Where’s Standfast Dick?
Where’s Standfast Dick?
26 Aug 1971When walking along Wellington Quay at low-tide, look over the quay wall and you will see this outcrop of limestone rock extending far out into the bed of Anna Liffey, just upstream of the metal bridge.
Some authorities say that this is the rock which once was called “Standfast Dick,” and which, for builders in old Dublin made a welcome contrast with the soft peaty soil in other areas. The weakness olfthis theory is, that if this is part old Standfast Dick, which reputedly provides good foundations (or the Castle and City Hall, how does the Poddle come down so smoothly into the Liffey, al its iron grating, just upstream? (“Know Your Dublin,” 4-10-’67).
Also, the rock here must have greatly hampered shipping moving up to the original Custom House (now replaced by Dollards and the Clarence Hotel), while we know that before Capel Street bridge existed, ships used Merchant’s Quay and Wood Quay, so I would look for Standfast Dick, up around Father Matthew Bridge (the original bridge ol Ath Cliath) at the head ol navigation