Inchicore Railway Works

Freestanding turntable, installed c.1910, comprising shallow circular pit with concrete-lined base and sides, cast-iron running rail to outer edge, and cast-iron plates. Deck having cast-iron running rails, on steel girders, revolving from central axis, wheels to running rail to outer edge. Pairs of running rails approaching turntable from east, west, and south.

This railway turntable is of technical interest as an early twentieth-century example of mechanisation. It was of considerable importance to the running of the works as it was employed to turn rolling stock for housing or repair. It forms part of a related group of railway structures on this site, providing contextual interest to the adjacent buildings including a running shed, machine and fitting shop and boiler shop, where rolling stock was constructed and repaired for use on the Great Southern & Western Railway. The development of the Works was responsible for the transformation of this area from rural agricultural to an industrial village in the nineteenth century. The railway network transformed Ireland, linking remote areas in the country with urban settlements and ports, while promoting the commercialisation and industrialisation of larger towns.