#lectures - As part of the Bullock 200 Bicentenary, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Bullock Harbour Preservation Association and Dublin Port Company resume a series of talks held in the Dalkey Castle and Heritage Centre.

Next week, on Tuesday, 22nd January at 8pm, a talk titled “The Building of Bullock Harbour” will be given by Elizabeth Shotton, Associate Professor at the UCD School of Architecture, Planning & Environmental Policy. Admission is free though places should be booked in advance with the Heritage Centre by emailing: [email protected]

Construction of Bulloch Harbour began in the winter of 1818/1819 by the Ballast Board (now Dublin Port Company) and in relationship to up-keep and maintenance of Bulloch Harbour involves the DPC in initiatives in conjunction with the BHPA and Dalkey Tidy Towns, see related storm damage story. 

Returning to the lectures which began late last year (see below), they will continue up to May 2019 and will focus on the history and heritage of Bullock presented by excellent speakers from the Port Company and elsewhere. The lectures programme as usual will take place at 8pm in the heritage centre.

The first two lectures by Lar Joye, Port Heritage Director, and Rob Goodbody, local historian, were very well received by large audiences in the heritage centre located in Goat's Castle. The castle in Dalkey, is one of only two surviving seven fortified town houses/castles built to store cargo which were off-loaded in Dalkey during the Middle Ages, when Dalkey acted as the port for Dublin between mid-1300s to the late 1500s.

During those times, large Anglo-Norman ships could not access Dublin, as the river Liffey was silted up and navigating was notoriously difficult and dangerous leading to numerous shipwrecks. Instead vessels anchored safely in the deep waters of Dalkey Sound. When the issue of silting on the Liffey was eventually resolved, larger ships could enter Dublin which began with the expansion of the port from the late 1700's.

The Bulloch Harbour lectures have also been supported by the Dalkey Community Council, Dalkey Tidy Towns and the Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre.