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River Poddle
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River Poddle
The River Poddle (Irish: An Poitéal) is a river in Dublin, Ireland, a pool of which (dubh linn, "black pool" or "dark pool" in Irish) gave the city its English language name. Boosted by a channel made by the Abbey of St. Thomas à Becket, taking water from the far larger River Dodder, the Poddle was the main source of drinking water for the city for more than 500 years, from the 1240s. The Poddle, which flows wholly within the traditional County Dublin, is one of around a hundred members of the River Liffey system (excluding the Dodder tributaries), and one of over 135 watercourses in the county; it has just one significant natural tributary, the Commons Water from Crumlin.
The Poddle rises in the southwest of County Dublin, in the Cookstown area, northwest of Tallaght, in the county of South Dublin, and flows into the River Liffey at Wellington Quay in central Dublin. Flowing in the open almost to the Grand Canal at Harold's Cross, its lower reaches, including multiple connected artificial channels, are almost entirely culverted. Aside from supplying potable water for the city from the 13th century to the 18th, to homes, and to businesses including breweries and distilleries, the river also provided wash water for skinners, tanners and dyers. Its volume was boosted by a drawing off from the much larger River Dodder, it powered multiple mills, including flour, paper and iron production facilities, from at least the 12th century until the 20th. It also provided water for the moat at Dublin Castle, through the grounds of which it still runs underground.
The Poddle has frequently caused flooding, notably around St. Patrick's Cathedral, and for some centuries there was a commission of senior state and municipal officials to try to manage this, with the power to levy and collect a Poddle Tax. The flooding led both to the lack of a crypt at the cathedral and to the moving of the graves of satirist Dean Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, and his friend Stella. The river and its associated watercourses were famously polluted in certain periods, at one point allegedly sufficiently so as to kill animals drinking the water. The river is mentioned briefly in James Joyce's novel Ulysses, and multiple times in Finnegans Wake, which mentions its role in Dublin's growth.
The name Poddle is first recorded in 1493, as Podell, in 1603 as Puddell. The modern spelling Poddle is first found in 1695. P.J. McCall in 1894 attempted to etymologise the name as from the term pottle, a measure of land. Carroll (1953) considers a possible derivation from the English puddle, most likely as a "translation" of the older Irish name.
An alternative Irish language name for the river, Abhainn Sáile or Salach (the "dirty river"), has also been Anglicised colloquially as "the river Salach", Salagh, Glasholac, and similar. Salach (anglicised Sologh, Soulagh, Sallagh) would in this case be used in the sense of "muddy pool" – the Irish salach means "dirty, filthy" in general, but in toponyms refers to a puddle or mire.
A large pool once existed at the confluence of the River Poddle with the Liffey, which was wider then. This water in the pool was dark, probably due to peat staining, and so it was named dubh linn in Irish, which means dark pool or black pool. This historic pool existed under the present site of the coach house and castle gardens of Dublin Castle. A settlement in the vicinity was known as Dyfflin by its Viking founders, derived from the Irish name.
The stretches of artificially made stream from Balrothery to Kimmage, and from Harold's Cross to the City Basin were both known as the City Watercourse. The offtake from the site of Donore Castle through Marrowbone Lane is known as the Tenter Water but was previously also called the Pimlico River.
The Poddle begins as the Tymon River in the Cookstown area of "Greater Tallaght", northwest of Tallaght village, between Tallaght Hospital and Cookstown Industrial Estate. After a largely culverted stretch, its early open course, near Old Belgard Road and the former Jacob's Biscuit factory, has been straightened where it flows in what is now an area of light industrial development. It runs to the north of the former Institute of Technology, Tallaght campus (now the Tallaght campus of the Technological University Dublin), and passes the Tallaght Athletics track before going through a small public park, Bancroft Park. It continues to the east, past where a tributary from the vicinity of Tallaght Priory used to flow in. The small river goes on through Tymon North, turning northeast and passing schools and St Aengus Church (centre of one of the four Tallaght Catholic parishes), then between a special school and Tallaght Community School, to come to Tymon Lane, formerly the only road for miles, linking Templeogue and then-remote Greenhills, when Tallaght was a small village.
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River Poddle
The River Poddle (Irish: An Poitéal) is a river in Dublin, Ireland, a pool of which (dubh linn, "black pool" or "dark pool" in Irish) gave the city its English language name. Boosted by a channel made by the Abbey of St. Thomas à Becket, taking water from the far larger River Dodder, the Poddle was the main source of drinking water for the city for more than 500 years, from the 1240s. The Poddle, which flows wholly within the traditional County Dublin, is one of around a hundred members of the River Liffey system (excluding the Dodder tributaries), and one of over 135 watercourses in the county; it has just one significant natural tributary, the Commons Water from Crumlin.
The Poddle rises in the southwest of County Dublin, in the Cookstown area, northwest of Tallaght, in the county of South Dublin, and flows into the River Liffey at Wellington Quay in central Dublin. Flowing in the open almost to the Grand Canal at Harold's Cross, its lower reaches, including multiple connected artificial channels, are almost entirely culverted. Aside from supplying potable water for the city from the 13th century to the 18th, to homes, and to businesses including breweries and distilleries, the river also provided wash water for skinners, tanners and dyers. Its volume was boosted by a drawing off from the much larger River Dodder, it powered multiple mills, including flour, paper and iron production facilities, from at least the 12th century until the 20th. It also provided water for the moat at Dublin Castle, through the grounds of which it still runs underground.
The Poddle has frequently caused flooding, notably around St. Patrick's Cathedral, and for some centuries there was a commission of senior state and municipal officials to try to manage this, with the power to levy and collect a Poddle Tax. The flooding led both to the lack of a crypt at the cathedral and to the moving of the graves of satirist Dean Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, and his friend Stella. The river and its associated watercourses were famously polluted in certain periods, at one point allegedly sufficiently so as to kill animals drinking the water. The river is mentioned briefly in James Joyce's novel Ulysses, and multiple times in Finnegans Wake, which mentions its role in Dublin's growth.
The name Poddle is first recorded in 1493, as Podell, in 1603 as Puddell. The modern spelling Poddle is first found in 1695. P.J. McCall in 1894 attempted to etymologise the name as from the term pottle, a measure of land. Carroll (1953) considers a possible derivation from the English puddle, most likely as a "translation" of the older Irish name.
An alternative Irish language name for the river, Abhainn Sáile or Salach (the "dirty river"), has also been Anglicised colloquially as "the river Salach", Salagh, Glasholac, and similar. Salach (anglicised Sologh, Soulagh, Sallagh) would in this case be used in the sense of "muddy pool" – the Irish salach means "dirty, filthy" in general, but in toponyms refers to a puddle or mire.
A large pool once existed at the confluence of the River Poddle with the Liffey, which was wider then. This water in the pool was dark, probably due to peat staining, and so it was named dubh linn in Irish, which means dark pool or black pool. This historic pool existed under the present site of the coach house and castle gardens of Dublin Castle. A settlement in the vicinity was known as Dyfflin by its Viking founders, derived from the Irish name.
The stretches of artificially made stream from Balrothery to Kimmage, and from Harold's Cross to the City Basin were both known as the City Watercourse. The offtake from the site of Donore Castle through Marrowbone Lane is known as the Tenter Water but was previously also called the Pimlico River.
The Poddle begins as the Tymon River in the Cookstown area of "Greater Tallaght", northwest of Tallaght village, between Tallaght Hospital and Cookstown Industrial Estate. After a largely culverted stretch, its early open course, near Old Belgard Road and the former Jacob's Biscuit factory, has been straightened where it flows in what is now an area of light industrial development. It runs to the north of the former Institute of Technology, Tallaght campus (now the Tallaght campus of the Technological University Dublin), and passes the Tallaght Athletics track before going through a small public park, Bancroft Park. It continues to the east, past where a tributary from the vicinity of Tallaght Priory used to flow in. The small river goes on through Tymon North, turning northeast and passing schools and St Aengus Church (centre of one of the four Tallaght Catholic parishes), then between a special school and Tallaght Community School, to come to Tymon Lane, formerly the only road for miles, linking Templeogue and then-remote Greenhills, when Tallaght was a small village.
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