The Ha’penny Bridge, Dublin

Dublin’s Ha’penny Bridge is one of the symbols of the city. Designed by Coalbrookdale in Shropshire and erected in Dublin in and opened on 19 May 1816. It was the first dedicated footbridge over the river Liffey and was the first iron bridge in Ireland. It was also rare in world terms - very few iron bridges had been constructed anywhere by that date. The bridge was officially named after the first Duke of Wellington, the Dublin-born victor of the Battle of Waterloo. However it quickly acquired the nickname by which it is still known because it replaced a Liffey ferry which charged passengers a half-penny - and this amount was charged to pedestrians as a toll to cross the bridge. The Ha’penny Bridge was triumphantly restored in 2001 and now awaits its 200th anniversary in much splendour. This lavishly-illustrated book, the fourth in Dublin City Council’s series on engineering history and heritage, has been produced to mark the bi-centenary of the bridge.