50 Fun Facts About Dublin

The name Dublin comes from the Irish Dubhlinn, meaning what?

Dubhlinn means 'black pool', the dark tidal pool where the River Poddle met the Liffey behind today's Dublin Castle; the castle's Dubh Linn Garden now covers the spot.

What does Baile Atha Cliath, the Irish name for Dublin, mean?

Baile Átha Cliath means 'town of the hurdled ford', a wattle crossing of the Liffey near today's Father Mathew Bridge; in speech it is often shortened to Bleá Cliath.

On which river does Dublin stand?

The River Liffey divides Dublin into the Northside and Southside and reaches the sea at Dublin Bay; the Viking town grew on its south bank.

The Vikings established a fortified base at Dublin in roughly which year?

Vikings set up a longphort, a fortified ship camp, at Dublin in 841; the town stayed largely Norse until the Normans took it in 1170, and the slave trade drove much of its early wealth.

Which founding year did Dublin's official millennium celebrations commemorate?

Dublin chose 988, the year High King Máel Sechnaill forced tribute from the Norse town, as its founding date; the 1988 millennium festivities included unveiling the Molly Malone statue.

Ptolemy's map of about 140 AD marks a settlement near Dublin under what name?

Ptolemy's Geography of about 140 AD records a settlement called Eblana, often identified with Dublin; fish traps found under the Convention Centre show people on the bay some 6,000 years ago.

Which Norman lord, enlisted by the exiled King of Leinster, seized Dublin in 1170?

Strongbow, Richard de Clare, took Dublin in 1170 for the exiled Diarmait Mac Murchada and claimed Leinster on his death; Henry II arrived in 1171 to rein in his vassal and styled himself Lord of Ireland.

Dublin Castle was founded in 1204 on the orders of which English monarch?

King John ordered the castle built in 1204 to hold the city's treasure and defend it; it remained the seat of British rule until handed to Michael Collins's provisional government in January 1922.

Dublin was the heart of which strip of English-controlled territory in medieval Ireland?

The phrase 'beyond the pale' comes from the lands outside it; Robert the Bruce tried and failed to take the city in 1317.

Which monarch founded Trinity College in 1592 as a Protestant university?

Elizabeth I granted Trinity College its charter in 1592 as a Protestant university, Ireland's oldest; its College Historical Society, dating to 1770, claims to be the world's oldest student society.

In the Georgian 18th century, Dublin briefly ranked as what?

Dublin was briefly the second-largest city of the British Empire after London, and fifth-largest in Europe, with over 130,000 people; the Wide Streets Commission of 1757 shaped its layout.

Arthur Guinness's 1759 lease on the St James's Gate brewery ran for how long?

The rent was 45 pounds a year; the company has since bought the land outright.

At the top of the Guinness Storehouse, visitors drink their pint in which bar?

The Gravity Bar on the seventh floor serves the complimentary pint with 360-degree views across Dublin; Queen Elizabeth II visited the Storehouse in 2011.

Handel's Messiah received its first performance in Dublin in which year?

Messiah premiered on 13 April 1742 at Neal's Music Hall on Fishamble Street, a charity performance given while Handel was wintering in Dublin.

The Ha'penny Bridge of 1816 got its name from what?

It was officially the Wellington Bridge; William Walsh held the right to charge the toll for 100 years.

The Easter Rising began on Easter Monday, 24 April, in which year?

The 1916 Rising ran six days from Easter Monday, 24 April; Patrick Pearse surrendered on 29 April and sixteen leaders were later executed, Roger Casement among them by hanging in London.

Which building on O'Connell Street served as the rebels' headquarters during the Easter Rising?

The General Post Office was the rebels' headquarters; Patrick Pearse read the Proclamation of the Republic outside it, and its portico columns bear bullet marks from the fighting.

The leaders of the 1916 Rising were executed at which Dublin prison, now a museum?

Kilmainham Gaol, built in 1796 as the New Gaol, saw fourteen leaders shot in its stonebreakers' yard in May 1916; it closed in 1924 and reopened as a museum in 1966.

Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920, saw British forces open fire on a crowd at which venue?

The stadium is now Croke Park; the shootings were a reprisal for Michael Collins's Squad killing members of the Cairo Gang that morning.

Roughly how many spectators can Croke Park hold?

Croke Park holds 82,300 after a redevelopment completed in 2005, by far the largest stadium in Ireland; the Aviva Stadium, the next biggest, holds about 51,700.

Croke Park is named after Thomas Croke, who held which office?

Croke Park honours Thomas Croke, Archbishop of Cashel from 1875 to 1902 and the first patron of the Gaelic Athletic Association, which bought the Jones's Road ground in 1913.

Where do both houses of the Irish parliament, the Oireachtas, meet?

Leinster House on Kildare Street, built for the Earl of Kildare in the 1740s, has housed the Dáil and Seanad since 1922; the President lives in Phoenix Park.

Phoenix Park covers roughly how many hectares?

Phoenix Park covers about 707 hectares, one of Europe's largest walled city parks, holding Dublin Zoo, the President's residence and the US ambassador's house.

Which animals have roamed Phoenix Park since the 17th century?

A herd of fallow deer has lived in the park since the Duke of Ormond enclosed it as a royal deer park in 1662; the Papal Cross marks John Paul II's 1979 mass there.

Dublin Zoo opened to the public in which year?

Dublin Zoo opened to the public in September 1831 in Phoenix Park, among the world's oldest zoos; it became famous for lion breeding in the 19th century.

The Spire of Dublin stands on the site of which earlier monument?

Nelson's Pillar, an 1809 column topped by a statue of Horatio Nelson, was blown up by former IRA members in 1966; the stainless-steel Spire went up on the site in 2003.

How tall is the Spire of Dublin, officially the Monument of Light?

The Spire of Dublin rises about 120 metres (121.2 m) from O'Connell Street, a stainless-steel cone tapering from three metres wide at the base to 15 centimetres at the tip, completed in 2003.

The Book of Kells, on show at Trinity College, was created around which year?

The Book of Kells was made around 800 AD, probably begun at Iona before reaching Kells; it holds the four Gospels in Latin on calf vellum and has been at Trinity since 1661.

Which medieval harp kept in Trinity's Long Room is the model for Ireland's national emblem?

The Brian Boru harp, a 14th- or 15th-century instrument kept in the Long Room of Trinity's Old Library, is the model for the harp on Ireland's coat of arms and coins.

Which satirist was dean of St Patrick's Cathedral from 1713 to 1745?

Jonathan Swift served as dean from 1713 until his death in 1745 and is buried in St Patrick's, Ireland's largest church; his bequest founded St Patrick's Hospital for the mentally ill.

Christ Church, the elder of Dublin's two medieval cathedrals, was founded under which Viking king?

Sitric Silkenbeard, the Hiberno-Norse king of Dublin, founded Christ Church around 1030; Strongbow rebuilt it in stone in the late 12th century and is said to be buried there.

The Temple Bar nightlife district is generally thought to be named after what?

Sir William Temple built there in the early 1600s, giving Temple Bar its name.

The Molly Malone statue was unveiled in 1988 where?

The statue stood at the foot of Grafton Street from its 1988 unveiling until Luas tram works moved it to nearby Suffolk Street in 2014; the song is Dublin's unofficial anthem.

Bloomsday is celebrated on 16 June because Joyce's Ulysses takes place on that date in which year?

Ulysses follows Leopold Bloom through Dublin on 16 June 1904, the day Joyce first walked out with Nora Barnacle; the novel itself was published in Paris in 1922.

Which three Dublin-born writers won the Nobel Prize in Literature?

Yeats (1923), Shaw (1925) and Beckett (1969) were all born in Dublin; Joyce never won a Nobel, and Seamus Heaney, the 1995 laureate, was from County Derry.

In 2010 UNESCO gave Dublin the same literary designation as which three places?

Dublin became a UNESCO City of Literature in July 2010, the fourth after Edinburgh, Melbourne and Iowa City; the Abbey Theatre, founded by Yeats and Lady Gregory in 1904, launched Synge and O'Casey.

The Poolbeg chimneys, visible across Dublin, are how tall?

They belong to a former power station on the Poolbeg peninsula and are the city's tallest structures.

Which Northside thoroughfare is the city's main shopping strip north of the river?

Henry Street, running west from O'Connell Street beside the GPO, is the Northside's main shopping street; its Southside counterpart is Grafton Street.

Dublin's Luas light rail system launched in which year?

The Luas opened in June 2004 with the Green Line from St Stephen's Green to Sandyford, followed by the Red Line that September; Dublin's old trams had been phased out by 1949.

What is the name of Dublin's electrified coastal commuter rail line?

The DART, Dublin Area Rapid Transit, opened in 1984 and serves 31 stations along the coast from Malahide and Howth south to Bray and Greystones.

Dublin Airport opened in 1940 on the site of which former aerodrome?

Dublin Airport opened at Collinstown in January 1940, its first flight an Aer Lingus service to Liverpool; Baldonnel, the older airfield, stayed with the military as Casement Aerodrome.

The tech cluster on Dublin's docklands, home to Google and Facebook offices, is nicknamed what?

Silicon Docks is the nickname for the Grand Canal Dock area where Google, Meta and other tech firms set up European headquarters; the IFSC, launched in 1987, began the docklands' redevelopment.

Which Dublin band formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in 1976?

U2 came together in 1976 after drummer Larry Mullen Jr pinned a notice at Mount Temple Comprehensive School; the band released its debut album Boy in 1980.

What was Dublin city council area's population at the 2022 census?

Dublin City Council's area held 592,713 people at the 2022 census; the city with suburbs had 1.26 million and the Greater Dublin Area just over two million.

The low range bordering the city to the south is a sub-range of which larger range?

The Dublin Mountains are the northern fringe of the Wicklow Mountains, rising to Kippure at 757 m on the county boundary; flat farmland lies north and west of the city and the sea to the east.

The historic city centre of Dublin is encircled by which two waterways?

The Royal Canal to the north and the Grand Canal to the south ring the inner city, with Heuston station and Phoenix Park to the west and the Docklands to the east.

Which Chinese-inspired dish of chicken, chips and veg was voted Ireland's favourite takeaway in 2020?

The spice bag, shredded chicken, chips, peppers and onions tossed in spices, is credited to the Sunflower Chinese takeaway in Templeogue around 2010; it won Just Eat's National Takeaway Awards in 2020.

Dublin's Women's Mini Marathon, run each June since 1983, is said to be the world's largest what?

The Women's Mini Marathon, a 10 km first run in 1983, is billed as the world's largest all-female race, drawing tens of thousands over the June bank holiday weekend; the full Dublin Marathon dates from 1980.

Ireland's first Test cricket match, a women's game in 2000, was played at which Dublin ground?

Ireland's women beat Pakistan at College Park, Trinity's ground, in their one-off Test in July 2000; the men waited until 2018 for their Test debut, also against Pakistan, at Malahide.

Which Dublin district records the lowest average annual rainfall in all of Ireland, about 683 mm?

Ringsend, on the south side of the Liffey mouth, averages about 683 mm of rain a year, the lowest in Ireland; the capital's sheltered east-coast position gives it roughly half the rain of the west coast.