Turtle Bunbury has produced a coffee table book with great illustrations and fascinating facts about the docklands and surrounding areas.
Luke Kelly, Seán O’Casey, Captain Bligh and Bindon Blood Stoney are just some of the characters to emerge in this intriguing and entertaining historical tour, charting the rise of the Dublin Docklands from murky swamp to its present-day towering skyline.
The story begins in the early 18th century when savvy Dublin merchants first enclosed the River Liffey within a series of sturdy stonewalls. Today, the reclaimed land behind these walls comprises the North Wall, East Wall, the South Lotts and a good deal of the parishes of Westland Row and City Quay.
Ringsend and the Poolbeg peninsula simultaneously benefitted from these mighty works. The location– on a major river with direct access to the Irish Sea and the oceans beyond– was of fundamental importance to the development of the Docklands during the wealthy years of Georgian Dublin.
Considerable business was carried out along the handsome docks, quays, warehouses and– in time– railway tracks built alongside the walls. By the 20th century, the inner city docklands was home to the largest working class community in Ireland.
However, the onset of mechanization inevitably reduced the need for manpower and by the 1950s, large numbers were unemployed and the area went into rapid decline.
In the 1980s, the seed of change was planted with the creation of the Custom House Docks Development Authority and the evolution of the International Financial Services Centre. Since 1997, developing and improving this 1,300-acre coastal cityscape has been the remit of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.
Although much is yet to come, the Dublin Docklands is already a blueprint for other cities around the world seeking to convert their run-down inner cities into slick, contemporary and internationally popular city centres.
This beautifully produced hardback coffee table book provides an enlightening chronicle of some of the more memorable buildings, people and events associated with the area.
Turtle Bunbury is a best-selling author, travel writer and historian. His previous books include ‘The Irish Pub’ and ‘Vanishing Ireland’. He is currently working on ‘Vanishing Ireland– Volume 2’, in conjunction with photographer James Fennell.
‘The Dublin Docklands– An Urban Voyage’ is available at €30 from Books on the Green.