Ha'penny Bridge

You're looking at Dublin's best-loved bridge. Its official name is the Liffey Bridge, but nobody calls it that: to everyone it's the Ha'penny Bridge.

1From ferries to iron

Before 1816 there were seven ferries crossing the river here, run by William Walsh. They were in such poor condition that the authorities gave him a choice: repair them or build a bridge. Walsh chose the bridge, in return for the right to charge a halfpenny toll for a hundred years, the same as the ferry fare.

The ironwork was cast at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, the cradle of the Industrial Revolution, and shipped over in eighteen sections. The bridge opened in May 1816 as the Wellington Bridge, after the Dublin-born Duke of Wellington. After independence it was renamed the Liffey Bridge.

2Turnstiles and padlocks

While the toll lasted, there were turnstiles at both ends. For a time it rose to a penny ha'penny, and it was finally scrapped in 1919. In 2001 the bridge was thoroughly restored and got its original white colour back. Some years later the City Council removed the love locks piling up on its railings, because they were damaging the structure.

One curious condition: if Dubliners found the bridge objectionable within its first year, it had to be taken down at no cost to the city.

3What to look for

• The three lamps over the arch, which trace its outline at night.
• The single span of cast iron, with no piers in the water.
• Merchant's Arch, on the south bank, the classic way into Temple Bar.