The Butt Bridge () is a road bridge in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland which spans the

River Liffey The River Liffey (Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River ...

and joins

Georges Quay George's Quay is a street and quay in Dublin on the southern bank of the River Liffey. It is located between Burgh Quay and Hawkins Street to the west, and City Quay and Talbot Memorial Bridge to the east. History and development Though ear ...

to Beresford Place and the north quays at

Liberty Hall Liberty Hall ( ga, Halla na Saoirse), in Dublin, Ireland, is the headquarters of the Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union (SIPTU). Designed by Desmond Rea O'Kelly, it was completed in 1965. It was for a time the tallest b ...

. The original bridge on this site was a structural steel

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

, designed by

Bindon Blood Stoney Bindon Blood Stoney FRS (13 June 1828, Oakley Park, County Offaly – 5 May 1909, Dublin) was an Irish engineer who also made some significant contributions to astronomy. Family A son of George Stoney (1792–) and Anne Blood (1801–1883), St ...

, opened in 1879 and named after

Isaac Butt Isaac Butt (6 September 1813 – 5 May 1879) was an Irish barrister, editor, politician, Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, economist and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist part ...

(who died that year), leader of the

Home Rule movement Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a State (polity), state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers o ...

. The swing section, made of wrought iron and weighing 200 tons, ran on a series of cast-spoke wheels and was powered by a steam engine, which was housed on a timber pier on the downstream side of the bridge. The swing action allowed boats to pass and berth in the river as far upstream as ''Carlisle Bridge'' (now

O'Connell Bridge O'Connell Bridge () is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland, which joins O'Connell Street to D'Olier Street, Westmoreland Street and the Dublin quays, south quays. History The original bridge (named ''Carlisle Bridge'' f ...

). In 1932, the swing bridge was replaced with a three span fixed structure of reinforced concrete, but retained its original English name. The Irish name of the bridge however, ''Droichead na Comhdhála'' or "Congress Bridge", derives from the Eucharistic Congress of 1932 which was held in Dublin that year. The central span of the current bridge is formed by two cantilevered sections, with the two approach spans acting as counterweights. This model represented the first use in reinforced concrete of a cantilevered and counterweight construction in either Britain or Ireland.

References

{{Dublin Liffey Bridges Bridges in Dublin (city) Bridges completed in 1932