According to J.W. de Courcy's work on the Liffey (1996), the Bagnio Slip was an early eighteenth-century slipway that preceded the quay as it stands today. A slipway, in this context, was a gently inclined ramp leading down to the water, used for launching or landing small vessels and for the general business of a working riverbank. The name Bagnio attached to it suggests the proximity of some establishment of that type, though the precise details have not survived in the historical record. What is clear is that the slip was eventually swept away and replaced by Wellington Quay, a development that reordered this stretch of the south Liffey frontage and gave it the more respectable commemorative identity it carries today, honouring the Duke of Wellington.

The quay is straightforwardly accessible, running between the Ha'penny Bridge and Grattan Bridge along the south quays. There is no formal marker or monument to the Bagnio Slip, so visitors should not expect signage. The interest here is largely in the layering of the place itself: standing on the quayside and knowing that the eighteenth-century riverbank once had a rather different character, defined by working slipways and establishments whose names have quietly vanished beneath later, more dignified stonework. The area is busiest during the daytime and accessible at any time of year, though the quayside is more easily appreciated in quieter morning hours before the traffic builds.