It’s Dublin’s seaside resort which has spent a lifetime reinventing itself and here again we see Dún Laoghaire Harbour Trailblazing.
Dún Laoghaire has seen a lot of changes in its 350 years from a clan fort to the gentrified coastal suburb it is today.
Not least in its name from Dun Lerroy to Dunlary to Dunleary to Kingstown to today’s nomenclature Dún Laoghaire.
Pronounced the same but ‘as Gaeilge’, or in Irish, since 1921 the early days of the embryonic Irish Free State.
Which we all know has evolved into the Republic of Ireland.
The new interactive Dún Laoghaire Harbour Trail with Failte Ireland helps you to explore the changing history of the town and nation
A town very close to my heart from my 13 years in Ireland.
And celebrated even longer back in our family for hosting my Dear Old Parents’ wedding back in 1956.
Follow the trail
The trail consists of ten key points of interest along the coast and down the east pier.
It also captures some of the best views of Dublin Bay and complements the newly launched Dublin Coastal Trail, more of which later.
The DL trail is of course more, much more, than ten touch-points, it will be 350 years of history.
So if you want to situate Ireland in the Napoleonic, Crimean wars and British royal history then this is your route.
Start your journey at the entry point to Victorian Dún Laoghaire, the Pavilion… and no, not the mall it gives its name to.
Visitors have been stepping off the train to enjoy the sea air here since 1837, its then-terminus.
Before it later moved out to my old stomping ground of Greystones in Co. Wicklow.
Walk this way
You a fan of Victoriana then the second stop-off on your trail takes you to a cool fountain.
And its owls, cranes, griffins, shields, lions, and crowns, all topped by the winged horse, Pegasus!
Right we always encourage you to share some of the load so won’t be going through all ten stops… so check out the DL site.
But as keen historians naturally pause awhile at the King George IV Monument.
And a royal visit to the town in 1821 which resulted in the changing of the name, for a time, to Kingstown.
DL (sorry, we’re being lazy here) clearly played its part in British muscular foreign policy much like today.
And you can see a Russian cannon in DL which saw action in the Crimean War of the 1850s.
Look out too for the Romanov family crest of a double eagle and crown.
We naturally want to celebrate DL people more so and you can at Pioneer Point with nods to its innovators, trailblazers and rebels.
And Bob Geldof and his Boomtown Rats and Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners are leading such figures.
The piers naturally stand out from the town.
And it is 2,600m to the end of the East Pier and back.
And don’t forget to tip the Battery wall at the end of the pier with your foot – a local tradition.
Dublin on the horizon
Of course as much as we will be looking back into DL we will obviously want to gaze around the coast.
And that is where the1960s bronze and mosaic Dublin Bay View Finder will help you.
As it points out landmarks all around Dublin Bay from Howth to Dalkey.
All of which will whet your appetite to explore the whole coastline as I did when I first lived there.
Stopping off at train (DART) stations to check out each individual locales and locals.
All of which has been neatly tied up through the Dublin Coastal Trail.
Our friends in DL though are obviously possessive of their own historical jewel.
And want you to embrace their Dún Laoghaire Harbour Trailblazing.
1 thought on “Dún Laoghaire Harbour Trailblazing”