Bring your camera to Howth!
Howth Head offers amazing panoramic views of Dublin Bay and the islands of Ireland’s Eye and Lambay.
It has a number of peaks including the Ben of Howth, the adjacent Black Linn (the highest point at 171 metres), Dun Hill and Shielmartin with the nearby Bog of the Frogs.
Howth Head has 230 hectares in a designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and 21 kilometres of right-of-way paths for the public to enjoy the great outdoors. The Hill of Howth was once the base of legendary Fionn MacCumhaill and his men, Na Fianna.
Howth Castle and its estate, Deer Park, cover 180 hectares near the village. The ancestral home of the line of the Earl of Howth, it’s now held by their heirs, the Gaisford St. Lawrence family. On its present site for over seven centuries, the original was on Tower Hill.
The estate has parkland, forest and the largest rhodedendron gardens in Europe. The castle is not open to the public but the kitchen hosts the Kitchen in the Castle Cookery School.
The grounds hold the Deer Park Golf Complex, the National Transport Museum of Ireland and a collapsed dolmen known as Aideen’s Grave.
Howth Abbey, or St. Mary’s Abbey, on Abbey Street was built in 1042 by Sigtrygg, King of Dublin. It was replaced by an abbey about 1235 before the present church was built in the late 14th century.
It was modified in the 15th and 16th centuries and the St. Lawrences of Howth Castle also modified the east end to act as a private chapel with a burial tomb.
Baily Lighthouse, built around 1814, is on the south-east corner of Howth Head known as Bail(e)y.
The first lighthouse was built here around 1667 by Sir Robert Reading. Baily was the last Irish lighthouse to go automatic in late 1996 with the last of the keepers leaving in March 1997.
In 2000, a small museum was established by the Commissioners of Irish Lights, including small artefacts gathered from retired staff. This museum does not have a set opening schedule. Contact 01-2715400 or irishlights.ie for more details.
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