Spencer Dock ( ga, Duga Spencer) is a former

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths ( mooring locati ...

area, close to where the Royal Canal meets the River Liffey, in the North Wall area of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. As of the 21st century, the area has been redeveloped with occupants of the Spencer Dock development including the

Convention Centre Dublin The Convention Centre Dublin () is a convention centre in the Dublin Docklands, Ireland. The Convention centre overlooks the River Liffey at Spencer Dock. It was designed by the Irish-born American architect Kevin Roche. Construction started i ...

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...

' Irish headquarters,

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

and TMF Group. The Central Bank of Ireland and NTMA have offices in the nearby Dublin Landings development. The main building in the area was previously the former North Wall railway station which formed the terminus bringing goods and passengers to the quays.

History

London and North Western Hotel, Dublin (1884)

The dockland area was originally part of the end of the Royal Canal, which still reaches the River Liffey here.

1873 docks complex

The dock was constructed in 1873 to accommodate the coal ships and other barges primarily of the Midland Great Western Railway Company and served as both a railway and canal depot. The original Sheriff Street Drawbridge was constructed in 1873 but replaced by the Sheriff Street Lifting Bridge in 1941. The name relates to John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; who opened the docks complex in 1873; conferring a knighthood on MGWR chairman

Ralph Cusack Sir Ralph Vincent Cusack (1916–1978) was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales. Life Cusack was born in Ireland, the son of Dora and John Cusack, KC, later a judge (d. 1940), who contested the seat of Newry as a Unionist at the ...

at the same time.

Modern Spencer Dock development

Most of the 206,000 m² (51 acre) site now known as ''Spencer Dock'' was owned by Córas Iompair Éireann for much of the 20th century. With increasing land values in the early 2000s and as the freight yards became surplus to requirements, it sold the land on to

Treasury Holdings Treasury Holdings was an Irish property development company headed by Johnny Ronan and Richard Barrett. The company, which was insolvent with a huge amount of debt, was wound up in October 2012. History Treasury Holdings was formed in 1989 with i ...

while retaining a 17.5% interest in the freehold. CIÉ later also sold its minority holding to a property fund managed by Davy Group. All 614 apartments in the development were sold to private buyers. Following the appointment of receivers over the office property, the office complex was sold in its entirety for €242m in 2016.

Geography

The original area was Spencer Dock area was defined by a ribbon of development from the Liffey along the Royal Canal up to about the Main Dublin to Belfast railway line, the two parts of Spencer Dock being separated by the bridge at Sheriff Street and separated from the Liffey by a sea lock. The modern development is defined as being part of the North Wall area of

Dublin Docklands Dublin Docklands ( ga, Ceantar Dugaí Átha Cliath) is an area of the city of Dublin, Ireland, on both sides of the River Liffey, roughly from Talbot Memorial Bridge eastwards to the 3Arena. It mainly falls within the city's D01 and D02 ...

. The Point Village area lies to the east with

claiming to be a small area between the two. One focal point of the area is the Luas tram stop and the adjacent park.

Infrastructure

Luas bridge at Spencer Dock - panoramio (9)

Rail

Spencer Dock is served by the Docklands railway station on Sheriff Street, at the north end of the site. Commuter services to the

area on the Western Commuter line began in March 2007. Under the Transport 21 initiative, at one time due for completion by 2018, the station was to move south to a permanent location along New Wapping Street. This station, proposed to connect to an extended Luas Red line, was deferred due to the Post-2008 Irish economic downturn.

Luas

The Luas Red Line which runs from Tallaght or Saggart to The Point (via Busáras and Heuston Railway station) has a Spencer Dock stop.

Dublin Bikes

In 2014, two Dublin Bikes stations were opened, one at Guild Street and another at the convention centre.

Bridges

The Sheriff Street Lifting Bridge was installed between 1939 and 1941. A single-span bascule bridge, it replaces the earlier James Price designed swivel bridge of 1873 which was the first mechanical crossing of Spencer Dock, and separated its inner and outer portions. The Spencer Dock Bridge carries road, LUAS and pedestrian traffic from Dublin over the Royal Canal into the Spencer Dock area. The

Spencer Dock Luas stop Spencer Dock ( ga, Duga Spencer) is a stop on the Luas light-rail tram system in Dublin, Ireland. It opened in 2009 as one of four stops on an extension of the Red Line through the docklands to The Point. The stop is located on a section of ...

is some 200m to the east. The bridge 200m north of where the Royal Canal meets the Liffey, while the Sheriff Street Lifting bridge carrying the R101 road is a further 160m north. The bridge has a shallow desk of just thick while the width varies from to .

References

Sources

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External links

Luas Spencer Dock Live information websiteIrish Rail Docklands Railway station website
Dublin Docklands North Wall, Dublin Places in Dublin (city)