Crosses River Liffey Design Arch bridge No. of spans 1 Total length 32 m Bridge type Arch bridge Architect Alexander Stevens | Locale Dublin Material Ashlar masonry Opened 1793 Location Dublin Body of water River Liffey | |
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Preceded by First: 1577
Rebuilt: 1791
Renamed: 1922 Similar Irish National War Mem, Seán Heuston Bridge, Mellows Bridge, Rory O'More Bridge, Loopline Bridge | ||
Island Bridge (Irish: Droichead na hInse) (formerly Sarah or Sarah's Bridge) is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey, in Dublin, Ireland and joining the South Circular Road to Conyngham Road at the Phoenix Park.
Island Bridge and the surrounding area are so named because of the island formed here by the creation of a mill race towards the right bank while the main current flows to the left. The River Camac emerges from a tunnel further downstream towards Dublin Heuston railway station.
History
In 1577, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, while Sir Henry Sidney was Lord Deputy of Ireland, an arched stone bridge was built here to replace an earlier structure nearby at Kilmainham.
This bridge was swept away by a flood in 1787, and between 1791 and 1793 the replacement bridge, that is standing today, was constructed. The structure is a single 32-metre span ashlar masonry elliptical arch bridge and was originally named Sarah's Bridge after Sarah Fane, Countess of Westmorland, wife of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who laid the first stone on 22 June 1791.
The bridge was renamed Island Bridge in 1922 following independence from Britain of the Free State, similarly to many other Dublin bridges named for British peers.