Nassau Street, Dublin

Nassau Street (/ˈnæsɔː/; Irish: Sráid Thobar Phádraig, meaning "St. Patrick's Well Street") is a street in central Dublin, running along the south side of Trinity College. It runs from Grafton Street in the west, to the junction of South Leinster Street and Kildare Street in the East.

Nassau Street

Native name	Sráid Nassau, Sráid Thobar Phádraig  (Irish)
Namesake	House of Orange-Nassau
Length	300 m (1,000 ft)
Width	19 metres (62 ft)
Location	Dublin, Ireland
Postal code	D02
Coordinates	53.342718°N 6.256892°W / 53.342718; -6.256892
west end	Suffolk Street, Grafton Street
east end	Kildare Street, Leinster Street South
Other
Known for	shops, cafés, meeting of James Joyce and Nora Barnacle

The south side of the street is commercialised, with newsagents and a music shop to the east of the junction with Dawson Street and smaller shops to the west of it.

Formerly known as St Patrick's Well Lane after a 12th-century well, it was renamed in the 18th Century, after the accession to the throne of King William III, a member of the House of Orange-Nassau. To emphasise the point, one of the houses erected a marble bust of William with the couplet:

May we never want a Williamite
to kick the breech of a Jacobite![1]

The site of the well is in the grounds of Trinity College, near the Nassau Street exit.

Folklore connects the well with Saint Patrick, who (legend states) struck the ground with his staff and brought forth water bubbling to the surface. The well dried up in 1729.

Nassau Street is also very famous for being the location in which Irish writer James Joyce met his lifelong love, Nora Barnacle on 10 June, 1904.

Two separate visits to the street by United States President Bill Clinton have made headlines. In December 2000, the outgoing US First Family visited the Blarney Woollen Mills store.[2] In March 2017, ex-President Clinton made an unannounced stop to the Kilkenny Store.[3]

Nassau Street, Dublin