World Country Guide

Dublin and the East Coast

The capital city of Ireland sprawls across the Liffey valley, reaching in a great sweep from the headlands of Howth in the north to Dalkey. Dublin is a complex city of almost dual personality, divided by the Liffey into the heavily populated north and more genteel south. This is a city with a quirky sense of humour, ideal to explore on foot. The historic heart of the city lies south of the Liffey, unaltered in appearance since Georgian times, though the last decade of the 20th century saw major urban regeneration that makes the place buzz with excitement, especially around Temple Bar. This upbeat part of the city got its name from Sir William Temple, the Provost of Trinity College. Today, the area boasts fashionable pubs, good places to eat, discos and inordinate joie de vivre. Founded during the reign of Elizabeth I, Trinity College, the city’s most famous landmark, was a symbol of English dominance to which, until 1873, admission was restricted to Protestants. Many of the college’s students have achieved a measure of fame, notably Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Samuel Beckett and Jonathan Swift. The Old Library houses a number of important manuscripts in its Treasury, among which the Book of Kells is the best known. West of Trinity College stands Dublin Castle, the seat of British rule in Ireland, and worth a visit for its beautiful state apartments. On the corner of Suffolk Street and the popular shopping area, Grafton Street, stands the statue of Molly Malone, the Dublin beauty. Merrion Square is the city’s most elegant place, lined with classical Georgian houses with stunning doorways, canopies and fanlights. Oscar Wilde lived at 1 Merrion Square, Daniel O’Connell at 58, with WB Yeats only a few doors higher, at 82. St Stephen’s Green is an important 24.8 acre (10 hectare) open space, popular with office workers and a delightful place to soak up the atmosphere. The National Gallery houses one of the finest collections in Europe, and includes works by Gainsborough, Reynolds and Hogarth.
When the Normans invaded Dublin, in the process they forced the Vikings to the lands north of the Liffey, where they established Oxmanstown. The south continued to prosper, but the northern part of the city only became urbanised in the 18th century. Today, this is a less well-known area of busy pedestrianised streets, shopping centres and the popular Moore Street Market. In the 18th century, O’Connell Street was known as Gardener’s Mall, a fashionable area, renamed in honour of Daniel O’Connell. Worth seeking out here are the National Wax Museum at the corner of Dorset Street and Granby Row, and the James Joyce Centre in North Great George’s Street.
To the northwest, Phoenix Park is the largest city park in Europe, and a good place to watch the city going about its business. Dublin Zoo is in the southeast corner of the park.
Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leery) has attractive Victorian buildings, castles and a fine seafront. The James Joyce Tower and Museum, at Sandycove, is housed in a Martello Tower built in the early 1800s. Many personal effects of James Joyce are gathered here, including a first edition of Ulysses. Three castles at Dalkey survive from the 15th and 16th centuries: Bullock Castle (not open to the public), Archbold’s Castle, now the town hall, and Goat Castle, housing the Dalkey Heritage Centre. Malahide Castle, north of the city, was built in the 12th century and houses some lovely furniture and a portrait gallery with paintings by Irish and British artists. Castletown House, west of Dublin is a stunning Palladian building, among the best in Europe. It was built for the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, William Connolly, who contrived to become the richest man in Ireland.
These two counties have much in common: outstanding Neolithic, Celtic and early-Christian history; extensive settlement by Normans; and a wealth of castles, monasteries, and rich farmland. They also share the River Boyne; wide, gentle and very beautiful, and famous for the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, when James II sought to regain the English throne, but was outmanoeuvred by William of Orange.
Astride the Boyne, Drogheda, the harbour town of Co Louth, holds an important place in the history of medieval Ireland. It was besieged by Oliver Cromwell in 1649, who massacred or transported most of the inhabitants. Today, it is a useful centre for exploring the Boyne Valley, which fashions a meandering course between Trim and Drogheda, hallmarked by an extensive list of prehistoric sites.
The prehistoric burial sites of Brú na Bóinne, west of Drogheda, number more than 40 and predate the pyramids. Among these, Newgrange is western Europe’s most outstanding chambered tomb, built around 5000 years ago. Monasterboice was formerly a sixth-century monastery; in the cemetery stand three of the finest High Crosses in the country.
Dundalk is an industrial, harbour township, founded in the 12th century but largely rebuilt during Georgian times. Bordering Northern Ireland, the Cooley Peninsula forms a huge upland covered by heather, megaliths and pine plantations. The best way to see the peninsula is on foot, following parts of the Táin Way, a circular walk from Carlingford and Omeath.
Famed for its oysters, Carlingford looks across the lough to the Mourne Mountains. Historical links are found in King John’s Castle, a small stronghold overlooking the sea, and Taaffe’s Castle, one of many fortified residences in the area dating from the 16th century.
Bounded by the Liffey and the Wicklow Mountains, County Kildare lies between the built-up area around Dublin and the boglands of The Midlands. The county has an enviable reputation, founded on the luxuriant turf of the Curragh, for the breeding and exercising of thoroughbred horses.
Kildare Town is built around St Brigid’s Cathedral, which contains a number of Renaissance tombs and a splendid timber roof shaped like the hull of a ship. Close by is the round tower, the only one in Ireland to have an external staircase.
Peatland World, at Lullymore, 25km (15 miles) north of Kildare, tells all there is to know about peat. The National Stud at Tully, just outside Kildare Town, was started by Colonel Hall-Walker (to become Lord Wavertree), and its importance in the racing world is immense; open for guided tours, it includes a Horse Museum.
Naas (pronounced Nace) is a small industrial town on the edge of the Wicklow Mountains. Once the seat of the kings of the Province of Leinster, Naas was the heart of the ancient Irish kingdom of Ui Dunlainge. Today, it is a good shopping centre, and very much a hunting and horseracing locality.
On the banks of the huge Poulaphouca Reservoir, 20km (12.5 miles) southeast of Naas, Russborough House is a stunningly elegant Palladian mansion begun in 1741, built in Wicklow granite. On show here are works of art by European masters like Murillo, Poussin, Reynolds and Rubens.
The beauty of Wicklow is renowned far and wide. This land of mountains, forests, waterfalls and lakes takes its name from the tiny county town and the adjacent mountain range. Wicklow lies sandwiched between the heavily urban areas of Dublin and Wexford, and has the Irish Sea to the east. For centuries, the county was a stronghold of Celtic Christianity, with a focal point around Glendalough.
At the northern end of the county, Bray is a lively seaside resort with an air of Victorian charm, now rather faded and heavily reliant on daytrippers from Dublin. A fine beach, backed by amusement arcades and the National Sea-Life Centre, continues to make Bray popular. Killruddery House Gardens, offer splendid formal gardens, lakes and canals. Glencormac Gardens, southwest of Bray, were created by James Jameson of the famous distilling family. The fine 18th-century house at Powerscourt, west of Bray, is hugely popular, as are its formal gardens. A pleasant footpath leads to the Powerscourt Waterfall, the highest falls in Ireland, formed by the Dargle River which drops over cliffs 122m (400ft) high.
The county town of Wicklow is a delightfully sleepy place bordering a shingle bay. The main attraction in the town is the Wicklow Historic Gaol, which recounts the grim events and unsavoury personalities of Irish history. The luxurious displays of Mount Usher Gardens were set up in the 1860s by a Dublin linen manufacturer, Edward Walpole, and are a plant-lover’s paradise. Glendalough, the glen of the two lakes, is a place of holiness among the hills and a place of pilgrimage, where St Kevin founded a monastery in AD 570. The tall round tower is a familiar landmark, variously used as a look-out post, a grain store and a belfry. The cathedral is now in ruins, but is no less evocative for that. Down towards the river is St Kevin’s Church, a modest building with a chimney-shaped belfry. The little village of Avoca achieved fame as Ballykissangel in the television drama of that name.