Humphrey Jervis

Humphrey Jervis is notable for having developed the area of Dublin to the north of the River Liffey. It was the first large-scale residential scheme of its kind, born out of his own initiative and funded privately by him, after he and number of associates bought 20 acres of the lands of St. Mary's Abbey in 1674 from Richard Power, 1st Earl of Tyrone, for the sum about £3,000.[7][8] The main part of Jervis's development comprised a rectangular grid that ran off Capel Street and that included; Jervis Street, Mary Street, Great Britain Street and Great Strand Street, at the centre of which was St. Mary's Church and graveyard.

The Abbey of St. Mary's had been founded in 1154 for the Savignac Order and was passed on in the 1170s to the Cistercians. At the time it was considered to be the richest Cistercian monastery in Ireland, but it became a casualty of Henry VIII policy on the Dissolution of the Monasteries in about 1539.[9][10] In 1676 Sir Humphrey approached the Viceroy, who was then Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex, with a view to developing the land and building a bridge across the River Liffey to connect the new development with the old city, which he intended to name in honour of the Viceroy.[11] He was therefore granted permission and the bridge duly became called Essex Bridge after completion. Jervis's new bridge had a drawbridge, or lifting section at one end to allow large boats and ships with masts to sail upstream.[12] It connected with the main thoroughfare of Jervis's development being named Capel Street after the Viceroy's family name that subsequently became one of the most fashionable addresses in Dublin. Essex Bridge was built using the stone from the old abbey,[13] and it became the focal point of Dublin remaining so for more than one hundred years, but after having fallen into disrepair in 1872, it was rebuilt and refashioned, following that it was renamed as Grattan Bridge.[14]

In 1677 James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland instead of Essex and he was also interested in Jervis's development scheme. Ormonde then suggested important modifications, persuading Jervis to interpose a stone quay alongside the river, which he duly did, it is now known as Upper and Lower Ormonde Quay.[15] The houses and warehouses that were planned to reside with their rears alongside the river were then turned around on Ormonde's suggestion, so that they faced the river. A market was also laid out and called Ormonde Market, but only survived up until 1890. It had a central rotunda and some seventy stalls. It was replaced by Ormond Square in 1917. But the suggestions made by the Viceroy were of immense importance to the future development of Dublin, as it was this prototype that inspired the whole system of quays in their final beauty. Dublin might otherwise have been like so many other towns through which the river slinks shamefacedly between tall buildings, which would give it no chance to be seen.[16] Another bridge known as Ormonde Bridge was later on erected by Jervis and named in honour of Ormonde, but as it was a timber bridge it was fragile in its construction,[17] it was also too close to Essex Bridge rendering it later unnecessary. When it was ruined by the floods of 1802 it was not rebuilt. It was therefore replaced later on by Richmond Bridge, which now occupies a more westerly site today.

Today a shopping centre in the central grid area that Jervis developed now takes its name as the Jervis Shopping centre, alongside which runs Jervis Street.