Ha'penny Bridge
Coordinates: 53 ° 20 ′ 47 " N , 6 ° 15 ′ 47" W.
| Ha'penny Bridge Droichead na Leathphingine |
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| Official name | Liffey Bridge, Droichead na Life |
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| use | footbridge | |
| Crossing of | Liffey | |
| place | Dublin , Ireland | |
| overall length | 43 m | |
| width | 3.7 m | |
| start of building | 1815 | |
| completion | 1816 | |
| opening | May 1816 | |
| planner | John Windsor, Colebrookdale Company | |
| toll | to 1919: half a penny (ger .: halfpenny ) since 1919: toll-free |
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The Ha'penny Bridge (or Ha'penny Bridge , officially Liffey Bridge , Irish Droichead na Leathphingine or Droichead na Life ) is a 43 m long nearly 3.7 m wide pedestrian bridge dating from 1816, which in the center of the Irish capital Dublin to river Liffey spans while the district Temple bar with the Bachelor's Walk connects. It got its popular name because of the pedestrian toll that was previously payable; the official but rarely used name is Liffey Bridge . The bridge is one of the most photographed sights in Dublin and is widely regarded as the city's landmark.
history
A ferry previously existed on the site of today's Ha'penny Bridge. The operator, a William Walsh, was asked to either renew the seven ferry boats used here, which were in poor condition, or to replace them with a bridge. Walsh opted for the latter and hired the British construction engineer John Windsor and the Colebrookdale Company from Shropshire, England, to build an iron bridge. Several years earlier in England, this company had constructed the Iron Bridge, which is now a World Heritage Site, as the first bridge in the world made of cast iron . The bridge in Dublin is also made of cast iron and was opened in May 1816 after a year of construction. It was built on the condition that it - should it be perceived as annoying within a year - be removed again without incurring any costs for the city. In return, Walsh was granted the right to collect a toll on the bridge for a hundred years to compensate for the lost revenue from ferry operations. The original toll of half a penny also corresponded to the price of a ferry crossing. To pass the bridge there was a turnstile at each end, where the half-penny coins had to be inserted. The pedestrian toll was abolished in 1919.
From 2001 to 2003 the pedestrian bridge was closed for extensive renovation work. The costs for this amounted to around 1.6 million euros. Since the reopening, the Ha'penny Bridge has appeared in a striking white color. The bridge and the renovation work carried out by Harland & Wolff were awarded the Europa Nostra Prize in 2003 for valuable conservation work on cultural assets.
Ha'penny Bridge was the only pedestrian bridge over the Liffey in Dublin until the Millennium Bridge opened in 2000. In 2001 around 27,000 people passed the pedestrian crossing every day.
Naming
The bridge was originally called Wellington Bridge , named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , the British military leader and later Prime Minister, who emerged victorious against Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo. The motive for this was the fact that it had the same name as Wellington Quay , which still exists today - the street in the Temple Bar district that runs parallel to the river and from which the bridge leads. In 1923, after the Republic of Ireland gained independence from Great Britain, it was given the official name Liffey Bridge ( Irish Droichead na Life ), which is still valid today .
Its ubiquitous popular name Ha'penny Bridge (Irish Droichead na Leathphingine ) arose soon and is derived from the road toll of half a penny ( halfpenny ), later one and finally one and a half penny, which is why the bridge was also briefly called Penny Halfpenny Bridge was designated. Residents of the city take the view that this popular renaming is due to the fact that the Dubliners have a tendency to designate distinctive things in the city not with the official name, but with a pointed expression. Further renaming of Dublin buildings speak for this thesis. However, there are a number of other bridges in England that also bear the name Ha'penny Bridge (also in alternative spellings).
Triangular Bridge and Metal Bridge are further names for the Ha'penny Bridge . The latter name was only common for some time and is explained by the fact that the structure was the first and only bridge made of metal, previously there were only bridges made of wood and stone.
literature
- Michael Phillips, Albert Hamilton: Project history of Dublin's River Liffey bridges] , in: Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers , Dec. 2003, pp. 161–179 (paragraph 2.7), online at berthamilton.com (PDF; 6.6 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ logainm.ie - Placenames Database of Ireland ( English / Irish )
- ↑ See A Beautiful Bridge on irishjaunt.com ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ For example the ironic names needle in the ghetto ('Nadel im Ghetto') and stiletto in the ghetto ('Dagger in the Ghetto') for the monument The Spire (both alluding to the fact that the tall, pointed building is open the poorer north side of the city) as well as the rhyming terms stiffy by the Liffey ('stiff, meaning: erect penis, on the Liffey', also for the Spire) or plank by the bank ('board on the shore') for the wooden plank promenade along the river Liffey - all names for new buildings that became popular within a short time after their construction. (See Dumont Guide Dublin and urbandictionary.com , both accessed on October 13, 2011.)
- ↑ So the bridges in Eastbridge , Lechlade ( Memento of the original from July 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Mirfield , Saltburn-by-the-Sea ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. as well as in Twerton and Weare Giffard (all accessed August 14, 2011).
- ^ Posting in the "Ha'penny Bridge" section on wirtualtourist.com (accessed on October 13, 2011).
Web links
- A Beautiful Bridge on irishjaunt.com
- Information on archiseek.com