Huband Bridge

Single-arch humpbacked bridge, dated 1791, spanning Grand Canal and connecting Mount Street Crescent with Percy Place. Segmental arch with ashlar granite walling over roughly coursed dressed limestone piers. Granite voussoirs to arch, with moulded tops making stringcourse, and with granite stringcourse to piers. Ashlar granite parapet walls with projecting plinth course and coping with iron tie-bars, and having projecting panelled limestone piers to each end with limestone plaques having moulded surrounds and vegetal ornament, and central limestone pier having plaque bearing lettering 'Huband Bridge', '1791' in cartouche and flanked by vegetal ornament and rosettes; cast-iron balustrades between piers, over projecting chamfered granite course and with scroll consoles beneath plaques. Tarmacadam road surface and granite-paved footpaths. Bridge abutted by lower rubble limestone walls, generally having granite coping. Canal lock located in close proximity to south. Cast-iron lamp standard over coping to north parapet.

Bridge, dated 1791, over the Grand Canal, named for Joseph Huband, a director of the Grand Canal Company. Its ornate design reflects the fact that its construction was funded by Huband himself. Built to serve road traffic, its continued use is testament to the skill of the engineers and masons involved in the construction. When viewed in conjunction with the nearby lock, the composition is an attractive historic ensemble in the townscape. The Grand Canal, which connected Dublin with the River Shannon, was first proposed about 1715, with work beginning about forty years later and completed about 1804.