Custom house

The National Monuments Service's description

The RMP (1998) lists this as 'Custom House Site' on Wellington Quay, now partially occupied by site of the Clarence Hotel (NIAH Reg. No. 50020034). According to De Courcy (1996, 105-8) the site of the 'Old Custom House' developed by James I in 1620 was located on a site that extended N-S from the high tide shoreline of the Liffey to the modern Essex Street and E-W from Crane Lane to a line E of modern Crampton Court. The site location was to be 'for a place in the port of Dublin which is found to be convenient for erecting a crane and making a wharf' (ibid., 105). The plot of land on which the Custom House was built measured 160 feet [49m] in length by 106 feet [32m] in breadth and was to have access to Dame Street through a lane measuring 18 feet [5.5m] in breadth which became known as Crane Lane. A wooden quay was constructed on the site by 1625. In 1660 a Council Chamber was built on the site. A new Custom House designed by Thomas Burgh was built on the site in the early 18th century. This was a three storey high building of limestone and brick (dims. c. L 39m x Wth 18m). A drawing dated 1753 by Joseph Tudor shows the old Custom House standing beside Essex Bridge (Somerville-Large 1996, 154).

See attached drawing taken from Somerville-Large 1996 and Rocque's 1756 Map of Dublin, and Brooking's 1728 Map of Dublin taken from the Irish Historic Town Atlas of Dublin (Goodbody 2014).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 16 November 2022

References

Goodbody, R. 2014 Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA), no. 26, Dublin, Part III, 1756 to 1847. Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.

De Courcy, J. 1996 The Liffey in Dublin. Dublin. Gill and Macmillan.

Somerville-Large, P. 1996 Dublin: The fair city. London. Sinclair-Stevenson.