The Rivers Dodder and Poddle

Mills, storms, droughts and the public water supply

Don McEntee & Michael Corcoran

‘A beautiful production. Its large format enables its illustrations to be shown off to good effect, and it is full of photographs, paintings, maps, diagrams and charts, most of them in colour ... The authors claim that while there have been other studies of these rivers they have tended to concentrate on one or two aspects of their history, and that theirs is the first comprehensive study. On the evidence of the book they are probably right, as its 23 chapters are a detailed account of topics such as mills, bridges, catchment areas, uses of the river and more. This is no dry tome on industry or engineering, however, but also takes in wider topics such as folklore, deaths, droughts and snowfalls involving the Dodder and Poddle’, Isolde Goggin, Books Ireland (Sept/Oct 2016).

‘The book covers 23 chapters and includes a feast of drawings, maps and paintings, some of which go back to the 17th century. Photographs abound of rivers, bridges and spillways … The photographs of the Bohernabreena Spillways, upgraded in 2002, are better than a thousand words in showing the work undertaken … The lay person will find the history of the river Dodder and Poddle intriguing. This book is a credit to the two authors, whose exploration and documentation of the rivers’ engineering history havve provided an invaluable record for future generations’, Matt Murphy, Sherkin Comment (May 2016).