The remnants of what was the barricade erected by the Irish Volunteers and Fianna Eireann at the end of Church Street in 1916, next to the now renamed, Father Matthew Bridge, but known at the time as Whitworth Bridge.
According to John ‘Jack’ Shouldice 1st Lieutenant in F Company in the 1st Dublin Battalion of the Irish Volunteers:”the barricades were built with a variety of articles taken from adjoining houses, stores, yards, including barrels, boxes, carts, cabs, old furniture, planks, sacks filled with sand and rubble“.
Liam Toibin, also of the 1st Dublin Battalion of the Irish Volunteers recalled being on duty on the first day of the Rising at the “Church Street Bridge [barricade], when I came under fire for the first time, and it was an experience I did not like!!“
Early on Easter Tuesday morning, Fianna Eireann Dublin Brigade Commandant Eamon Martin, was stationed at the bridge barricade along with other Volunteers, and succeeded in “repulsing an attack” on Arran Quay coming from the Bridgefoot Street/Queen Street area. Later that day Martin, along with other senior Fianna officer Garry Holohan, was involved in the attack on Broadstone Railway Station.
Image credit: National Army Museum, London https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1961-12-594-19
The History of Na Fianna Éireann 