The Irish Times

The current movement towards developing Dublin's docklands is not an entirely new phenomenon. It all started with the Vikings, who erected a small quayside fronting storage huts, houses, shops and markets in the ninth century. The lives of these early settlers revolved entirely around the River Liffey. The expansion of Dublin over the next 900 years was largely focused on the city's relationship with the river. Present day Temple Bar is a representation of that evolution. By the mid-18th century, the berths at the Old Custom House (at the site of the modern Clarence Hotel) were hopelessly jammed. The decision was finally taken in 1780 to build a new Custom House much further down river. Now considered the jewel in Dublin's architectural crown, such was the antagonism generated by the objectors to the scheme that unruly mobs attacked the construction site and the architect, James Gandon, had to constantly carry a sword for his own protection. Then, as ships grew larger over the next 150 years, the docks spread further out into the bay. The problem with all of this was that the people of Dublin eventually lost touch with their river. It became merely the symbol of the divide between northsiders and southsiders. The docklands themselves, on both sides of the Liffey between the Custom House and the present East Link Bridge, eventually became under-utilised and to a large extent, derelict. Our relationship with the river became even more remote , a situation not helped by the unsightly sheds built along the river's edge on what is known as the campshires.