placenamesIslandbridge
Droichead na hInse
Islandbridge’s river crossings connect a history of transport and military building with the landscaped setting of the Irish National War Memorial Gardens.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Droichead na hInse · Irish · main form · validated name
- Islandbridge · English · main form
Place & story
Sarah Bridge and its earlier crossing
Alexander Stevens the Elder designed the single-span bridge erected across the Liffey in 1791–93. It was initially named Sarah Bridge after the Countess of Westmoreland, who laid its foundation stone. The structure replaced a bridge with several arches shown on Rocque’s 1773 map. Its granite arch and Portland stone parapets combine an ambitious span with finely worked masonry. Following Irish independence, the crossing recovered the name Islandbridge. [2]
Ironwork across the Liffey
The railway crossing east of the road bridge was erected around 1875 for the Great Southern and Western Railway’s Amiens Street and North Wall branch. Its box-truss span carried the railway over the river towards the Phoenix Park Tunnel, linking the company’s network with northern Dublin’s railway and freight facilities. Wrought-iron lattice work sits above substantial limestone abutments and approach arches, combining newer iron engineering with traditional masonry construction. [3]
The barracks and its guard house
Islandbridge’s artillery barracks was established in 1798. By the 1830s it could accommodate 23 officers, 547 men and 185 horses. Later additions included cavalry accommodation and a guard house built around 1900. The guard house’s red-brick walls, slate roof and sheltered veranda record that later phase of military investment. Following independence the complex was renamed Clancy Barracks, adding another historical name to the district’s built landscape. [4]
A garden for remembrance
Edwin Lutyens designed the Irish National War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge. The memorial commemorates 49,400 Irish soldiers who died during the First World War, with their names recorded in volumes illustrated by Harry Clarke and housed in granite bookrooms. Sunken rose gardens, herbaceous planting and trees form part of its setting. The gardens bring architecture, horticulture and the preservation of names together in a landscape devoted to remembrance. [5]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Dublin
- Barony
- Uppercross
- Civil parish
- Saint James's
- Coordinates
- 53.34437, -6.31813 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 127058 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Islandbridge. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Island Bridge, record 50080009 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Liffey Railway Bridge, record 50080277 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Clancy Barracks: former guard house, record 50080026 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Irish National War Memorial Gardens · Office of Public Works / Heritage Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2024-06-28. How this page was prepared.