Ha'penny Bridge
A ferry operator given an ultimatum — fix your boats or build a bridge — chose the bridge, then charged Dubliners a ha'penny to cross it for over a century.
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Built in May 1816 to replace seven failing Liffey ferries, the toll was pegged to match old ferry fares rather than cover construction costs. The cast iron came from Shropshire, assembled from ore originally mined at County Leitrim's Sliabh an Iarainn. By 2001 it carried 27,000 pedestrians a day — still doing the job Walsh's ferries couldn't.
What to look for
- The 18-section cast iron arch ribs, each section shipped from Shropshire after being cast from Leitrim ore
- The spots at either end where turnstiles once stood collecting ha'penny tolls until 1919
- The paintwork restored to its original color when the bridge reopened in December 2001
Pedestrian only and busy — 27,000 crossings a day as of 2001. Cross early to move at your own pace.
Ha'penny Bridge is one of 35 sights worth the detour in Dublin, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Dublin pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Dublin
- Aviva StadiumOne 51,711-seat bowl jointly owned by rugby and football — two governing bodies, one ground, no separate home for either.
- Dublin CastleThe river that gave Dublin its name still flows beneath your feet — and the building above it ran Ireland for 750 years.
- Croke ParkThe fourth-largest stadium in Europe holds 82,300 people — almost entirely for sports most of the world has never watched.
- National Library of IrelandIreland's paper memory — manuscripts, photographs, and newspapers free to open on the spot.
- St Patrick's CathedralIreland's national cathedral has never had a bishop — that role belongs to the rival church 400 metres up the road.
- Spire of DublinA 120-metre stainless-steel pin planted on the exact spot where an IRA bomb in 1966 — and a controlled demolition six days later — erased Nelson's Pillar.