View of Lake

Blessington Lake is an artificial lake formed in the late 30's by the building of the poulaphuca dam.

It covers the area where the Kings river and the Liffey waters met. The construction of the dam was a major undertaking for the newly formed free state which involved relocating the people of the valley out of the area, the construction of bridges, roads, a power plant, water treatment plant and pipeline to link into the Dublin water scheme.

The lakes from satellite courtesy of NASA

Dam construction 1937 Photo courtesy of book '50 years on the Liffey'

 

Original Blessington Bridge 1937 before flooding

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