Top Ten Trivia about Dublin, Ireland

Fun Facts about Dublin's Literature, Music, History and Guinness

© James Parsons

Jul 17, 2009

Dublin, capital of the Republic of Ireland, is a popular tourist destination, with heaps to offer. It also has lots of interesting quirks, which the tourist information office brochures and tour guides are quick to point out. |Here are a few fun facts gleaned from those sources.

1. Trinity College, the ancient Dublin university set up at the request of Queen Elizabeth I, has had some memorable graduates including Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and, surprisingly, Bram Stoker, creator of Dracula.
2. The most famous Irish alcoholic drink, Guinness, is brewed in the heart of Dublin at the brewery founded by Arthur Guinness in 1759. Guinness purchased the existing brewery and secured what would now be thought of as a sweetheart deal. He leased the premises for a 45 pound annual rent. The lease will not expire for a few years, as it was taken out for 9000 years.
3. One of the main crossing points of the river Liffey which divides Dublin is the O'Connell Bridge which is a curiosity because it is the only traffic bridge in Europe which is wider than it is long. This present concrete structure was built in 1863, replacing a wooden bridge built in 1801. Amazingly, prior to that time, O'Connell Bridge was a rope structure that could only carry one person and a donkey at a time.
4. The Ha'penny Bridge, another of Dublin's many river crossings, is so called because there was a toll of one half penny to cross it.
5. Dublin Zoo is one of Europe's oldest. It has a great reputation for breeding lions in captivity. In fact, the familiar lion who roars politely at the start of every MGM movie was born in Dublin Zoo in 1927. His name was Cairbre.
6. Dublin has made a strong contribution to contemporary music history. Artists whose careers took off from here include U2, the Corrs, Westlife, Sinead O'Connor, Chris de Burgh and, of course, Bob Geldorf. Traditional Irish groups with a world-wide reputation include the Chieftains and the Dubliners. Pertaining to the classical composers, Dublin can boast that George Frederic Handel gace the first performance of The Messiah in Dublin in 1742. For more information, see this Suite101 article about the performance.
7. St Valentine's Day is widely celebrated as the day for lovers. The remains of St Valentine are to be found in Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church on Aungier Street in Dublin.
8. Dublin has produced a fine crop of writers, poets and playwrights. George Bernard Shaw, playwright and wit, lived here. He is the only person to have received both a Nobel Prize for Literature and an Oscar. The play was Pygmalion which, of course, became My Fair Lady. James Joyce, who introduced the world to the stream of consciousness novel, with his Ulysses, is widely celebrated in Dublin. A museum is dedicated to his life and works, his house is identified, and it is possible to take a walking tour around all of the Dublin sites mentioned in his great works.
9. One of Dublin's most famous sons is Oscar Wilde, whose plays were full of witticisms and acute observation of society, manners and human nature. Oscar was loved yet persecuted for his homosexuality, for which he was even jailed. There is now a delightful statue of Wilde sprawled nonchalantly on a rock in the Merrion Square gardens. Nearby are plinths etched with some of his memorable witty lines.
10. Dublin shares something with the English town of Blackpool – its name. The name Dubh Linn in the Irish language actually means black pool, and refers to a pool which was once on the site of the present Dublin Castle garden.

Dublin is a fun place to visit, even briefly, as this Suite101 article extolls, and even more fun with a few bits of interesting trivia to share over a Guinness with fellow travellers.

Guiness, Dublin's Brew

Print Article

View All Articles

How to subscribe to feeds