The River Poddle (Irish: An Poitéal) is a river in Dublin, Ireland, a pool of which (dubh linn, "black pool" or "dark pool" in Irish) gave the city its English language name. Boosted by a channel made by the Abbey of St. Thomas à Becket, taking water from the far larger River Dodder, the Poddle was the main source of drinking water for the city for more than 500 years, from the 1240s. The Poddle, which flows wholly within the traditional County Dublin, is one of around a hundred members of the River Liffey system (excluding the Dodder tributaries), and one of over 135 watercourses in the county;[4] it has just one significant natural tributary, the Commons Water from Crumlin.
The Poddle rises in the southwest of County Dublin, in the Cookstown area, northwest of Tallaght, in the county of South Dublin, and flows into the River Liffey at Wellington Quay in central Dublin. Flowing in the open almost to the Grand Canal at Harold's Cross, its lower reaches, including multiple connected artificial channels, are almost entirely culverted. Aside from supplying potable water for the city from the 13th century to the 18th, to homes, and to businesses including breweries and distilleries, the river also provided wash water for skinners, tanners and dyers. Its volume was boosted by a drawing off from the much larger River Dodder, it powered multiple mills, including flour, paper and iron production facilities, from at least the 12th century until the 20th. It also provided water for the moat at Dublin Castle, through the grounds of which it still runs underground.
The Poddle has frequently caused flooding, notably around St. Patrick's Cathedral, and for some centuries there was a commission of senior state and municipal officials to try to manage this, with the power to levy and collect a Poddle Tax. The flooding led both to the lack of a crypt at the cathedral and to the moving of the graves of satirist Dean Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, and his friend Stella. The river and its associated watercourses were famously polluted in certain periods, at one point allegedly sufficiently so as to kill animals drinking the water. The river is mentioned briefly in James Joyce's novel Ulysses, and multiple times in Finnegans Wake, which mentions its role in Dublin's growth.
^Healy, Mel (29 June 2016). "Down by the River Saile". Archived from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
^Cite error: The named reference Hopkins_2008_Pdl_147 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcCite error: The named reference RSDubRgn_Poddle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Doyle, Joseph W. (January 2018). The Rivers and Streams of the Dublin Region. Dublin, Ireland: Rath Eanna Research. pp. 1 and 33. ISBN 978-0-9566363-8-6.
The RiverPoddle (Irish: An Poitéal) is a river in Dublin, Ireland, a pool of which (dubh linn, "black pool" or "dark pool" in Irish) gave the city its...
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the Swan River (or Water), and the small Muckross Stream. The RiverPoddle, a tributary of the Liffey in its own right, was linked with the River Dodder...
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a southwestern suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It lies between the RiverPoddle and River Dodder, and is about halfway from Dublin's centre to the mountains...
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Dublin, Ireland. The street takes its name from a dam built across the RiverPoddle to provide water power for milling. First appears in records under this...
Stream, County Dublin Piperstown Stream, County Dublin RiverPoddle, County Dublin Pollymounty River, County Carlow, also spelled Pollmounty or Poulmonty...
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the modern English name. This referred to a dark tidal pool where the RiverPoddle entered the Liffey on the site of the Castle Gardens at the rear of Dublin...
There are more than 130 named rivers and streams in the traditional County Dublin, Ireland, which comprises the city of Dublin and the surrounding counties...
referring to a dark tidal pool. This tidal pool was located where the RiverPoddle entered the Liffey, to the rear of Dublin Castle. The hinterland of Dublin...
following the course of the Commons' Water, a small tributary of the riverPoddle, which in turn is a tributary of the Liffey. Its terminus was at the...
associated industries flourished in this part of Dublin, partly because the RiverPoddle is close by. The industrial heritage of the area even dates back even...
holds a lake, and is connected to three rivers. There is an artificial branch watercourse from the RiverPoddle to the western end of the lake, a culverted...
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