Portobello (, meaning 'beautiful harbour') is an area of Dublin in Ireland, within the southern city centre and bounded to the south by the Grand Canal. It came into existence as a small suburb south of the city in the 18th century, centred on Richmond Street. During the following century it was completely developed, transforming an area of private estates and farmland into solid Victorian red-bricked living quarters for the middle classes on the larger streets, and terraced housing bordering the canal for the working classes. As a fast-expanding suburb during the 19th century Portobello attracted many upwardly mobile families whose members went on to play important roles in politics, the arts and science. Towards the end of the century, many Ashkenazi Jews, fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe, settled in the area; this led to Portobello being known as Dublin's "Little Jerusalem". Portobello is in the Dublin 8 postal district, which is currently rendered as D08 under the Eircode system, as well as in the local electoral area of Dublin South East Inner City and the Dáil constituency of Dublin Bay South. History The name Portobello also describes the stretch of the Grand Canal leading from Robert Emmet Bridge (Clanbrassil Street) to the bridge from South Richmond Street to Rathmines. Although usually referred to as Portobello Bridge, the correct name is La Touche Bridge (named after William Digges La Touche (1747–1803), scion of a prominent Dublin business family and a director of the Grand Canal Company). Like the Portobello Road of London and Portobello, Edinburgh, Dublin's Portobello was named for the capture by Admiral Edward Vernon in 1739 of Portobelo, Colón on Panama's Caribbean Coast, during the conflict between the United Kingdom and Spain known as the War of Jenkins' Ear. 17th century A century before the naming of the suburb, an eventful battle took place in the neighbourhood – the Battle of Rathmines. In the early years of the Irish Confederate Wars (1641–1649) incursions were made into the area as far as St. Kevin's church by bands of Confederate soldiers stationed in Wicklow. They made off with cattle, horses and the occasional wealthy merchant. After the Irish united with the Royalists against the Parliamentarians, an attempt was made to take Dublin. In the summer of 1649 the Duke of Ormonde, head of the forces of Royalists and Irish soldiers, approached Dublin, where the Parliamentarian army was holed