 |
| GRATTAN BRIDGE, DUBLIN. -Since the extension of the Irish voting power, under the Gladstone regime, the chief municipalities of Ireland, by their Aldermen, or Counciilors, have asserted the national sentiment by substituting Irish for English names of streets and structures, whenever opportunity offers. Henry Grattan, the most gifted of Irish orators, and the founder of the "Constitution of 1782," which gave Ireland parliamentary independence for eighteen years, has given name to the bridge shown in the picture, which formerly bore the title of Essex bridge. The latter was first consturcted in 1696, while Arthur, Earl of Essex, was viceroy, but a new bridge, modeled on that of Westminster, was built in 1756, and remained in position until 1874 when the existing structure was put up by the Dublin Port and Docks Board. It connects Capel and Parliament streets-respectively on the north and south banks of the river Liffey, which almost divides Dublin in two. It is the direct route to the Royal Exchange and Dublin Castle-the seat of English government in Ireland. The bridge is fifty feet in width at the driveway and pathways for pedestrians, twelve feet wide, on each side, make it sufficiently capacious for traffic and travel. The Corporation of Dublin named it Grattan bridge on January 1, 1875. |
 |  |