Blessington Street Basin (Irish: Báisín Shráid Bhaile Coimín) is a drinking water reservoir in Dublin which operated from 1810 until the 1970s, serving the north city. It became a public park in 1994.[1]

Blessington Street Basin
Blessington Street Basin Show map of Central Dublin Blessington Street Basin Show map of Dublin
Location	County Dublin
Coordinates	53°21′N 6°16′W
Type	reservoir
Native name	Báisín Shráid Bhaile Coimín (Irish)
Basin countries	Ireland
Max. length	120 m (390 ft)
Max. width	60 m (200 ft)
Water volume	15.1 megalitres (12.2 acre⋅ft)

History

The Blessington Street Basin was built in the early 19th century by Dublin Corporation. Construction began about 1803 and finished in 1810, the plant was opened as the Royal George Reservoir, named in honour of King George III.[2] The basin is rectangular, about 120 m long and 60 m wide basin took about 4 million gallons (15.1 million litres) of water.[3] The water came from Lough Owel in County Westmeath,[2] carried by pipe along the Royal Canal through a 3 km long pipeline into the basin at the western end of the Blessington Street. From its construction, the site was used as a public park.[4]

By 1869, the basin was not large enough for purpose, and water collection moved outside the city.[2] The basin continued to serve the Jameson's and Powers' distilleries until the 1970s, and then went out of operation as a reservoir.[5] There were worries about the stagnant water creating a typhoid outbreak in the late 1800s leading to the corporation wanting to fill in the basin and the stretch of water connecting the basin to the canal, this connection was finally filled in 1956.[3]

Refurbishment

In 1993 work began on the restoration of the site following a rejected proposal to extensively refurbish it in 1991.[5] The refurbishment was carried out by the Dublin City Council aided by FÁS, and with financial support from the National Heritage Council and A.L.O.N.E.[6] It was reopened as a park on 4 November 1994. The site also includes a lodge house built in a Tudor style in 1811,[4] and another modern council building.[5]

• 
  Lodge house, built in 1811
• 
  Plaque commemorating the opening of the park
• 
  West entrance
• 
  Plaque unveiled by David Norris in 2018, with a quote from James Joyce's Ulysses that mentions the Basin
• 
  The Iris Murdoch Commemorative Plaque erected in the Basin
• 
  Blessington Street Basin from above

Nature

Since its restoration, the basin now serves as a bird habitat, with an artificial island and a number of fish.[2][7] Amongst the birds that can be seen there are swans, tufted ducks, chaffinches, mallards and pigeons.^{[citation needed]}

In fiction

The Basin is one of the locations featured in the book, The Coroner's daughter by Andrew Hughes, which was selected as the Dublin UNESCO City of Literature One City One Book for 2023.[8]

See also

• Blessington, County Wicklow

References