HOW DUBLIN GOT ITS NAME The Gaelic name for Dublin is ‘Baile Atha Cliath’ which translates literally as ‘town of the hurdle ford’, a description of the bank of wooden hurdles built up across the river Liffey by the Vikings. The word ‘Dublin’ is actually a composition of two Gaelic words: ‘dubh’ meaning ‘black’ and ‘linn’ means ‘pool’ (or ‘mire’). Thus the literal translation of the words from which Dublin gets its name is Black pool! Crossing the ‘hurdle ford’ was not without its dangers. In 770 AD a band of Bon Valley raiders were drowned crossing the Liffey at the … Continue reading 10 Things You May Never Have Known About Dublin

by David Carey 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 Dublin’s O’Connell Bridge was originally made of rope and could only carry one man and a donkey at a time.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 … Continue reading 35 things you never knew about Dublin