O'Donovan Rossa Bridge () 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 ...

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 ...

, Ireland, which joins

Winetavern Street Winetavern Street is a street in the medieval area of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Location Winetavern Street runs from High Street northwards and down to Dublin quays, the quays, passing Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Christ Church C ...

to Chancery Place (at the

Four Courts The Four Courts ( ga, Na Ceithre Cúirteanna) is Ireland's most prominent courts building, located on Inns Quay in Dublin. The Four Courts is the principal seat of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Dublin Circui ...

) and the north quays. Replacing a short-lived wooden structure, the original masonry

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

on this site was built in 1684 as a five-span simple arch bridge, and named ''Ormonde Bridge''. In December 1802 this bridge was swept away during a severe storm. In 1813 construction started on a replacement bridge – the current structure – a little further west to the designs of James Savage and was opened in 1816. It consists of three elliptical arch spans in

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

, with sculptured heads, similar to those on

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 south quays. History The original bridge (named ''Carlisle Bridge'' for the th ...

, on the keystones. The heads represent ''Plenty'', the ''Liffey'', and ''Industry'' on one side, with ''Commerce'', ''Hibernia'' and ''Peace'' on the other. The balustrades are of cast iron. Opened as ''Richmond Bridge'' (named for

Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond General Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond, 4th Duke of Lennox, 4th Duke of Aubigny, (9 December 176428 August 1819) was a Scottish peer, soldier, politician, and Governor-general of British North America. Background Richmond was born to Ge ...

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the King ...

), it was renamed in 1923 for

Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa ( ga, Diarmaid Ó Donnabháin Rosa; baptised 4 September 1831, died 29 June 1915)Con O'Callaghan Reenascreena Community Online (dead link archived at archive.org, 29 September 2014) was an Irish Fenian leader and member ...

by the fledgling Free State.

References

{{Dublin Liffey Bridges Bridges in Dublin (city) Bridges completed in 1816 1816 establishments in Ireland