What If Dublin… Resurrected its streams?


Posted October 2, 2016 in More

When the first Viking longboat raiders cautiously entered Dublin Bay, sometime early in the 9th century, they would have encountered an extensive river delta, around eight miles wide, a confusion of mudflats, low islands, inlets, salt lakes, marshes and backchannels. The main Liffey flow, so obvious today, would have revealed itself only gradually as these early navigators made their passage upstream, anxious to identify its course from among a maze of side channels and tributaries.

By that time, the native Irish understood the complex geography of the Liffey delta and any number of the channels and streams had acquired names that, in one form or another, have been passed down through history. But only some of these names are familiar to today’s generation of Dubliners, most notably the Dodder, the Poddle and the Camac. Others, to varying extents, have been excised from memory. How many are aware that Rathmines’ Swan Centre is named for the Swan river, now somewhere beneath its foundations? Sadly, other streams from history – the Bradoge, the Steyne and the Glib stream, have fallen into near total obscurity.

The Poddle, flowing from Tallaght through the Liberties, has a unique relationship with Dublin’s two primary river systems, as arguably it’s a tributary of both. As a natural tributary, it discharges into the Liffey at Wellington Quay. The Dodder is linked to it via an artificial channel dating from the 13th century, designed to augment the stream’s limited natural flow. This “supercharged” Poddle had real long term strategic significance as it provided Medieval Dublin’s freshwater supply and also motive power for the great number of mills and foundries that lay along its banks.

resurrected-streams-before

 

The Poddle, through its long association with the Liberties, must be a prime candidate for rejuvenation. Until a few decades ago, the stream formed a mill pond at Sweeney’s Lane in Blackpitts that’s remembered by older generations. Today, the stream flows underground here but so close to the surface that the sound of the gushing water can be heard as it descends over a small weir that lies just out of view in a corner of Warrenmount convent grounds. At this point the stream is easily accessible and a new mill pond could easily be created by opening up the encasing culvert, followed by construction of a small dam, allowing a pond to form.

So why not progress the Poddle Pond as a unique tranquil space, a watery testimony to Dublin’s ancient industrial quarter and a green gift to Dublin 8?
Reg McCabe is a tour guide and local historian and was formerly a business lobbyist.

Do you have a vision for Dublin city and would like to write an article about it? Get in touch with us via whatifdublin@gmail.com

Words: Reg McCabe

Images: What If Dublin Team

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