page_title: Bull Wall
section_title: Bull Bridge, North Bull Wall and the beginning of Bull Island
hierarchical_section_title: Bull Wall / History / Bull Bridge, North Bull Wall and the beginning of Bull Island
caption_attribution_description: statue of Our Lady, Star of the Sea (Realt na Mara) - North Bull Island
context_page_description: The Bull Wall, or North Bull Wall, at the Port of Dublin, extending from the estuary of the River Tolka and the district of Clontarf out nearly 3 km into Dublin Bay, is one of the two defining sea walls of the port, and faces the earlier-constructed Great South Wall. It has one of a trio of port lighthouses at the end of its extension breakwater, and a famous statue of Realt na Mara partway along, and was responsible for the formation of North Bull Island with its nearly 5 km of beach.
context_section_description: A wooden bridge, the first Bull Bridge, was erected in 1819 to facilitate the construction of the actual stone wall, based on a design by Ballast Board engineer, George Halpin.  
  Started in 1820, the wall was completed in 1825, at a cost of 95,000 pounds.  The total length of the wall is 3,200 yards (2,900 m), and there are no parapets.  The majority of the wall stands clear of even flood tides, and has a paved surface, but the last stage is in the form of a breakwater, submerged at high tide; the upper surface of this part is not smoothed. At the end of the wall is a masonry base with a lighthouse structure, formerly painted red and now painted green.
  Over the succeeding 48 years, the natural tidal effects created by the two sea walls deepened the entry to the Liffey from 1.8 m to 4.8 m.  Much of the silt now scoured from the river course was deposited on the North Bull, and a true island, North Bull Island, began to emerge, with Dubliners venturing out to the growing beach.  The volume of visitors was increased by the commencement of horse tram services to Clontarf in 1873, and further by the laying of a tram line to Howth, and a Coast Guard station was built at the landward end of the North Bull Wall.
caption: Réalt na Mara on the Bull Wall
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