Mellows Bridge ( ga, Droichead Uí Mhaoilíosa) is a road bridge spanning 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 Riv ...

, in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Ireland and joining Queen Street and Arran Quay to the south quays.

History

Arran bridge

In 1683, a stone bridge called Arran Bridge or Arons Bridge was built in a location between the upstream Bloody Bridge (now Rory O'More Bridge) and the downstream Bridge of Dublin (now

Father Mathew Bridge Father Mathew Bridge () is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland which joins Merchants Quay to Church Street and the north quays. It occupies the approximate site of the original, and for many years the only, Bridge of Dubli ...

). Construction was funded by landowner William Ellis, and

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...

. It was named after Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran, second son of

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond Lieutenant-General James FitzThomas Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, KG, PC (19 October 1610 – 21 July 1688), was a statesman and soldier, known as Earl of Ormond from 1634 to 1642 and Marquess of Ormond from 1642 to 1661. Following the failur ...

. From a drawing made by Francis Place in 1699, it appears to have been a four-span stone arched bridge. It was also known as Bridewell Bridge due to its proximity to the Smithfield Bridewell, and as Ellis's Bridge because of its association with Sir William and Sir John Ellis. This structure stood for 80 years, but was swept away by a flood in 1763. The collapse was described by

George Semple George Semple (c. 1700 – 13 April 1782) was a notable Irish builder and architect. Life His earliest known work is the steeple, in height, of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, which he designed and erected in 1749. He also built St Patri ...

as being an unlucky accident when a raft of timber was swiftly carried downstream in a flood where it got lodged across the middle arch. The water flow increased under the raft at this point, and since the piers of the bridge were built on top of the river bed, "This raft of timber obstructing the current of the surface, in like manner increased the power of it at the bottom and within the space of a few hours totally demolished the bridge."

Queens bridge

Designed by Charles Vallancey, a military engineer, a replacement bridge on the same site was built between 1764 and 1768 as a three elliptical arch stone bridge with a total span of 42 m, and named Queens Bridge after Charlotte of Mecklenburg, queen consort of

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

Queen Maeve Bridge

The bridge was renamed for the legendary

Queen Maeve Medb (), later spelled Meadhbh (), Méibh () and Méabh (), and often anglicised as Maeve ( ), is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Her husband in the core stories of the cycle is Ailill mac Máta, although she had seve ...

at a meeting of the Municipal Council on 2 January 1922.

Liam Mellows bridge

It was renamed again in 1942 to its current name, after Lieutenant General

Liam Mellows William Joseph Mellows ( ga, Liam Ó Maoilíosa, 25 May 1892 – 8 December 1922) was an Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician. Born in England to an English father and Irish mother, he grew up in Ashton-under-Lyne before moving to Irelan ...

Irish Republican army who was

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

during the Irish Civil War. Being 250 years old, Mellows Bridge remains the oldest of all Dublin city bridges still in use, although the parapets were replaced with cast iron balustrades and stone copings between 1816 and 1818.

Nomenclature

As with other bridges on the Liffey in Dublin, and chiefly due to the many name changes, Mellows Bridge is known locally by several names, including: Queen's Bridge, Queen's Street Bridge, Queen Maeve Bridge, and Mellowes Bridge (with an "e").

References

{{Dublin Liffey Bridges Bridges in Dublin (city) Bridges completed in 1768 1768 establishments in Ireland