Ireland. He went broke and
he had to leave Ireland due to gambling debts.
He swore he'd be buried in Irish soil but is in
fact buried in the Isle of Man in a shipload of
Irish soil which he imported for the purpose.
21. The converted Ford Transit used for the Pope's
visit in 1979 was upholstered using the most
expensive carpet ever made in Dublin. The carpet
was a silk and Teflon weave and rumoured to have
cost over IR£950.00 per square meter.
22. There was once a large statue of Queen
Victoria in the Garden outside Leinster House. It
was taken away when the Republic of Ireland
became independent and in 1988 was given
as a present to the city of Sydney, Australia to
mark that city's 200th anniversary.
23. The largest cake ever baked in Dublin weighed
a whopping 190 lb's and was made to celebrate the
1988 city millennium. The cake stood untouched in
the Mansion House until 1991 when it was thrown
out.
24. Strangers are more likely to receive a drink
from Dubliners than from a native of any other
County.
25. There are forty six rivers in Dublin city. The
river flowing through Rathmines is called the River
Swan (beside the Swan Centre). The Poddle was once
known as the 'Tiber' and was also known as the
River Salach (dirty river), which is the origin of
the children's song 'Down by the river Saile'. It
is also the river whose peaty, mountain water
causes the Black Pool mentioned above.
26. Saint Valentine was martyred in Rome on
February 28th eighteen centuries ago. He was the
Bishop of Terni. His remains are in a Cask in White
Friar Street Church, Dublin. He is no longer
recognised as a Saint By the Vatican.
27. The statue originally in Dublin's O'Connell
Street (but now moved to the Phoenix Park) is
commonly known as the 'Floozy in the Jacuzzi'
while the one at the bottom of Grafton Street is
best known as the 'Tart with the Cart'. The women
at the Ha'Penny bridge are the 'Hags
with the bags' and the Chimney Stack with the new
lift in Smithfield Village's now called the 'Flue
with the View'. The short lived millennium clock
that was placed in the River Liffey in 1999 was
known as 'the chime in the slime'.
28. Montgomery Street was once the biggest
red-light district in Europe with an estimated
1600 prostitutes. It was known locally as the
'Monto' and this is the origin of the song 'Take
me up to Monto'.
29. Henry Moore, Earl of Drogheda lived in Dublin
in the Eighteenth century. His job was naming
streets. He called several after himself. Henry
Street, Moore Street, Earl Street, Drogheda
Street. Drogheda Street later became
Sackville Street and is now O'Connell Street.
30. Nelson's Pillar was blown up in 1966 to mark
the fiftieth anniversary of the 1916 rising. It now
lies in a heap in a valley in County Wicklow.
31. Leinster House in Dublin was originally built
as a private home for the Duke of Leinster. At
that time, the most fashionable part of Dublin was
the North Side and he was asked why he was
building on the South Side. He said 'Where I go,
fashion follows me!' ....and to this day the most
fashionable part of Dublin is the South Side.
32. Tallaght is one of the oldest placenames in
Ireland and it means 'The Plague cemetery'.
33. There are Five areas in Dublin whose names
end in the letter 'O'. Fewer than one Dubliner
in 20,000 can name them off by heart. They are:
Rialto, Marino, Portobello, Phibsboro and Pimlico.
(the Zoo isn’t one of them)
34. Kevin Street Garda Station was once the Palace
of the Archbishop Of Dublin.
35. The official name of TCD is still "The college of
the most Holy and Undivided Trinity of Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth near Dublin". And on official documents
adds "The Provost, Fellows and Scholars of" .
