Capel Street is a street in
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 dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. On 20 May 2022, it was made traffic-free, following a campaign by people who wanted to improve the quality of life on the street. It is now the longest traffic-free street in Dublin.
History
Capel Street is named after
Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex,
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the King ...
1672–1677. Historically, it was the site of the
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common typ ...
of
St Mary's Abbey. The street was laid out by
Sir Humphrey Jervis in the late 17th century on the Abbey lands he purchased in 1674. He also built Essex Bridge (today
Grattan Bridge), and the street was known for its mansions and a royal
mint. In the 18th century, it became a commercial hub, with two-
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
buildings replacing most of the "Dutch Billy" houses. In the late 1700s, the Italian composer,
Tommaso Giordani, performed at a small purpose built theatre on the street. The
Capel Street Theatre also stood there in the 18th century.
The
Torch Theatre operated on Capel Street from 1935–41. The street declined in the 20th century, before a revival around the 1980s. Today it is known for its variety of restaurants, shops, cafés and pubs; as
Panti, the owner of Pantibar put it, "You can buy a
lightbulb,
sexual lubricant,
Brazilian rice, get a pint and go to a
trad session". Louis Copeland's tailor is another notable business.
Architecture
The street affords a vista all the way from the junction with Bolton Street south through
Parliament Street to Dublin's
City Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
. Capel Street is notable for the remains of some "Dutch Billy" houses dating from the
18th century
The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 ( MDCCI) to December 31, 1800 ( MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. During the century, slave tradin ...
.
Gallery
File:Berlin optician Capel Street Dublin.jpg, Berlin Optician, 157 Capel Street
File:Former Torch Theatre, 114-116 Capel Street, Dublin.JPG, Site of the Torch Theatre, 114–116 Capel Street
File:Slattery's Bar, Dublin.jpg, Slattery's Bar, 129 Capel Street
File:Pub - panoramio (3).jpg, Jack Nealon's pub, 165 Capel Street
See also
*
List of streets and squares in Dublin
This is a list of notable streets and squares in Dublin, Ireland.
__NOTOC__
References Notes
Sources
*
External linksStreetnames of DublinaArchiseekArchitecture of Ireland— English-Irish list of Dublin street names aLeathanach baile Sh ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Archiseek page on Capel Street
Streets in Dublin (city)
Abbey Street