As you travel through Dublin Port today you stand on ground that was a tidal sandbank in early medieval times. The monastic settlement ‘Dubhlinn’, meaning ‘black pool’, took its name from a sheltered tidal pool located around modern-day Angier Street.

In the ninth century, the Vikings transformed this settlement into a vibrant trading port. In the following centuries, the port shifted to the river front below Christchurch Cathedral. Eventually, silting of the river Liffey meant that the ports of Dalkey and Howth took over as ‘outports’ for Dublin. During the eighteenth century, land reclamation works transformed Dublin, expanding [CN1] it east and towards the sea. Walls and fortifications were built to secure newly reclaimed land. The South Bull Wall was built in 1753 with the Poolbeg lighthouse added in 1767. Ships landed here and passengers were rowed into the city in small boats.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the port was at the centre of Dublin’s maritime identity and the city was part of imperial networks of migration and trade. By 1800, Dublin was the third largest port city in Europe.

In the nineteenth century the area around the Customs House and North Wall Quay catered for passenger ships and cross-channel traffic. Ships also unloaded at George’s Dock and Spencer Dock (the outlet of the Royal Canal) behind the quay wall. By the late 1800s, a new Deep-Sea Port had been built in the Alexandra Basin, this was the beginning of modern Dublin Port as we know it today.

Things to See and Do