It dates at least back to the 17th century, and was located on St. Kevin's Port (now Camden Street) at the junction of two important highways leading out of the city.

[2] The Bleeding Horse has been mentioned in several novels, including the Cock and Anchor (1845) by Sheridan Le Fanu and Ulysses by James Joyce.

[3] Literary patrons included James Clarence Mangan and Oliver St. John Gogarty.

[citation needed] At the time in which the events that we have undertaken to record took place, there stood at the southern extremity of the city, near the point at which Camden Street now terminates, a small, old-fashioned building, something between an ale-house and an inn.

It occupied the roadside by no means unpicturesquely; one gable jutted into the road, with a projecting window, which stood out from the building like a glass box held together by a massive frame of wood; and commanded by this projecting gable, and a few yards in retreat, but facing the road, was the inn door, over which hung a painted panel, representing a white horse, out of whose neck there spouted a crimson cascade, and underneath, in large letters, the traveller was informed that this was the genuine old "Bleeding Horse.