{"id":2947,"date":"2022-10-26T23:02:50","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T23:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10015\/?p=2947"},"modified":"2022-10-26T23:02:51","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T23:02:51","slug":"sheriff-street-lifting-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost:10015\/sheriff-street-lifting-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"SHERIFF STREET LIFTING BRIDGE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I KEEPING HOPING THAT IT MIGHT BE RESTORED<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The one thing that you need to know should you ever visit Dublin is that everything has a history or a background story but the associated problem, that may catch you by surprise, is that everyone will tell you a different story and different versions every time they meet you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first photographed this bridge, many years ago, a self appointed local historian explained to me that the lifting bridge was built by Earl Spencer the paternal grandfather of Diana Spencer. The problem with stories such as this is that the facts may be \u201calternative\u201d but they are often, to some extent, true so they should be dismissed with further research or investigation. I did, however, have problems with the story for the following reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1] Spencer Dock was originally known as the Royal Canal Docks
[2] Diana\u2019s Grand Father or his father had no connection with Ireland.
[3] The bridge appears to have an electric motor dating from the 1940s or 1950s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway I decided to check a history of the docklands published by Turtle Bunbury [by the way the book features one of my photographs] and I came across the following: \u201cThe new dock was a work of \u2018entirely private enterprise\u2019 and cost \u00a358,000. On the beautiful afternoon of 15th April 1873, (Sir) Ralph Cusack, Chairman of the MGWR, opened the new dock and formally named it Spencer after the Lord Lieutenant, Earl Spencer, great-great grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there was some basis to the local historian\u2019s claim however the bridge associated with the development was at the time described as \u201can ingenious hydraulic bridge\u201d and it was the work of the railway\u2019s engineer Mr Price. The bridge in my photographs does not really match the description above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The available information is confusing. The bridge in my photographs appears to be referred to as the Sheriff Street Lifting Bridge but also as the Sheriff Street Spencer Drawbridge but it was built in 1941 as a replacement for an older swivel bridge dating from 1873.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just before I published my original photographs I came across this \u201cHowever, on 17 October 1941 the Irish Times reported on the opening of the new Sheriff Street drawbridge, which had cost \u00a318,000; it was a structure unique of its kind in these islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway I like the bridge and I keep hoping that it might be restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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