BLOOMSDAY - DOCTOR OF PERFORMANCE WRITING

Nora

On the 16^th June 1904, Irish author James Joyce began a relationship with his future wife Nora Barnacle. On this day he walked with her to Ringsend and subsequently used the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses; this date is now traditionally called "Bloomsday".

      James Joyce and Nora Barnacle in

London on the day of their wedding in 1931

     James Joyce, left, pictured

         with wife Nora and their

daughter and son in Paris in 1924    

Ringsend (Irish: An Rinn) is a southside inner suburb of Dublin. It is located on the south bank of the River Liffey, about two kilometres east of the city centre, and is the southern terminus of the East Link Toll Bridge.

Formerly the point where ships arriving across the Irish Sea would dock, Ringsend went into decline in the 19th and 20th centuries, when the shipping moved to ports further south along the coast, although there is still some local container shipping.

Ringsend was originally a long narrow peninsula separated from the rest of Dublin by the estuary of the River Dodder river. The English name "Ringsend" is a corruption of "Rinn-abhann", which in the Irish language means "the end point of the tide" - the end spit of the land.

The "Point" Depot theatre still stands today, but is now known as the O2.

The Boland’s Mill is located in the area, this was where a great deal of action in the Easter Rising was seen. Ringsend has long been known colloquially as Raytown, reflecting its history as a fishing village. It was once part of the Pembroke Township.

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