The sink hole (top) and College Green, Dublin in 1707, including sedan chair

The six-feet-deep sink hole at the George’s Street junction of Dame Street, around 100 metres from the Olympia Theatre “might be part of a long-rumoured tunnel used by 19th century politicians to go to brothels,” according to The Herald.

Splutter!

Also: Hmm.

Sibling of Daedalus writes:

Possibly they got the century wrong, as the Act of Union closed down the Irish Parliament in 1801, bringing an end to the profitable Temple Bar brothel quarter.

This aside, I haven’t been able to locate any reference to such tunnels in contemporaneous historical works, and perhaps there was no need for them, as enclosed sedan chairs provided an equally discreet way for 18th century gentlemen to go about their romantic business.

There’s another network of tunnels under Dame Street, though; the underground Poddle river tunnel network, running from Ship Street past the Olympia, under the Central Bank and out into the Liffey through the big grate below the Clarence Hotel on Wellington Quay.

The hole in Dame Street must be very close to the Poddle network. Or perhaps it is simply, as Dublin City Council has said, a cellar? Incidentally, there was once a well-documented underground tunnel leading from Harcourt Street to the Iveagh Gardens; it may even be still there, although the Luas works on Harcourt Street didn’t manage to turn up any trace of it…

Anyone?

Sibling of Daedalus

College Green illustration via: Come Here To Me

Top pic: Adam Sherry