The Carlisle Pier

Gateway to Ireland - 1992 © Justin Merrigan

It was not until the Carlisle Pier, or the Mailboat Pier as some call it, was opened in 1859 that Dun Laoghaire harbour was considered complete. Since then, and until the advent of the new HSS terminal in 1996 the arrival and departure of the Holyhead service at the Carlisle Pier was always an important event for Dun Laoghaire people - it being a favourite pastime to walk the piers to watch the 'mailboat come in'.

To the Victorian passenger the London-Dublin link must have been a most impressive operation. Arriving at Holyhead by train, the passenger simply walked across the platform and boarded the awaiting steamer for a three hours and forty-five minutes crossing to Kingstown. There awaiting the steamer at the end of the gangway was the Dublin train. And efficient it was too for a fine of 34/- was imposed for each minute the mail was delayed!

But while the pier may have been impressive to those disembarking straight from steam to train, for those faced with a wait of any duration it was quite a different matter. in January 1924, the Earl of Mayo raised in Seanad Éireann the "need for improving the present inadequate accommodation for passengers arriving at and leaving Dun Laoghaire Pier."

"I am a constant traveller backwards and forward. I have arrived in the middle of the night; I have arrived on a winter's morning, and I have arrived when there have been spring showers which wet you as quickly as any rain that falls from Heaven. When you arrive at Dun Laoghaire on a winter's morning you find the pier is not properly lighted, that there are not sufficient porters to deal with the luggage and place it on the table for the Customs officers, and that there is a rush to get the newspapers into the city of Dublin. We are going to have what is called Tailteann Games this year. If people have to go through this sort of purgatory at Dun Laoghaire they will never visit the country again. It is also very difficult to get a porter to take luggage to your motor, and people who want to get to Cork by the 6.30 train miss the connection if they do not get to their motor quickly. The consequence is that they arrive at Cork in the early morning or have to sleep in Dublin, which costs money.

"All these disabilities can be dealt with. The pier itself ought to be closed in from the weather. I shall probably be told that that is impossible, that it would be blown away. It will not be blown away. You can put up proper protection for passengers in the same way as it is done at Holyhead where you can get out of the boat, have your luggage examined, and step into the train while protected from the weather all the time. At Dun Laoghaire the south-west gale from the Dublin mountains drives the rain right through the whole pier. I have seen elderly ladies there almost wet through, and an umbrella would be turned inside out immediately. People will be coming here to the Tailteann Games this year, and also you will have Americans and others passing through Ireland on their way to the Exhibition at Wembley. You will have to make arrangements to make travelling for them as comfortable as possible. I hope the Seanad will pass this motion, which I have brought forward in order to get these very supine railway authorities and the Board of Works to improve the conditions. The pier must be closed in if you want to attract visitors here. It is not an impossibility. People say it cannot be done because they are old fashioned. We do not want that sort of people; we want to progress."

The Cambria alongside the departure berth in 1959.

It must be said the Pier changed very little over the years. It was not until the arrival of the new Hibernia and Cambria in 1949 that pressure was applied for improved shoreside facilities. This resulted in the construction of a passenger lounge along the length of the east side and around the end of the pier as a 'temporary measure' in 1953. The same 'temporary measure' was still in use in 1996!  Despite this, on 30th July 1959 Seán Ó Donnabháin noted in Seanad Éireann that "The facilities at the pier have been greatly improved, but they are still not sufficient to meet the great influx of people coming by boat and travelling by train to Dublin. It is a big contrast with the splendour of the airport and the approach to Dublin for those who can afford to travel by air."

Seen from a departing Cambria in August 1968, the end of the Carlisle Pier. © John Byrne.

Amazingly, the passenger lounge referred to above was never adapted, it becoming nothing more than a covered walkway to the gangways while intending passengers remained outside locked gates until near sailing time. In 2006 the same asbestos structure is a matter for concern as the redevelopment of the pier is imminent. 

On 7th June 1973, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance announced to Dáil Éireann a new proposal for Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

"The car ferry terminal on the East Pier at Dún Laoghaire was provided in 1965 as a temporary measure pending completion of the permanent facilities at St. Michael's Wharf. In fulfilment of an undertaking given at the time of their construction, the temporary facilities are now being dismantled. The car customs building. fencing, Bailey Bridge, link span and syncrolift have been removed and the remaining features, the approach bridge and the outer of the two stem dolphins, will be dismantled this year.

"British Rail, who operate the mail boats and car ferries on the Dún Laoghaire—Holyhead route, propose to introduce multi-purpose ships to accommodate both passengers without cars, who are known as classic passengers, and those with cars. The vessels will continue to use the mail boat pier since operation from the car ferry terminal at St. Michael's Wharf would involve major difficulties.

"To meet the new situation, it is proposed to construct a ramp at the mail boat pier for the unloading of cars and also a causeway connecting the pier to the car ferry terminal. This causeway would be on the seaward side of one of the yacht clubs but would be at a low level and would not interfere with existing amenities. An opening would be provided for the passage of the yachts. While the entire cost of the project would be met from State funds, there would be recoveries from British Rail by way of rents for shore facilities and tonnage and goods rates. Preliminary consultations are in progress with the various interested parties, including the Dún Laoghaire Borough Corporation, in connection with the project."

During 1974 the causeway was constructed across the front of the Royal St George Yacht Club, linking the Car Ferry Terminal at St Michael's Pier with a new linkspan on the Carlisle Pier to enable car ferry traffic, and importantly the new St Columba (from 1977), to use the rail connected terminal. The causeway included a drawbridge for boat access to the club with the reclaimed infill being much needed yacht and dinghy storage.

On 7 December 1980 the rail line onto the Carlisle Pier was severed, due, it was said, to the inability of the new DART electric trains to negotiate the sharp curve onto the pier itself. Little time was lost raising the tracks and by January 1981 the cutting had been infilled to accommodate the buses that replaced the trains.

It was not until after Stena Line acquired the Sealink fleet in 1990 that an embarrassed Irish government invested in the moderisation of the entrance to the Carlisle Pier. It was however, too little - too late as by 1993 plans for the construction of a new ferry terminal at St Michael's Pier were well under way.

Awaiting Demolition

Before leaving Ireland for Australia in August 2000 I took a final walk around the buildings on the Carlisle Pier, then awaiting demolition.

The west berth	Linkspan	Mooring	Rail shed
Platform	From Piermaster's Office	Quiet now	Passengers no more
To the Ship	Pier end	Viewing area	Refurbished entrance

All photos © Justin Merrigan unless otherwise stated.