Driving into History, and towards Ducketts Grove.

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In the car yesterday, on the way to the second year of the wonderful History Festival of Ireland.   The Festival itself was super, and I’ll post about that directly in the next few days.  But even the trip down, through the landscapes of county Kildare and county Carlow, was a treat too, with mad mix of sun and showers, the ever-changing light, and skies like some cloud-study water colour by John Constable.    I thought you might like to see.  I even just decided now to temporarily change the Theme I use here on the blog, in the hope of displaying these little snaps to better effect.    Oh, if you are still on the home or archive page, don’t forget to click on the title of the post itself, to see it properly & maximise the page & pics.   Anyway, I hope you all enjoy.    Until next time.  -Arran.

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Below, arrival.  Our destination, the extraordinary Ducketts Grove, home to this year’s  History Festival of Ireland.  All photographs by Arran Henderson, if you use please provide a credit,  & a link / hyperlink back to this site. Thank you.

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From the Granite to the Pebbles | Arran’s best 3- harbour walk.

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The last post was an epic, annotated list on the best sights & visits in Dublin.  At the end is appended a few of my favorite coastal walks outside the city.  Today, just a bit more detail on my favorite South side walk, from Dun Laoghaire to the end of Killiney beach, specifically the best route, via Sandycove, the 40 Foot, Bullock Harbour, Dalkey’s Collimore Road and Sorrento Terrace, and ending down on the sand and pebbles of Killiney Beach.

Route:  start at Dun Laoghaire, turn left as you leave the Dart station, and walk down the East Pier.  There are lots of lovely details to enjoy, such as an old weather station, and a old wrought-iron Victorian bandstand, and the many boats bobbing up and down in the harbour, from sleek yachts to tiny dinghys.  The pier is mostly built and faced in wonderful granite, which glows a beautiful warm gold in direct sun.Image

at the end of the pier is a delightful little cluster of buildings: a high protective wall, the lighthouse, old maintenance buildings from the Admiralty or Irish lights commission, and the squat little lighthouse keeper’s cottage.

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I can not tell you how much pleasure i get from this whole… ensemble.  The high granite wall makes it look a bit like a castle on the sea, or a crusader fort or something.  I grew up in Dun Laoghaire, and always wanted to live here.

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Next we return back along the pier, obviously.  (Not much choice really, unless one is an exceptionally strong swimmer)  and then turn left for Sandycove.   Stick to the walking path that runs directly over the sea.

As you walk, you can already see the Martello tower at Sandycove, built during the Napoleonic Wars, but made immortal by James Joyce through his famous opening lines of  Ulysses. –   

“Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.” 

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In this picture above you can see another delightful cluster of buildings, this time at Sandycove.   First the Martello Tower already mentioned, the setting for the quotation from Ulysses above.   The protagonist character in these early sections, is the young Stephen Daedulus,  who was in turn the fictional alter ego of the, real-life young James Joyce.   When a young man, Joyce briefly shared this unusual home with his friend, the poet and surgeon Oliver StJohn Gogarty.  (The tower was no longer in cative use & Gogarty had,I believe, arranged to rent it from the admiralty)   Then just after the tower,  you see a  lovely traditional-style, white house in the middle.   After that comes another white house, this time far more modren, that looks a bit like a white tower or the prow of ship.  This is a small masterpiece called “Geragh”  It was designed by the Irish modernist architect Michael Scott, whose home it also was.

Just beyond all this, the path rises, and beyond that,  (just out of sight in this picture)  this path leads to the famous 40-Foot Bathing place.   Even in my lifetime, it used to be reserved (unofficially, but alas very effectively)  for the exclusive use of men.   But thanks to some brave women who took the plunge (including some in the nip!)  the 40 Foot is now open to everyone.

The curious name by the way does not mean the swimming place is “40 Foot deep”.    It comes instead from a regiment or military company previously based here:  ”the 40th regiment of Foot”    -(Foot of course meaning Infantry).    In the summer  i try to come and swim here at least a few times a month,  often with friends,often with my mum or sister, (in a insane family ritual).  More rarely I’ll swim in winter.  There is a strong local tradition of doing so on Christmas day!  Look again the picture above, with the blue sky but also lots of snow and ice.  This was Christmas time2-3 years back, & my sister & I swam this same day, .    I can not even begin to describe how cold it was.  The air temperature and the sea were bad enough, but what really stays is the feeling, then the numbness of icy concrete under our bare feet.  There was a record breaking cold snap at the time, for weeks at that stage, so the ground temperature was down in deep, deep, minus-figures.  We were lucky not to loose some toes.

After the 40 Foot,  do not double-back, just keep walking along the sea, it’s easy and baring total disorientation, youreally can not  get lost.   Just remember that allowing for local variations we are walking in a general south or south east direction the whole time and so we always want the sea on our left, whether you can see it or not!   From the 40 foot just keep along the sea, and you’ll find that you have to turn right, then left again out onto the “main road”.  (with cars)      Then walk for about 1/2 a mile, nearly 1 Kilometre, but it’s all very nice.  You’lll pass lots of stucco terraces on your left and more tall, handsome, this time redbrick houses on your ight.  Most of both were built in19th century but  in the fine “Georgian” style.

But soon you’ll get to an unusual large white house on your left,  on a cornersite and some of the windows hang out in bay.   The road to the left here slopes steeply twisting down to the sea.  Take this turn, (leave the main road) and follow this road down back to the sea.  Almost straight away as the road turns you’ll see Bullock Harbour right in front of you, with its small piers, fishing cottages, wooden row boats (you can rent these in summer, for mackerel fishing in season)   You may also see the occasional visitor, a fat contented seal, looking out for scraps of thrown-away fish.

Keep following our road, it goes uphill again. past modern appartments and past one or two nice houses, on the left especially.  Walk until you get to a junction and there,  keep straight until you walk into Dalkey Village.

Well done, you’ve made it this far. You may want to stop for a coffee or snack. You could try”Select Stores”   I am not a shareholder,  (promise!)  in fact I don’t even know the owners, I just always enjoy the food.  The humous & falafel wraps with fresh salad are delicious.   The coffees and juices too.

Next, after refreshments,  find the start of Collimore Road, it’s very near, (ask a local)  and walk along it, once again with the sea on your left.  Lots more fantastic houses here, right on the sea, and nice views over to Dalkey Island.   You’ll also find our third harbour here, Collimore harbour, which is my favourite in a way.  (i used to snorkel and even kayak around here a bit)

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lovely picture, by photographer Ian Gremmel, of Coliemore Harbour, (all rights reserved.)  Via de Vere’s art auctioneers site. I am attempting to contact artist for permission. 

Nearby, on the sort of platform or terrace that overlooks the harbour, (the terace is above the harbour, so top left of this picture) you’ll find a pair of heavy duty high-power telescopic binoculars fixed to a steel base.  Most of these devices you have to pay for, by dropping in a coin. But this one is free.  Because, my sister told me recently, it’s a memorial to a man who lived near here.  It was bought and installed here by his friends as a tribute to his memory.  It is a wonderful, generous gesture, a gift to us all.  Low-key, thoughtful, and endlessly useful.  ”The gift that keeps on giving” as a friend of mine likes to say.    Very classy of the man’s friends, and far more imaginative than a statue or a plaque.

Anyway, that ‘s enough digression, (or pontificating).   Just keep walking to the very end of Collimore Road, and you find yourself facing an even more lovely set of of houses.  This is a wonderful place called Sorrento Terrace.  They possibly have the best physical setting of any houses in Dublin.  To see what I mean just turn right and walk a further up the road, now called the Vico Road, with the sea on your left agin far below you now,  then after 5 minutes look back.  (see the picture below)  look back toward Sorrento Terrace.   There. Look at them.   Wouldn’t that be a nice place to live?

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above, Sorrento Terrace, seen from above the Vico Road and/or Killiney beach.  Beyond Sorrento Terrace you can see two island, the larger is dalkey Island, with its ruins and an (another) old Martello Tower.   The identity of the man paragliding is unknown to me, alas.   (Image from Wikipedia.)   

The Vico is the long uphill road  (up-hill in this direction at least)  that runs along the coast here,  above the long sweep of Killiney beach. (below you and to your left)   The road is studded with nice houses.  A favourite passtime of mine when young was debating with friends which we would buy.   On the other side, the wooded slopes of KIlliney Hill rise above you to the right.

So, in other words, from the Vico road you have three or four alternatives.   If you are serious, reasonably fit walker you may now even wish to open up Google maps to consider your options.   First,  you can walk up the whole way to tiny Killiney “village”  (more of a hamlet really, just as shop and a pub) to enter Killiney Hill/Victoria Hill park there, and walk up to the obelisk.   Or you can go straight up the side of the same hill to the obelisk directly from here on the Vico road,  using one of the tiny right-of -way paths or tracks.  (Just look out for the tiny gates, almost hidden in the old green railings. )

Or you can go the other way, down,  downwards to the sand and shingle of Killiney beach.  (In fact you can walk the whole way to Shankill along the beach)

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above,  down on Killiney beach, below the Vico Road, (Sorrento Terrace in the far distance). 

Finally, if you’re feeling tired by now, you have another, last choice.  You can about face,  and simply walk back to Dalkey, turning left at Sorrento Road.  (not via Sorrento Terrace and Colliemore Road, now very much the long way)   Have a pint in one of the nice pubs back in Dalkey.  Finnegan’s pub, on the corner where Sorrento Road meets Dalkey Village, is my own, traditional favourite.  (although the under-35s may prefer the Club or Queens.)    Then later have a bag of chips, from Borza’s fish & chip shop,   (which i always mistakenly call Borgia’s !)   Later you can walk to Dalkey train station and get the last Dart home.    (Just don’t miss the last train, a taxi back to the city will cost you a fortune.)                                       There you go-  a perfect, perfect day out.

That’s it for today.

If you’re ever looking for a coast walk on the other side of the city,  my Northside favourite,  the Howth peninsula, and the best route round it, is covered in a previous post: From Sea to Shining Sea.  You’ll find it by that title in the archives.

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Arran’s Top Dublin Sights & Visits.

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This post is for all visitors and inspired by my students.  They often tell me they find it hard to get good information on the interesting places to see here.  This sounds a bit unlikely at first. With Ireland’s long established tourism, you’d imagine we’re bursting at the seams with reliable, objective lists and maps, of things to do and places to visit, no?

Unfortunately, long-established doesn’t always mean highly- evolved.   On closer inspection, much of the promotional literature aimed at visitors is commercial; advertising in effect, usually single-focus too, as it tries to get people into (often paying into) one particular sight.

In an environment like that: he who shouts the loudest wins.  That’s a recipe for disaster, and for disappointed visitors.   The “Shout-Loudest” principal must also explain why, for many years here recently, the number-one visitor attraction in terms of numbers, has been the Guinness Storehouse. (!)

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I’ve nothing in particular against the Storehouse. I could be scathing on the way it funnels its visitors around in herds, like sheep in a pen. I could describe it as a tasteless celebration of alcohol, a sad stag and hen party cliché, and a trap for the unwary, hapless and exploited tourist.

If one was feeling super-critical, one could even lambast the place as a vulgar jamboree of loud, tactless, in-your-face marketing, masquerading as a giant, fake “museum”.  vBut we won’t.  In fact the Storehouse is a typical 21st century interactive “visitor-experience”.   In that context, it’s well-designed, reasonably interesting, and perfectly valid fare for a couple of hours light entertainment.

It’s also in an absolutely fabulous building, (see above)  and in fairness it even contains a few good nuggets.  Of graphic design for example (via the history of their advertising, which was of an exceptional standard)   Or of Industrial History; and indeed of the social history of this city too.

But is it really, really, the number-one interesting place to visit in Dublin?   Not even close.

No, there are far better ways to spend your time & cash.  Below are my best city sights, especially for lovers of architecture and of history  But first, a few disclaimers…   Firstly, you’ll probably know of at least some of these places already. But since the aim is to compile a quick, one-stop list for all, please bear with that.

Second,  in the same way, any Irish readers, (especially Dublin readers,) who might have accidentally strayed here will find our great institutions, the ones we all grew up with.  There’s little or no “hidden Dublin” in this post.  You’ll have to look elsewhere in this blog for that.

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Third, perhaps obvious, the list is personal.  So, as regular readers know, the focus of this blog is reading history through historic buildings and applied arts.  So choices and recommendations are informed by that.  You won’t find any views on best pubs/pint/steak in-town.  :)

One last, last, final, note.  Students and overseas visitors are often dismayed that many older historic churches and cathedrals here in Dublin charge admission fees.  I can understand that.  Nothing so (seemingly) vulgar happens in France or Italy, for example.

However, please bear in mind that old churches in Dublin are mostly Anglican since the Reformation of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.  (All churches were Catholic churches prior to the Reformation, obviously)    There are today very few Anglican worshippers left,  to maintain these churches.   Plus they also get no financial help from Government or state.  Now does the admission charge make sense?  You can console yourself with the thoughtyour ticket money will save historic churches.   Also with the thought that,  although the churches and cathedrals do charge;  our wonderful museums do not.  They’re completely free.  (Unlike museums in France or Italy, which charge hefty admission fees.)  So your outlay will all balance out in the end!  (Plus your ticket money will save historic churches.)

Okay, that’s more than enough disclaimers and qualifications. Without further ado, here are Dublin’s most rewarding Sights and Places to Visit…

The Old Parliament on College Green  Just outside the Front Gate of Trinity on College Green, this spectacular 18th century Neo-Classical building with its wonderful colonnade, is now a bank but (until the Act of Union in 1801) was the Irish Parliament, complete with House of Commons and House of Lords.

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The former chamber is now gone but you can still see the House of Lords (open until around 3.30 or 4pm each day). Visit and look for the enormous, obnoxiously triumphalist Boyne and Derry Tapestries. (You can hardly miss them.) They relate 2 scenes from the late 17th century Williamite war, the war that ended hopes for the Stuart dynasty and which sealed Protestant supremacy in Ireland for the next 120 years.  The building as a whole was designed by a succession of superb architects, including Edward Lovittt Pearse, and the incomparable James Gandon.  It is also reckoned to be one of the largest buildings anywhere without windows.  All the interior illumination comes from the skylights above, well out of sight from street level, leaving the façade free for a procession of blind arches and that massive sweep of colonnades.

Christ Church Cathedral and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral are, jointly probably the best places to learn about Irish history.  The medieval Christ Church was founded first, around 1028.  Saint Patrick’s followed, according to interpretation of history and various charters, around 1190-1215. Christ Church cathedral should have been “enough” but, for political reasons too complex to narrate here, St Patrick followed less than one hundred years later and scarcely half a kilometer part.  (You can find the long, full, convoluted story, in the Origins of St Patrick’s post, elsewhere in this blog)  This change of course gave Dublin two cathedrals, a unique and unprecedented development for any city in the world.  Both Cathedrals were heavily restored in the 19th century but both still remain full of ancient historic sights and treasures. To summarize these highlights briefly….

Christ Church  has many wonderful details, including a tomb purporting to be that of Strongbow, the Norman baron who conquered Dublin from the Norse-Irish inhabitants and ushered in the Anglo-Norman conquest (and thus 800 hundreds years of British rule in Ireland.)  The highlight of Christ Church cathedral however are probably the enormous crypts.  Look out there for the life-sized statues of two Stuart Kings, (generally reckoned to be Charles II & James II)   and the famous, mummified “the Cat and the Mouse”- two animals, caught, suspended in space by a freak accident a long ago, and now frozen in time.

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above: model of Christ Church. 

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral  by contrast, has no crypts (the ground here is too marshy)  But it has stood since the 12th century and is a treasure trove of wonderful tombs and memorial sculpture.  Look out for Dean Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels; the tomb of the Duke of Schomberg, a Dutch field marshal who fought for William III I in the wars mentioned previously above in the House of Lords.   If you come early you can explore the cathedral fully.  If you are here later, then hang around for evensong at 5.30 when the choir sings from the lovely old wooden choir stalls most evenings, under the fabulously romantic banners and coats of arms.  If you would like to do a history tur of the cathedral, using the artefacts as a way of examining Irish history, you could consider coming on one of my new tours.  If you are interested,  please see
http://dublindecoded.com/how-to-read-a-cathedral/

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Saint Audoen’s Church   A modest-looking little church but very ancient,  and full of lovely low-key details.    In fact,  Saint Audoen’s is the oldest continuously-operating parish church in Dublin.  There was an old Celtic-era church here from the 7th century, then the current, Anglo-Norman foundation from 1190.  (Ouen was a bishop and Saint from Normandy.   See my post about this place under “the Portlester Memorial” in archives or “top posts”)  As I say, this looks a modest place, but it is not to be missed by any fan of medieval history.  It has aa ruined chapel, the Portlester memorial and other gorgeous commemorative sculpture.  Best of all perhaps, it also boasts a fine, small but informative museum of the medieval city, very modest and un-flashy and low-key, yet still far preferable, in my humble view to the, admittedly- educational but slightly cack-handed “Dublinia” experience,  also available nearby.

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commemorative sculpture, Saint Audoen’s church. photo credit Con O’Donneghue.

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the Portlester memorial, Saint Audoen’s church. photo credit Con O’Donneghue.

If the two cathedrals, and St Audoen’s Church are the best places to learn about Irish and Dublin History from the medieval & renaissance times to the 17th century, then our next few proposed visits are the best to take up the Irish story a bit later, from the 18th century to Irish independence in the early 20th century.

Kilmanham Gaol.   Almost every Irish political leader, rebel and patriot, from 1789 through to closure after1922 was imprisoned here, from Woolf Tone; Robert Emmet, Daniel O’Connell; Charles Stuart Parnell; to Patrick Pearse; James Connelly and Eamonn de Valera.  For Irish people that is almost the entire pantheon of hers. Many of them were executed here also.  You cannot wander around this shrine to Irish nationhood but must take a tour, but that is no hardship as the tours and guides are excellent, highly informative, with stories tragic and entertaining by turn.  Kilmanham is an absolute “must-do”- for anyone with even a scintilla of interest in Irish history.  For the architecturally or design minded, on the second half of your tour you can also see one of the world’s best examples of a “Panoptigon”- a built architectural expression on the concept of an all-seeing eye: an ideal building for prison guards!

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above:  the later, 19th century, part of Kilmanham Gaol, with the distinctive Panoptigon.  Photograph by Lisa Hafey (all rights reserved).  

Kilmanham Hospital- IMMA:   Formerly a military hospital – modeled on Les Invalides of Paris- for retired and injured Irish soldiers, this complex of buildings boasts a large central quadrangle and spectacular Baroque chapel. It is now the Irish Museum of Modern Art, IMMA for short.  Obviously this trip is a natural morning/afternoon combination with Kilmaham Gaol nearby.   If you are seeking lunch in the interval, the food in the IMMA café is probably better than anywhere else locally.   There are both permanent and temporary/rotating exhibitions of 20th century and contemporary art on display.  Don’t forget to visit the lovely formal gardens, sunken between its old stone walls, and laid out in the manner of the 17th century Enlightenment garden, all lined with neat box hedges.  It is a delight.

Glasnevin Cemetery (picture below) Once again, a terrific place to learn history.  Unusually, this is also one of the few places that I’d wholeheartedly recommend taking the guided tour; they are generally excellent in quality and you’ll hear stories on every aspect of the cemetery from grave robbers and cholera epidemics, to rebels and revolutions.  Many of the great Irish leaders mentioned above are interred here.  Daniel O’Connell’s monument is the most spectacular of all. (See my post on him, and it, in “archives” if you wish).  Again, you really should avail of the tour on offer, there are literally dozens of wonderful stories to hear.

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St Michan’s Church:  Small and unspectacular to look at but stuffed with secrets.  An old organ that may have been used by Handle himself, the coffin of a notorious “Bad Earl”, the remains of the doomed and betrayed 1798 United Irishmen revolutionaries John and Edward Sheares.  Oh, and mummies.  Yes, mummies, like in Egypt.  Mummified bodies, miraculously preserved here in the crypts.  What more could you possibly want?

The National Museum:  (archeology.)  Kildare St. D2.  Many great things to see:  including treasures of Irelands Bronze Age; precious Gold relics; a head with three faces, or the Gigantic dug out canoe!  But make sure you don’t miss the sinister, but incredible “bog bodies” the dead, corpses of murdered or ritually killed men, possibly local chieftains or kings, all preserved in the low level acid of Irish bogs.

The National Gallery (Art) Merion Square and current entrance on Clare St.  both D2. Unfortunately 8o% of the gallery is undergoing restoration at present and so most of it is closed up for building work.   But even in the few rooms still open you can view wonderful paintings by Vermeer, Picasso, Caravaggio, and other masters.  My own personal favorite are the two companion paintings of a man and woman, respectively writing and reading a letter,  by the 17th century Dutch virtuoso Gabriel Metsu.

Incidentally, it is a source of endless sadness to me that the average amount of time spent in front of a painting in major museums (including the Uffizi and the Louvre)   is now between 6 and 8 seconds.  Additionally, many visitors seek the security of reading the little information notices beside the pictures, instead of attempting to “read” the paintings themselves.  So, I decided to do something about it.  I now run about 3 or 4 workshops a month, generally 2 on a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon, and a further 2 on Thursday evenings, (6-8pm) which provide an introduction on How to Read a Painting. We look at symbols, both religious and classical, including the identifying “attributes” of saints,  and the use of everything from light to landscape to gesture, in the construction of meaning in historic paintings.   If you are interested, please see How to Read a Painting in the National Gallery, Dublin for more information and for schedules.   And if you are in a group, remember you can often book your own tour with me.

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above: painting by Vermeer, National Gallery of Ireland. 

Natural History Museum.   Merion Square.  (Animals, Birds and other natural specimens, pictured below)   This -famously-   is something of a museum “that should be in a museum”,  in other words, largely untouched by modern nonsense and thus  delightfully old-fashioned Victorian in both style and spirit.    See my post on The Natural History Museum Dublin, Dead Zoo for more information and pictures to give a taste of this melancholy but magical place

Or, if you want something special, see instead my little tale of how one of the quieter highlights of the Natural History Museum Dublin,  the wonderful Barrington Bird Collection, was researched & assembled by the 19th century Irish Naturalist,  JM Barrington.

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National Library: Kildare St. D2.   Its almost worth doing some research so you can apply for a readers ticket, so you can sit in the huge reading room, with the smell of old wood and leather books.

The National Museum: at Collins barracks. (D7- northwest city centre, on the Luas Line)  This is an annex of the old national Museum on Kildare St. but at Collins Barracks all the emphasis is on applied art and design like clocks, silver, costume, textiles, furniture  and so on.   It’s well worth a visit to experience the building alone, with its huge marching ground, this was once the biggest purpose built army barrack in the world.

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But the exhibits and exhibitions at Collins Barracks are also great.  There is more than one museum here in fact.  So if you really look around, you’ll find there’s something for everyone.   See just below…

The Military Museum. at Collins barracks.  The story of Ireland’s soldiers, at home and abroad.

The Asgard: at Collins Barracks.  A famous ship in Irelands history, used by a famous novelist to smuggle in guns for the nationalist movement and 1916 Easter Rising.  Also just a beautiful ship with a fascinating history, the room has many good and informative displays.

Back in the city centre….

Trinity College- an oasis of colligate calm right in the heart of Dublin’s busy city centre, studded with fabulous architecture.  There are fine old Universities or beautiful old colleges all on one campus in small towns,; and there are Universities, with beautiful old colleges dispersed around lovely towns and cities (like Oxford and Cambridge) but as a friend of mine noticed once, Trinity is unique: an old university, all on one campus and yet right in the middle of a capital city.  This gives it a very special character indeed.

The University was built on an old Priory, (dissolved by Henry VII) founded in 1594, in the last years of the Reformation-era of Henry’s daughter Elizabeth I. She founded it as an instrument of Anglo-Irish policy, with the express aim of preventing Irish students seeking education in Catholic Spain or France, and thus, of saving their souls for the Reformation and their loyalties for the English crown.  The bitter polarization of the following (17th) century ensured this did not happen; instead Trinity effectively became the University for the Anglo-Irish protestant settler class. Even when I was a child, 55-70 years after independence, it was still perceived as a “Protestant University”! – a perception now of distant memory only.   Although the University dates from 1594, most of the wonderful architecture you will see comes from the 18th century onwards.  Notably….

Front Square with its fine flanking Buildings (the Chapel and Exam Hall)  both by William Chambers (the architect of Buckingham Palace and Summerset House in London, as well as Dublin’s own Charlemont House and Casino at Marino.

The Dining Halls date from the same period.  Don’t tell them I sent you, but be bold: try to try to sneak in here, to see this large, very grand, wood-lined, Harry Potter style dining room, hung with portraits of former Provosts (University Chancellors) and a few kings as well, notably George III and George IV.  (Sure what could be more “Georgian” than that?)

The Long Room/Old Library.  Originally built in the 18th century by Thomas Burgh, who had already made a very splendid building, but then substantially remodeled in the mid-19th century by other designers, two geniuses called Deane & Woodward. Their enormous, barrel- vaulted wooden ceiling has to be seen to be believed:  one of the most beautiful rooms in Europe, perhaps the world- a fantasy space, stuffed full of ancient leather bound books.  In the immortal words of one contemporary, viewing the alterations of the two great architects,-  “what once had merely been superb,  now became sublime.”

Unmissable.

Trinity College Dublin-The Long Room-Old Library

The Museum Building   My other, personal, favourite in Trinity College, this home of the college’s small museum collection, (which were once far more substantial.)  This building also houses parts of the Geography, Geology and Engineering departments.  (My father was once an undergraduate here) But the real treasure is the building itself, again by Deane and Woodward, and often thought to be their masterpiece.  This is a stunning example of Victorian Venetian-style Gothic-Revival architecture, with additional flavours of Moorish, Byzantine and other Eastern influences.    Look out for the ceramic tiles surrounding the glass skylights; the extraordinary Wagnerian staircase in Green Connemara marble; and the two fossilized Giant Irish Elk flanking and guarding the doorway.  If you visit with young people, you should get them to “hunt-out” the carved birds and animals on the stone exterior too.

Also to see in Trinity, two modern classics. Paul Korelec’s Berkley Library. Not everyone likes Brutalism (architecture) including a few people who are hazy about what it means, but this is superb example of the idiom.

The Samuel Beckett theatre is a modern building, in the style of an old Tudor or Jacobean playhouse of Shakespeare’s time.  Named for Trinity Graduate (and one-time unenthusiastic lecturer here), Nobel-laureate Samuel Beckett; author of Endgame and Waiting for Godot.

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above: revelers & performers at Dublin Castle, last Hallo’ween.   

Dublin Castle.  The paying-in bits of the castle- called “the State Rooms “or “State Apartments”- are a bit of waste of time I think. (And of money obviously)   The best parts of Dublin castle are all free, including the small but beautiful Chapel Royal, (the private chapel of the King when he was in Ireland)  the wonderful Chester Beatty Library which is a collection of eastern & oriental art and manuscripts and, just outside the Chester Beatty, the small park or circular lawn that gives Dublin its name, former site of the old Dubh Linn, once a black lake that lay here.  This lawn is great to laze around on, our occasional sunny days. (whenever they arrive!)

Other great Dublin sights, “in brief”. 

Georgian Dublin: a selection. 

Gandon’s Four Courts, on north side of the quays. Not generally open to the public, for obvious reasons, but the exterior view of dome and façade alone are worth an outside visit.

Gandon’s King’s Inns.  can be approached from Henrietta Street, or for the full spectacle of his stunning façade, from Constitution Hill.  The park here is also great on sunny days.  Look out for an old park bench, devoured by a tree!

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Also, when you are at the Kings Inn’s if you like 19th century architecture, you should walk acorss the road to view the amazing façade of the old derelict Broadstone railway station.

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Gandon’s Customs House (see my archives, under the title “Power, Beauty and Intrigue)

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The Casio at Marino   by another genius of the age (and Gandon’s mentor) William Chambers.  This “miniature” pleasure palace, built for James Caufield, earl of Charlemont, is a miracle of delightful deception and one of the finest neo-Classical buildings in Europe. A masterpiece, pure and simple.

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Interior of the Casino at Marino. photo credit Con O’Donneghue.

The GPO.   Otherwise known as the General Post office, although no Dubliner would ever call it that. (Any more than we’d put black current in our Guinness, t’is sacrilege)   You can hardly miss the huge columns on O’Connell’s Street, of this fine building with a much storied history, the main site of the Easter 1916 Rising and a shrine for Irish nationalists.

Dublin’s Streets and Squares.   Merion and Fitzwilliam Square on the Southside, Parnell and Mountjoy Square on the North side.

Victoriana: a selection: -

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The Museum Building in Trinity. (See main section on Trinity College, in this post)

The Fruit and Vegetable markets.   Don’t miss the lovely 19th century exterior decorative artwork: (below) terracotta reliefs, portraying the produce on sale inside.

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The University Church.  Barely visible behind its tiny, red-brick entrance on Saint Stephens Green (South) this under-appreciated masterpiece, and a wonderful 19th century fusion of Byzantine, Lombard, Venetian and other elements,  stunningly combined.  

Iveagh Gardens.  Less used than St Stephen’s Green: more peaceful and magical.  Battered old stone statues, a small maze, sundials and peaceful seclusion all await you.

Blessington Bassin:  this little hidden away canal basin water reservoir is like a small lake, with ducks and geese swimming by.  It’s one of the few peaceful places in the North east quadrant of the North(east) city centre.  (The northwest city of course has Phoenix Park)

One more, other great way to explore and really understand the city: – Read, find or download,   “the History of Ireland in One hundred Objects”.       The title is self-explanatory, This is a list of Irelands best, and most historically revealing artifacts, and where to find them.    This was a newspaper series, is now a book.  But you can also find and pick up the same list as an illustrated map in some museums.  For those with smart-phones, it’s even available as a free Ap too.   More than half the objects on the list are right here, in Dublin.  So find the map, or download the free Ap,  and get cracking!

You can use the other posts in this blog as a supplementary source of information, or if you want additional, further suggestions of places or artifacts, or rad the articles for historical, background context.

Good luck, and enjoy it all.   Explore and enjoy Dublin!

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Custom-made Beauty. – Power, genius and intrigue, in 18th century Dublin.

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I recently posted on an event that runs in Dublin November each year called Open House,  dedicated to architecture by helping to educate and inform us all about the history and practice of that great art, and by giving the public access to some of the best buildings in the country.

It’s one of my favourite weekends of the year, so always I try to cram in as much as possible.  Anyone who read that last post will have seen a little photo- essay of the Pearse Street area.  Well, later the same day my friend and I crossed over the nearby river Liffey, to catch the last 40 minutes access,  to James Gandon’s mighty Customs House.

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Gandon (1743-1823) was born in in London, the son of a gunsmith of Huguenot ancestry.  He studied at an academy of drawing. Later he had the noticeable talent and excellent fortune to be apprenticed to the great William Chambers.

Chambers was arguably the leading London practioner of his time.  He was architect to the king, tutor to the Prince of Wales; the designer of Buckingham Place and of the lovely Summerset House on Piccadilly.  Although Chambers never so much as set foot in Ireland, he was nevertheless also architect of at least one superb building here- namely Charlemont House and one unmitigated masterpiece: the mysterious and dazzling Casino at Marino.

Anyone who knows any of these great works, in London or Dublin, will recognize that Chambers was a master of the neo-classical, Palladian style.  There’s little doubt that the young James Gandon absorbed much from these years.  Perhaps the promising young architect was now looking forward to a comfortable life, designing the stately homes of England.  He was already much in demand, even the subject of invitations from the imperial Tzarist Russian family, the Romanov family,  to get him to go to St Petersberg and work there.  Fate however had other plans for him.

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above, portrait of James Gandon.  Look what building is in the far distant background.  Of all his superb buildings, this still remains his masterpiece. 

Over in Dublin, strange events were afoot.  A group of powerful men, led by the especially formidable John Beresford (1738-1805) had an idea.  They had decided they were going to remove the ancient Customs House, from the old traditional mercantile centre of Dublin around Christ Church and Temple Bar, moving it much further east, near the mouth of the port.

They were faced with stiff opposition- and not a little outrage- by a powerful coalition of leading merchants and traders, all of course had their offices and warehouses in the old centre and whose business would be seriously disrupted and discommoded, or worse, by the proposed move.

These merchants, and Dublin Corporation (which they dominated) now fiercely resisted the new project.  They may have been a special interest or “special pleading” group but they also had a point.  Beresford’s idea was going to cost a fortune, (which would of course come out of duties and taxation).  Besides which, the new site chosen was extremely unsuitable, as it was basically a swampy marsh.

As if all this was not enough, there was a nasty whiff of suspicion surrounding the proposal.  The land selected for the new construction and the land all around the new site was owned by the Gardener family. If the new Customs house was located here, that land could only rocket in demand and in value.  There was much talk of corruption and nepotism.

Because, by an extraordinary coincidence, Luke Gardiner’s sister was married to…John Beresford.  The two men were brothers-in-law!

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No caption necessary.  The behemoth of late 18tn century Irish power politics.

Opposition was so politicized, and so heated, that when work did begin, in 1881, a large mob numbering several thousand gathered to try and destroy the initial foundation works and burn the construction site to the ground!

Beresford however was made of strong stuff. He was one of the most powerful men in Ireland.  He had formidable family connections (his brother was the Marquis of Waterford, for example and John’s own second wife in particular also came from wealthy and powerful landowning interests.  These connections, as well as his own abilities, had helped him acquire the immensely important role of the king’s chief collector of taxes in Ireland.  Once in this position Beresford wielded even more immense clout and influence.  Almost all the commercial revenue of the island passed through his hands and under his beady-eyed scrutiny.   Visitors to Dublin were taken aback and often remarked on his mighty station and the sheer dominance of Beresford family in Irish affairs.  The phrase “an uncrowned king” was employed, on many occasions.

In the general scheme of things, Beresford record and legacy would be at least disputed today.  For example he later supported the Act of Union, never a favourite position with patriots.  On the other hand, although this was certainly not Beresford’s reason for his support for the Act, somewhat paradoxically that change of 1801 and the subsequent move if Irish parliamentarians to Dublin probably helped pass catholic emancipation in Ireland.  (This is one reason why the ultimate genius of Irish politics, Edmund Burke, supported the move)

Beresford saw off at least one Lord Lieutenant who tried to remove him.  This was the Earl Fitzwilliam, appointed under Pitt’s Government.  Fitzwilliam was so alarmed by the Beresford family’s overwhelming power in Ireland he tried to replace John as Revenue Commissioner.  However, Fitzwilliam appears to have then been abandoned by Pitt, when Beresford fought back. Fitzwilliam was himself undermined, while John was soon restored to all his offices and positions in Dublin.

Besides all this, Beresford was also head of the powerful “Ballast Committee” a vitally important body dedicated to stopping Dublin Port silting up, mostly through the design and commission of huge engineering works (such as the South Bull Walls and later the North Bull Wall, either side of Dublin Bay)

Beresford’s sheer bloody mindedness drove the Custom’s House project through.  It is entirely possible he and his in-laws made unsuitable profits from the transaction. (That would make it an almost unique first as an example of corruption in Irish planning and re-zoning history, not)

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However, whatever the whiff of graft and ill-gotten gains, the creators of the Customs House were at least partially exonerated by history, for two important reasons. Firstly, the bay and river do silt up.  The Customs House did therefore indeed need to move eastwards. As ships got ever bigger, the old arrangements made less and less sense.  (Indeed even the new Customs function later had to move even further eastwards and seawards and the new building assumed other state functions)

The second reason is the young architect Beresford had found and brought over from London, to design and oversee the huge new building.  That man was of course James Gandon.  Whatever the shady political and financial background to the Customs House development, the movers and shakers behind the deal – through their recruitment and appointment of Gandon – could at least be confident their new building would very likely boast genuine artistic distinction.

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detail of the facade, and one of the river Gods (Anna Livia in this case)  Incidentally, the balloon you see is from the Open House team.  You can see them all over the city this weekend each year.   It’s a nice device to signal the event and flag the “Open House status of the many open sites during this great weekend.    

In the event, his achievements would surpass even their ambitions.    Because the building, the first of four great Georgian-era, set-piece building James Gandon would go on to design in Dublin is- like the others- a masterpiece.

The furry surrounding the project was so intense that stories say that in 1881 Gandon had to be smuggled incognito into Ireland on a sailing ship, with both his name and his new job here a closely guarded secret.

The results proved worth it.  His exterior is extraordinary. The huge central space is capped by the green copper dome you saw above.  But everywhere here you look is spectacle and grander.

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above, note the frieze in the pediment with Neptune as the sea with the female allegorical figures of Britannia, and her sister kingdom Hibernia.   Note also the the larger, free-standing allegorical figures higher up, depicting values like peace and prosperity.    

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above: the Lion and the Unicorn, a typically loud protestation of loyalty by the Ascendency class of the times.  

The decorative scheme is especially interesting.  Gandon was a visionary, but he was of course also merely the head of a talented team of individuals, including Irish master mason Henry Darley and the sculptor Edward Symth.  The stonework is thus decorated with an amazing quality of carving, many in low relief, such as these bulls’ heads. (such as this one below, seen just below the corner of the pediment) 

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They refer to the importance in both live cattle and in beef exports to Ireland economy.  In between the bulls’ heads, instead of the conventional Greco-Roman style garlands of flowers, the decorative stone carved “swags” are instead depicted as the hides of cattle, as leather export was also vital to Irish trade.

In these ways, the building is a curious but very successful fusion of harmonious neo-classical learning with contemporary, location and function related cultural and commercial references that allude to the purpose and role of the building, what would today perhaps be called “site-specific” sculpture.   This was after all a customs house, so everywhere you look are allusions to trade and export and commerce, and more generally, to the sea,  which bore that trade.

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above, detail of mythical sea creatures, flanking Neptune’s trident. 

One of the most celebrated aspects of the designs of the stone decoration are Symth’s wonderful carvings of allegorical river gods, depicting Ireland most important rivers, such as the Shannon, the Barrow, the Lee, the Boyne, Liffey and so on, also vital fro trade and navigation.

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above and below: same details, focusing on two of Symth’s river gods. 

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The river gods are nearly all male.  Only the Liffey, in keeping with Irish traditional depictions is personified as a female character, “Anna Livia” – above. 

The project took over 10 years to deliver.  Superb artists, craftspeople and artisans, working hard, at the top of their game, do not tend to come cheap.   Predictably, none of this was delivered as a bargain.   (Beresford’s adversaries were right on that score at least. )  The final bill for the Customs House was something like at least £200,000, a whopping, breathtaking, astronomical sum for that era.  It’s even possible, as certain reports maintain. that the true final sum may have been even higher, up to £600,000,  when all the finishes, art works and furnishing were included.  Either way, when the figures are by time adjusted to real values, then by square footage, this is one of the most expensive buildings ever made in Europe.

On the, ahem,  positive side, it was generally acclaimed to be one of the finest in Europe.   Now, and not for the last time, Dublin, the capital of a small peripheral nation, was making buildings on the scale and grandeur of London or Rome, on the scale not of a provincial centre, but of an imperial capital.  Whether that is inspirational, or simply delusional, is a matter of personal opinion!     Personally, I’ve always tended towards the later view.

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above, The Customs House as one of the marvels of Dublin, in this 19th Century postcard, reproduced courtesy of “Come Here to Me” blog. 

Tragically, the interior of the building, like the GPO and Gandon’s own Four Courts were later destroyed by the political violence that erupted in Ireland between 1916 and 1922, as the Easter rising, the War of Independence, then finally the Irish Civil War, convulsed the country in rapid and lethal succession.

The GPO was destroyed in Eater 1916, by shells fired from a British gunboat; while Gandon’s two great riverfront buildings, the Customs House and the Four Courts, were destroyed in the Civil War.  These last two tragedies also led to an appalling loss of thousands of important historic documents, especially in the later case, as the Irish public records office was housed in the Four Courts.  In that instance a thousand years’ worth of irreplaceable historical sources were lost forever in a blazing explosion, with many suspecting the destruction was deliberately orchestrated out of spite, by the occupying, anti-Treaty forces.

At the Customs House, the fighting and terrible fire resulted in the entire interior being destroyed.  As the building blazed away, on the 25th of May, 1921, the huge dome came crashing down, being shattered beyond repair.

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The more moderate, pro-treaty side won the Irish war.  But they inherited a badly divided country, now smaller as it was officially partitioned, (via the creation of Northern Ireland) and a devastated infrastructure.  The Customs House building, once the pride of the city, now lay in a smoldering pile of smoking rubble.

For a poor, newly born, independent state like Ireland, with extremely limited finances, the new Free-State government might have been forgiven for prioritizing other issues.    To their immense, ever-lasting credit however, the decision was made to restore, if necessary to entirely rebuild, all of Dublin’s devastated great public buildings.

In the case of the Customs House that happy announcement was tempered by the grim knowledge that the previously stunning interior, with its beautiful fittings,  was entirely, definitely destroyed.

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above:  as this picture makes painfully clear, the Customs House was almost entirely obliterated by the horrific fire of May 1921.  The dome and cupola, most of the facade and all the the interior were completely destroyed.  Only fragments of the facade remain standing, like a stage set, giving the illusion the building was in any way intact.  

Rebuilding the entire vast edifice, with all it hundreds of offices, at the same quality and using the materials of the Georgian era, would simply have been prohibitive.  So a compromise was reached, whereby the exterior, including the stone façade and dome, and the public areas in the immediate interior of the building, would be restored as close as possible to Gandon’s creation.

The office areas further back however, out of the public eye, would simply be made usable again for use by the civil service, but not in any manner of Georgian splendor.  And so it is today.   The Customs House is once again beautiful on the outside, and in the immediate public areas where we enter.  The upstairs, with its restored octagon skylight below the great dome, has been rebuilt for example.

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So too have some of the firs floor reception rooms.  On the day we visited, somebody, perhaps the Open House organizers, perhaps the excellent OPW, had gone to a lot of time and trouble to showcase a very good set of displays on the building and the key protagonists involved.  Here you see James Gandon’s original drawing desk.

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So today, while the Customs House boasts a superb facade, that is all it is.    Further back, just hidden out of sight, the building is nowhere near as grand, but rather dreary, utilitarian sort of place.  Its appearance in this sense is something of a sham;  a mere pretense at former glory and grandeur.     It is today,  as our rather rude Irish expression goes:  - “all fur coat, and no knickers”

Well, maybe the public lobby areas are some form of knickers.  (I can’t believe I am choosing to extend this ridiculous metaphor)  And as for Gandon’s stunning façade, it may be a coat.

But reborn and rebuilt, what a coat it still remains.

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Dun Laoghaire Detail, revisited.

During the recent posts on Dun Laoghaire, I promised to briefly return to this charming piece of civic detail.

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It is known as the Victoria Fountain.  It was erected to commemorate the visit of that queen to Dublin, passing through Dun Laoghaire in 1900, in what would turn out to be the last full year of her reign….     approximately 890 more words.  To continue reading, and to learn about frozen footsteps; contentious monarchs; the greatest ironworks in the 19th century world; and even what Indians do with old statues,   please press here.    to visit my new site Dublin Decoded. 

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East is East | Dun Laoghaire’s Piers, part deux.

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A week or so back you may recall, we walked Dun Laoghaire’s west pier,  home to this lovely Green painted light house. (below)

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From here we could look across the harbour, to the East Pier, and its Red painted lighthouse, a hundred metres or so away.

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This looks tempting, no?  So today, in the interests of balance as well as temptation, we shall complete the set (brace?) and visit this wildly popular East Pier..

First of course we shall have to retrace our steps, leave the green beacon and head back inland back along the west pier.

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No, that is not me in the picture. Would that I were so health-conscious.  Anyway, the distance back is just under a mile I believe, or i seem to distantly recall being told years ago…  (You can tell the rigorous level of research here, evident in every sentence)

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Which of these two, very similar pictures do you prefer, by the way?  With or without people?  I generally prefer my landscapes and architecture unsullied by distracting, untidy mortals.  Still I feel a bit guilty now, about pushing them both in the sea.  On reflection, perhaps that was unnecessary.

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Anyway, we are now back in the seaward end of Dun Laoghaire town centre.  Although Dun L as a whole is a fine and handsome town, made up of fine Victorian era terraces of large stuccoed houses, a few elegant squares and little side streets of smaller redbrick terraces,  the commercial heart of the town is a more mixed bag.  In this picture below you see the bell tower of the town hall, and can distantly make out, on the left side,  the hideous 1970s Shopping centre  (the Mall for our North maerican readers)   Pretty ghastly, eh?

The church opposite the shopping, St Michael’s,  burned down and had to be rebuilt, although the Victorian spire survived and you can (just) see that spire, although not the modern church, the spire distantly beyond the town hall.

There are several churches in Dun Laoghaire, of various demoninations, and two have really big spires, that dominate the view over the town: this one and the spire of the Mariners church, now Dun Laoire’s wonderful Maritime museum, of which more in future posts.  Let us make haste now to the East pier,  passing through this Victoria monument, named obviously for the sovereign of that name when she visited here.

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I was going here to go on one of my discursive, occasionally rambling, digressions, and do a sort of Decoding of this monument, and its somewhat kitschy, yet charming iconography.   But no.  I shall exercise some restraint for once.  We can return to this place another day if you wish.  (Do you know the IRA blew this monument up?)   But anyway, Today you have been promised the East Pier.  And you shall have it.

Now we approach at last.  On the home straight, as it were..   Past this blistered wall of peeling paint.  We can see the men out the back of the Royal St George Yacht Club lowering the bats into the water for the summer sailing season.  (Yes, Royal, and St George, I know… )

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In the bright sunlight, and clear, sharp shadows, we also observe the play of light and shade of these railings projected on this wall.  Image

I especially like the way the line appears to continue at the exact same angle.   Sheer good luck.

Now at last we are on the East Pier itself.

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The piers were made of granite, quarried from the high hill that looks over the nearby charming town of Dalkey. The hill is more like a steep sided cliff these days, such were the requirements of the two vast piers, each a mile-long, give or take a few feet.    A railway was built to transport the stone and although the rails have gone today, the route survives, It rus parallel to the modern-day, broader-gauge railway, and runs as a walking path, we locals call the path “the Metals”.    The granite of course,  is what made the piers so durable, and keeps them so beautiful.

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More details present themselves,  everything clear and sharp in bright sunlight,  this red vespa against the granite wall, this old huge, blue buoy.

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My sister was not present this day, but is, in general, a keen devotee of early modern architecture, not just the grand stuff, Mie van der Roche masterpieces, but including the small, domestic, retail and civic detail stuff also.  She has for example, a sneaking regard for these public toilets on the pier.  (below)

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I think she especially likes the dark green/blue area you see running along the top left, just below the flat roof  These are cast pottery, glazed ceramic tubes that run lengthways into the small building, to provide light and ventilation.   Anyway, she likes them.  And I like to share.

What other little trophies can i serenade you with?   How about this sad but beautiful memorial,  to a Captain Boyd and his men?   Being the astute, discerning readers you are, you’ll already have guessed they died all at once, and heroically.  You would be right.

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I shall tell this tale another day, because I think it is worth telling properly.  As it happens, it also connects together three of my favorite places: this East pier, the Maritime museum; and St Patrick’s cathedral in the old medieval heart of Dublin city centre.  Who could ask for more than that?  Besides, and finally, my mother thought someone should tell the world again about Captain Boyd, and has now more or les instructed me to relate the story.   Watch this space.

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Let us continue our promenade, noting the boats in the harbour, bobbing up and down, in a somewhat suggestive and forthright manner.  Let us ignore them, give them an icy shoulder, and note the fine lighthouse now clearly visible beyond.  This of course is our destination, where else?  On our way we pass this little weather station, set in a miniature tiny little Greek temple effect.

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Fortunately the Victorians built things to last, otherwise Dun Laoghoire-Rathdown council quite possibly would have replaced this with something hideous, probably made of plastic.  Fortunately too, the IRA republican movement have no serious ideological issue with the notion of “weather”  so they, too, have declined to blow it up.  In such ways and by such mercies in Ireland, is our heritage preserved.

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Below the weather station as you see is a plaque to Samuel Beckett, who grew up not far, a mile or 2 up the road in Foxrock.  In order to escape the suffocating conventions of Dublin’s bourgeois life, he was fond of peddling around on his bicycle, either up the Dublin mountains, to meet the vagrants (the homeless philosophers, who populate his later work) or down to Dun Laoghaire’s piers, for the sea air.    We used to chase our writers and best minds out of Ireland, and bam their works.   Now you can’t throw a stick without hitting a plaque, or (increasingly) a bridge named after one of them.   I don’t mind the bridges and plaques in fact, belated celebration is better than none at all.  But i draw the line at using quotations from Ulysses as decoration on the Aer Lingus seat covers.   (No, I am not joking, alas)

Suddenly we are through the archway and inside the wall, thick walled complex of little service buildings that surrounds the lighthouse.   The flag snaps wildly in the wind.  The huge 8-foot thick walls, walls, built to resist fierce waves and storm, invasion Revolutionary France,  and very other possible contingency, dwarf the small lighthouse keepers cottages and other service buildings.

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I’ll tell you one thing that has improved.    In the last few years just, in summer months,  you can now buy an ice cream here.   From a small van, the council has licensed.   Yes, ice cream.  On a hot day.  on a lovely pier, with the sound  and tunes of the local accordion player drifting on the sea breeze.     Now that is what I call progress.

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Dublin Decoded on the radio… how will we sound? (Gulp)

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Yesterday I made my first appearance on radio, live from the gloomy majesty of old Saint Patrick’s Cathedral here in Dublin.  It was both a great privilege and, quite frankly, absolutely terrifying.

Hang on, does one even “appear” on radio?

Oh well, anyway.    I was in Saint Patrick’s as the guest contributor to the lovely DublinCity FM radio show called Dublin Explorer.   This is a history & walking show, hosted by the excellent, smart and ultra-genial Denis Goodbody.  The Dublin Explorer show goes out here each Friday evening, on Dublin City fm.

Naturally I was delighted to be able to contribute to such a great show, and to get the chance to discuss history, and in such a magnificent setting.  (Regular readers will know my fuzzy feelings for Saint Patrick’s Cathedral)

Of course, it was also a great chance to let people know about Dublin Decoded, and its new tours, both of Saint Patrick’s itself, a place we are fairly passionate about, especially the chances it provides to read history, directly through the amazing collections of artifacts there, from the early Christian era, to medieval to the bloody and bitter Williamite Wars.

I can’t remember for certain, but i think I even managed a sneaky mention of our other main headline tour:   the well-established, often even celebrated “How to Read a Painting Tour”    – which focuses in depth at the amazing art works in the National Gallery of Ireland 2 or 3 times each month.  Please have a look at the schedule on the site,  if you or anyone you know might be interested in the older, often forgotten art of how to read old pictures.

The Dublin Explorer show, with contributions from yours truly, show will early air early tomorrow evening,  I think is also available as a Pod-cast.  Come to think of it, I suppose the two day lag,  means i was not “coming live” from the cathedral.  Anyway, you know what i mean.  And it was still terrifying, mind you.   So there.

To be quite honest,  I felt I could barely get a word out straight.  The day seemed strewn with my rookie errors, as i burbled clumsily from one topic to the next, from a statue of a Marquis to a dusty old 17th century war memorial, in what seemed – to me at least- to be an incomprehensible babble.   I was, as we say here in Ireland, “scarlet”, and “morto”  (both with embarrassment, you understand)

It’s interesting, being out of your “comfort zone”.  I know a reasonable amount about, say, religious iconography in Italian renaissance art; or medievel or 17th century Irish history.   I’m pretty good at leading tours and discussions, explaining, illuminating siuch things, encouraging people to discuss and even helping them to see things or from new perspectives they otherwise might not.   Being on radio on the other hand, and not in control of “the mike” is quite a different matter.    I’m a rank amateur.

But it is early days.    I hope to get better.  I had better in fact.  Because there are more shows planned.  My first contribution will air tomorrow evening as you know, and the next one – from the National Gallery- will air on Friday the 21st of June.    if you listen to any of the shows, please drop a line,  and let us know what you thought.   Just remember to be kind.    Dublin DEcoded also does a whole range of funny, quirky tours for people able to book in advance, on everything from graffiti to classic early-modern architecture.    So please let your friends know.   And anyone who feels fit or able to share, or “like” or best of all post the link Dublin Decoded,   to any Facebook, Tumbrl, Twitter or  any other type of page will earnt our undying graititude.    There, I’ve said it.  Quite shameless, but needs must.  Thank you in advance.

I hope to post the part II of our trip on Duun Laoghaire’s great granite piers very soon.  Until that happy time, enjoy this amazing Dublin sun.  The warm glow outside my window makes a walk along the old grand canal inevitable.   And i must wheel my bike, along that canal towpath,  to the mechanics’ in Rathmines.    See you all soon again I hope.   My very best regards

-Arran,

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East is East, and West is West, Dun Laoghaire’s magic piers. Part 1.

Another in the current orgy, of seaside-related posts.  I can not help it.  It is summer after all.  And it was A Spectacular day today, blazing with sunshine.  Very un-Irish, although we appreciate it more than anyone else in the world, and the town and country alike always look their beautiful best.

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Yes, sunshine.  Was bathing in the stuff, literally, in my little city-centre garden.   Nursing the effects on too much Saturday night hospitality, at Stinging Fly’s nice birthday bash the previous night in the Clarence Hotel, during Dublin’s Writers Festival.  (Music by Larry Beau and other contemporary greats)    I was happy enough in my garden, until the call of family came, and a Sunday walk with my mother beckoned,  down Dun Laoghaire’s piers.

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I put away the sun lounger and the FT, and hopped in the trusty steed.

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We met here, at this rather excellent garden centre, cramped with beautiful well tended plants and flowers and herbs, and all maner of delicious garden accessories.    Oh all right, My innate sense of personal probity dictates I’dhad better declare an interest here.  Admittedly it is owned by two of my very closest and dearest friends.   But dammit, I make no apologies for saying it’s still surely the best garden centre in the city.

From there we went down the West pier, popular with walkers, but often not as crowded as the East pier.

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Look at the masonry, built to last a thousand years.   And those wonderful rings of concentric circles that surround the sturdy little light house.    It is supposed to be practical, nautical and hardy.  Did they have to make it so beautiful I wonder, or is that just an irresistible human urge?

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The door of the lighthouse has always been green, for Starboard of course,  as opposed to Red = Port.  You can see the red (port) light house on the East pier, in the distance here below.  We shall be walking this pier too soon, in our next post.

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I love every bit of cut stone in this place. Dun Laoghaire is the town I grew up in.  These great, giant granite piers formed the view from my teenaged bedroom.  We had a large, rather ramshackle but lovely old house, set on the gentle hill that rises up from the sea, high above the town centre.  We were exceptionally lucky, in that there was a large football pitch across the road from the house, so it enjoyed uninterrupted views,  down across the town and far out to sea, not just over Dun Laoghaire harbour, but on clear days, out as far as Sandycove on one side,  to the East and South;  and Howth Head the other direction, to the NW.    Well, I say lucky, I’m sure that was the reason my mother bought the place. But we were lucky nonetheless of course.

I don’t think I ever had curtains or blinds,  so the light from at least 5 or 6 different light houses and light markers used to sweep and rake across the walls of the room at night, light from the two at the end of our local piers, to the far more distant Bailey on Howth Head, the Burford bank more directly out East, and the even more remote but powerful Kish light. It has been many years since my mother sold the place, and I hadn’t thought about those nightly beams of light, until very recently.  Life is full and rushing forward, and one always tries look forward anyway, not back.   But I am sure such things leave their own form of imprint.

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map of main Dublin Bat light houses, courtesy of the Sailing in Your Footsteps website.

My cousin Donald Henderson, who just died some weeks ago, worked for the Irish Lights Commission all his life, manning the ships that serviced the light houses.  He was decorated once, for aiding a man who was cut down on deck during a vicious storm, risking his life to save he man.   Rest in Peace Donald.   His father, my great Uncle David Henderson, was a captain in the Irish merchant marine.  He was torpedoed twice in one night once, escorting convoys across the Atlantic during the Second World War.  When i was a nipper my parents used to sail, Fireballs mostly,  out of the SC in Greystones, then later the National, in Dun Laoghaire, as i later did myself in dinghies like Mirrors and Optimists.  After a long absence, I’m doing a bit more sailing again these days.  (Mike, if you are reading this, can we get White Morning down the Med, please?)   Either way, it’s safe to say i like the sea.

Anyway, excuse the rambling digressions.   (That’s probably too much sun for you, and this nice glass of Powers here )   On to the East Pier, more popular, but no less lovely for it.

Even the walk from West to East pier is a pleasure, below we see the Town Hall; and lower, the rather awkward but well-meaning plaza (ghastly word) outside the new ferry terminal.

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This terminal by the way, is currently hosting an exhibition called Endurance, about the famous ship of that name, captained by the great Edwardian-era Ernest Shackleton, which set out just before WWI, an event the crew, stranded at the extreme end of the world, were blissfully unaware of !    Most Irish people know a good bit about this trip.   Tom Creen, the west Kerry man is a re-discovered hero, and  Shakleton was a Kildare man.  Sure, wasn’t his brother suspected –  (rightly or wrongly, I can never remember)  of stealing the Crown Jewels out of Dublin Castle?

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Anyway, the expedition E.S.  led to Antartica, the so-called Trans-Polar expedition, which was meant to transverse the South Pole by foot, sled and dog, but they got trapped, with the ship crushed in the ice and never got anywhere near the Pole.   Yet they turned so-called failure into epic triumph, Shakleton getting all his men back alive after God knows how many years and months and hardships.   I know the story well enough, but mean to go to this exhibition soon before it closes.  For one thing, if the photographs are what I think they are,  they will be amazing, The most famous images of this legendary  1914-1916 voyage  were taken by the expedition photographer,  the brilliant New Zealander,  Frank Hurley.

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Frank Hurley Endurance photos, courtesy Wikipedia.

Anyway, I digress again.  In fact to hell with it, I am going to digress once more, to pay a little visit to this sea-side memorial, commemorating the visit of some vapid royal, in pre-Independence times.  But it is nice.   Look at this…

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Gets even better up close.   Look, for example, at this prancing horse, erm.. motif..

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It even has owls.   Yes, owls.   I could tell you a story about those owls, but I won’t.   But is this memorial a thing of beauty, or unforgivable kitch?    Perhaps we should leave a full and frank discussion of all that, and indeed part II of our tour of the piers, for another day.

In next post’s exciting installment, we shall walk the East pier, home of bandstands, weather stations, Beckett memoria, and much, much more.  (I should have been an advertising copywriter, no?)

In the meanwhile, I leave you with this, almost Byzantine image.   Good night.

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Coastal Walks: Dublin on its bay.

When my students ask for recommendations, for weekend activities, I often remind them that  Dublin is on a bay, and encourage them to take advantage of that fact, every weekend or evening when the weather is good enough.

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The South Bull Wall,  above.  

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North (Bull) Wall;  above. With Bull Island alongside. 

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West Pier,  Dun Laoghaire.  above.

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Howth:  (above)

I hope to post on Colliemore Harbour again soon.   But in the meanwhile,  two bits of suggested further reading for you.  First, for what I think is the best route for walking around Howth Head,  you could see my post “From Sea to Shining Sea”, link:   Sea to Shining Sea 

For a South side walk, from Dun Laoghaire thru Sandycove, on to Dalkey (or even Killiney for the hardy, see my other post.  ”Granite to Pebbles”   Arran’s Best 3-Harbour Walk.
Where ever you go,  I hope you enjoy your walks around Dublin Bay,  look out for seals, pods of dolphins, a rare Sunfish or Basking Shark,
Oh,  and watch out for other sea monsters…
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Exciting times… and a new start.

It has been the maddest few weeks of work for a very long time…

For many years now I have run cultural programs for schools and colleges, or led one-off tours for schools and language schools, of history or art history, around the city of Dublin.  Sometimes I take them to the National Museum, or the Natural History Museum  (see my post on this magical place from a few months back)  or to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral here in Dublin, to teach them about Irish History, (more posts on this if you look)

Or – best of all – to the National Gallery to teach students about how to Read a Painting, about the sign language of old art and the symbols of saints and so on;  about how to begin to de-construct a painting, about the older conventions of depiction, and traditional ways that artists and painters built and constructed meaning within their work, through light, gesture, compositional tricks, through allegory, saintly attributes, symbols and iconography.

Now I’m striking out on my own, with my own little start-up business, lunching, no wait, launching a little start up tour business, Dublin Decoded   http://dublindecoded.com/

We will aim to give the art, artefacts of Dublin real depth in terms of understanding the history and meaning, making history and art history more in depth, accessible and alive.

The last few weeks have all been about mastering the new website, designing flyers, working with designers, and learning a million other things.  The site only really went live today.   And now I can not wait.   Please join us if you get the chance, and/or if you know people who might be interested or people who are coming to Dublin, please spread the word.     Thank you.

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