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1. Public Health in Dublin

Lizzie Byrne was a real person, who was appointed as Dublin’s second woman sanitary sub-officer in 1899. Click on the button below to read our biography and access a transcription of a report written by her in 1915.The fictional Lizzie you will meet during this tour and our presentation of her (how we think she may have sounded and thought) is based on key historical sources such as the census, newspaper reports, and the records of the Public Health Department. Our decision to feature a real-life historical sanitary sub-officer as the guide for this tour is based on the Typhoidland project’s research on the role of women in Edwardian Dublin’s public health workforce.

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2. Charitable relief in 1800s Dublin

Enter Lower Palace Yard (Dublin Castle) through the stone gateway to the left of the old home of the Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers Society. Continue walking straight ahead; you'll be passing a large modern building with steps on your left. Look out for the Chapel Royal on your right (see photograph below for a visual reference), which is Stop 3.

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3. The Chapel Royal

You'll next meet Lizzie at the entrance of the Dubh Linn Gardens. To get there, turn right after the Chapel Royal and walk towards the bridge you should be able to see up ahead. The entrance is just through the stone wall on your left, before the bridge. You'll hear from Lizzie again as you approach it. See the photograph below for a visual reference for the entrance.

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4. The entrance to the black pool

Go into the garden and walk straight ahead towards the central grass circle. Then turn left on the path to start walking around the garden. You'll hear from Lizzie again as you approach the old coach house on the opposite side of the garden (visual reference below). There are benches in the garden if you'd like to sit while you listen to the audio at Stop 5.

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5. A royal typhoid case

Carry on walking around the central grass square in the same direction until you get back to the gate you entered through (see photograph below for a visual reference). Exit through the gate and turn left. Walk towards the stone archway you should see at the end of the road, passing under the bridge we saw earlier. Look out for two brick pillars on your left-hand side, which mark the entrance to a row of four-storey buildings just before the stone archway leading out of the Castle. You should see a small plaque on the right-hand side pillar which reads ‘Ship Street Gate’ (second photograph below) - stop there when you find it.

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6. "Lice, fleas and typhoid..."

With the old barracks behind you, cross to the pavement on the other side of the road and leave the Castle through the Ship Street Gate - the big stone archway to your left. Walk just a few steps until you reach another archway with a flight of steps on your right. This is Castle Steps, which is where we'll be stopping next. You'll find a visual reference below.

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7. Jonathan Swift and Dublin's decline

Just continue walking straight along the Castle Steps passageway until the end, where you'll see a set of iron gates and come out onto Castle Street (visual reference below). Once you reach Castle Street, you'll hear from Lizzie again.

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8. 'Dangerous trades' and public health

Once you've crossed over the road from Castle Steps to the other side of Castle Street, turn left and walk along the pavement to the end of the street. When you reach it, you'll be turning right onto Christ Church Place, where there’s a large cobbled area with a bicycle rack and the Cathedral will be across the road.

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9. Sanitary inspecting in the Liberties

Standing on Christ Church Place and facing the Cathedral across the road, turn to your right and look for a tall redbrick building with a pointed top and some sandstone-colour decoration (see below for a visual reference). Walk towards it and cross the road there, using the pedestrian crossing with traffic lights. Carry on, in the same direction, down Fishamble Street - you'll initially be walking with the redbrick building on your right. Follow Fishamble Street (which bends a little) down to the River Liffey. You'll hear from Lizzie again just before you reach the quay.

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10. Approaching the River Liffey

Turn right when you reach the river, and walk along the pavement closest to the road until you reach a set of traffic lights and a pedestrian crossing. As you walk, you'll pass a replica Viking Boat sculpture on the pavement to your right (see visual reference below). Once you reach the traffic lights, cross over and find somewhere quiet to stop against the wall alongside the river.

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11. "And the Liffey ... stank like hell"

Facing the Liffey, turn right and walk alongside it until you reach the Sunlight Chambers (visual reference below) which you'll find on your right-hand side at the junction of Essex Quay and the green Grattan Bridge. You'll be stopping there to find out more about that especially decorative building.

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12. Disease and dirt

You should be on Grattan Bridge as the narration is ending. Carry on over to the other side of the river. When you reach the other side of the bridge, turn left and walk back along the riverside for a short while. Make sure you stay on the pavement closest to the river when you turn left. Look out for a large manhole cover on the pavement which bears the date '1898' (see visual reference below) - that's what Lizzie will be telling you about next.

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13. Purifying the Liffey

We're retracing our steps back to the Grattan Bridge - so as you walk, the Liffey should be on your right now. When you reach the Grattan Bridge again, cross over to the other side using the crossings with traffic lights (which entails crossing over to the opposite side of the street to the river, then over Capel Street, and then finally back over to the riverside). When you're safely across the bridge keep walking alongside the river, using the pavement. Keep your eyes peeled for a semi-circular opening in the river wall over on the other side (see the image below for a visual reference), as that's what Lizzie will be pointing out next.

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14. "A tongue of liquid sewage"

Keep walking alongside the Liffey - the river should be on your right - towards the white iron bridge with decorative lampposts up ahead, which is called the Ha'Penney Bridge (see visual reference below). When you reach it, cross over the river and you'll hear Lizzie again while you're doing so.

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15. The 'Fearless Frogman'

Continue over the bridge to the other side of the Liffey, where there is a pedestrian crossing and Merchants' Arch over the road (see visual reference below). Cross the road when the lights allow, and walk through Merchants' Arch passageway. You'll come out into Temple Bar Square, and you'll be continuing to walk in the same direction - straight ahead - along Crown Alley.

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16. Temple Bar, telephones and tenement life

Walk through the Temple Bar area along Crown Alley. At the end of Crown Alley, cross over Cope Street and then go down the passageway which runs between the modern grey building on the right and Bloom's Hotel on the left. The hotel has a painted facade (see photograph below). Keep going straight ahead until you come out into a small square on Dame Street. Stop by the green postbox you should see in front of you at the edge of the road (see second photograph below).

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17. Dame Street

Facing the green postbox on the edge of the road, turn to your left and walk along the pavement. Keep going until you reach the corner of College Green and Foster Place - look out for the beautiful grey building with pink columns on the other side of the main road, which used to be the old Hibernian Bank (see visual reference below). When you get to the corner opposite the old bank (now a clothing store), you’ll see that there’s a set of traffic lights with a pedestrian crossing - use that to cross the big main road towards the old bank and, when you’re on the other side, you’re going straight ahead onto Church Lane. You’ll be able to see the church at the other end of the street. Walk up towards the church and you'll hear Lizzie again.

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18. Sweet Molly Malone

Facing Molly, turn to your right and walk away from Molly with the church on your left. Follow the road round - you’ll see it becomes South William Street - and just keep walking straight ahead as Lizzie talks, crossing the road carefully when necessary.

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19. Dublin's dirty dairies

Continue walking in the same direction (south) along William Street South, staying on the pavement on the left-hand side of the road. You'll hear from Lizzie again as you approach the old Mercer's Hospital (see visual reference below).

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20. Funding and fever hospitals

Facing Mercer's Hospital, which is at the end of William Street South, look for Chatham Row on your left. Turn onto Chatham Row and stop when you hear Lizzie again.

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21. 'A thoroughly up-to-date laboratory'

More photographs of the new Dublin Corporation Laboratory from Charles Cameron's 1914 annual report, including images of the balancing room and the main laboratory.

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22. Contagion and Control

At the end of Clarendon Row you'll be turning left onto King Street South. As you walk down King Street South towards Dublin’s most famous park, St Stephen’s Green, you'll pass the beautiful Gaiety Theatre (opened 1871) on your left. You're looking for the entrance to Stephen's Green pictured in the photograph below.

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23. Typhoid and troops

At the corner of the park here, cross over towards the big archway - Fusiliers Arch - and enter the park through it. Walk straight ahead towards the lake until you hear from Lizzie again.

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24. Inside St Stephen's Green

Facing the lake turn left so that, as you’re walking along, the lake is on your right. When the path forks, stay on the one closest to the lake, and keep your eyes peeled for a small stone bridge off to your right (see visual reference below).

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25. Promenading, punishment and politics

Once you've crossed over the stone bridge keep walking straight ahead, through the formal gardens and around the central flower bed. When you reach the other side of the garden you'll be continuing in the same direction, but glance to your left to see the statue of Constance Markievicz pictured below.

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26. The Countess

Once you've walked through the centre of the formal gardens (so the bust of Constance Markievicz is on your left), take the path straight ahead and continue south through the park. You should pass a Victorian bandstand on the right. Once you reach the end of the path and can see the park railings in front of you, turn right and walk for just a few metres until you find the bust of James Joyce, where you should stop.

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27. Joyce's family tragedies

Header Image: Bust of James Joyce, St Stephen's Green, Dublin, Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fear and Fever walking tour
Walking
27 Stops
1h 30m - 2h
3km
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