Near Newmarket, there’s a little-known spot to see the River Poddle, which is mostly hidden underground in the city

During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, Niels Warburton found he had more time on his hands to explore the history of the south inner-city.

Warburton lives in Portobello and is into archaeology, he says. He found he could unearth a lot of local history looking up the archaeology reports on the Dublin City Council planning files.

One of his quests was to track the route of the Poddle River, which mostly runs underneath the city. The name Dublin derives from the Irish Dubh Linn (“black pool”), which refers to the spot where the Liffey and the Poddle meet.

Warburton found only one place inside the canals where the river surfaces, he says. That is on Mill Street.

The big real-estate  developer Global Student Accommodation (GSA) had plans for student accommodation and those plans included allowing public access to the river there. “I was looking forward to it, so I kept an eye on it,” says Warburton, by phone on Monday.

But last May, when he tried to get into the Brewers Close student housing development, operated by GSA subsidiary Yugo, he found the gates were closed. When he eventually did get in, he was disappointed with how the access provided compared to what had been promised in plans, he says.

On Friday last, the wooden gate that leads into the complex where the river is was closed, and only accessible by scanning a key card too.

On Monday, a spokesperson for GSA says the development has been built in line with its planning permission. Access was temporarily closed, but it is now open to the public during daylight hours, they said.

Trying to get in

In May, after he found the wooden gate at the front of the complex locked, Warburton wrote to Yugo to ask why it wasn’t open to the public.

The Brewers Close manager wrote back to say that the public can access the Poddle River on the grounds during daylight hours, seven days a week.

“We are having some difficulty with our gate at the moment but if you please visit our main reception at New Mill – right next door – when you want to visit we can let you in,” she wrote.

Warburton says that he couldn’t see where the other reception was and that system doesn’t amount to public access in his view.

He thinks that other people would be interested in visiting the Poddle River. “People definitely care,” he says.

The spokesperson for GSA says that the public can access the river: “Access to the Poddle River at Yugo Brewers Close was temporarily closed while we carried out works to ensure that the site was safe and secure for members of the public and our students.”

“This work has now been completed and the Poddle River can once again be accessed by the public during daylight hours,” they said.

Sitting by the river

When Warburton saw the plans in the council’s planning file, including a document called Plan for Poddle Access, he understood that the developer was building a landscaped area where people could sit by the river.

Warburton says that when he eventually got into Brewers Close, that wasn’t what he saw. “I was super disappointed by what I found.”

Some works in the Plan for Poddle Access document have been done. There’s a new bridge with railings, vegetation has been stripped back from the wall behind the river, and stonework stepped down towards the river and covered with wire mesh.

But some pieces of the plans don’t seem to have been delivered.

The Plan for Poddle Access document promises that the boundary walls will be repointed, that the developer will plant wild flowers and semi-mature trees, that there will be stepped access to the river, and a safety ring. Those features were not there last Friday.

“Appropriate sized and shaped stone salvaged from the old mill floor can be selected, they are to be utilised for informal seating elements positioned along earth embankment,” says the document on the planning file.

There is no seating. “It was meant to be a place where you could come and sit by the river,” says Warburton. “There is a deep history there.”

The spokesperson for GSA said: “The full scheme adheres to the planning permissions granted and has been signed off by Dublin City Council Building Control.”

It isn’t clear whether failing to complete the landscaping at the river would amount to a breach of planning permission. Dublin City Council hasn’t yet responded to queries about this, submitted Tuesday.