For much of the 18th century, Essex Bridge was the most easterly bridge on the Liffey and marked the furthest point upriver to which ships with masts could travel. Many ships needed to travel this far upriver in order to berth in front of the old Custom House, the centre of merchant activity in the city from 1707 until 1791.
During this construction, some original features were removed, including the equestrian statue of George I, by John van Nost the Elder, which was moved in 1798 to the gardens of the Mansion House. In 1937 it was bought by the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham, in front of which it still stands as of 2023.
The bridge was reopened as Grattan Bridge in 1874, being named after Henry Grattan MP (1746-1820).
Later development
From 2002, Dublin City Council undertook a reconstruction of the bridge deck, with granite paving for the footpaths and a set of benches with wooden seats and toughened glass backs.
As part of what was intended to be a "European-style book market", in 2004 several temporary kiosks (prefabricated in Spain) were also controversially built on the bridge. Originally intended to create "a contemporary version of an inhabited bridge, such as the Ponte Vecchio in Florence", these kiosks were later removed.
Nomenclature
As is a tradition among Dubliners, the name used locally for the bridge will vary from Capel Street Bridge, to Grattan Bridge and the original Essex Bridge.
Gallery
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File:Grattan Bridge (Essex Bridge), Dublin. Dusk. 28 March 2022.jpg|The bridge at dusk
File:Grattan Bridge Dublin 01.jpg|Looking east from the bridge along Wellington Quay
File:Grattan Bridge - Dublin - panoramio.jpg|The eastern side of the bridge, looking north towards Capel Street
File:Grattan Bridge Hippocampus.jpg|Detail of the Hippocampus figures along the bridge
File:Grattan Bridge Plaque.jpg|Plaque on the western side of the bridge. Commemorating the renaming of the bridge from Essex Bridge to Grattan Bridge.
File:Statue of George I on Essex Bridge, Dublin.jpg|Illustration of Essex Bridge and the statue of George I, taken from Brooking's 1720s map of Dublin, prior to Semple's rebuild of the 1750s
</gallery>