Sandymount Strand ( ga, Dumhach Thrá) is a large strand on the east coast of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, adjacent to the village and suburb of

Sandymount Sandymount () is an affluent coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. Etymology An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. It is part of South Bull - a major component of the south side of

Dublin Bay Dublin Bay ( ga, Cuan Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a C-shaped inlet of the Irish Sea on the east coast of Ireland. The bay is about 10 kilometres wide along its north–south base, and 7 km in length to its apex at the centre of the city of ...

, and part of the

Dublin Bay Biosphere Reserve The Dublin Bay Biosphere Reserve (formerly, pre-2015, the North Bull Island reserve) is a biosphere reserve comprising Dublin Bay, North Bull Island and adjacent land, including parts of Dublin, the capital city of Ireland. It contains one of ...

. South Bull is a mirror to the North Bull sandbank, which grew into

North Bull Island Bull Island ( Irish: ''Oileán an Tairbh''), more properly North Bull Island (Irish: ''Oileán an Tairbh Thuaidh''), is an island located in Dublin Bay in Ireland, about 5 km long and 800 m wide, lying roughly parallel to the shore off C ...

. Sandymount Strand is a popular place for locals to take a walk. People, and in the past - there is no longer public vehicular access - cars, have been occasionally trapped by the incoming

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

. A large inlet of water that remains even at low tide is known locally as "Cockle Lake".

History

In the 1930s, the strand was included as a suggested location for the construction of a new Dublin airport.

The baths

The Merrion Promenade Pier and Baths Co built Sandymount swimming baths in 1883. The baths measured approximately 40 by 40 metres, with a 75-metre pier added in 1884. The pier featured a bandstand halfway along it and summer concerts were regularly held there for many years. By 1920, the pier had deteriorated so much that it had to be demolished. The concrete baths section, which resembles a small harbour, remains.

Martello Tower

About halfway along the strand is a

Martello tower Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand u ...

. Built in 1804, it is one of many such circular defensive watchtowers along the coastlines of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (O ...

, as part of a system of defences to provide advance warning of a feared invasion by Napoleon. The Martello Tower at Sandymount is the setting for the opening scene in

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

's 1922 novel '' Ulysses''. The Tower was used by the Dublin United Tramways Company as an office, and was also a popular cafe back in the 1960s. An attempt to turn the tower into a restaurant led to the installation of a large window with roller blinds on the seaward side of the tower. The restaurant never opened, leaving the tower with the modified window. Dublin Awaiting the Mariner

''Awaiting the Mariner'' (An Cailín Bán)

At the end of the strand walkway lies a 20-foot high metal sculpture donated by Mexican President

Vicente Fox Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006. After campaigning as a right-wing populist, Fox was elected president on the ...

in November 2002, symbolizing the friendship between the Irish and Mexican people. This work, named ''Awaiting the Mariner'', was created by Mexican sculptor

Sebastián Saint Sebastian (in Latin: ''Sebastianus''; Narbo, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire c. AD 255 – Rome, Italia, Roman Empire c. AD 288) was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the D ...

and was the first permanent work by a Mexican artist in Dublin. There was a mixed reaction from residents when the sculpture was originally placed.

Gallan Gréine

The Gallan Gréine marker stone is located at the end of the strand beside the Irishtown playing fields. Carved by Cliodna Cussen and dedicated to

in 1983, a sighting stone stands 300 metres to the west and when aligned with the marker stone to the east, indicates the winter

solstice A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many count ...

with the sun rising over

Killiney Hill Killiney Hill ( ga, Cnoc Chill Iníon Léinín) is the southernmost of the two hills which form the southern boundary of Dublin Bay, the other being Dalkey Hill. These two hills form part of Killiney Hill Park. Crowned by a monument, Killiney Hi ...

around 21 December each year. The face of this stone is also a sundial.

In fiction

based two episodes of his 1922 novel '' Ulysses'' along Sandymount Strand. In the third episode, "

Proteus In Greek mythology, Proteus (; Ancient Greek: Πρωτεύς, ''Prōteus'') is an early prophetic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the " Old Man of the Sea" ''(hálios gérôn)''. ...

Stephen Dedalus Stephen Dedalus is James Joyce's literary alter ego, appearing as the protagonist and antihero of his first, semi-autobiographic novel of artistic existence '' A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' (1916) and an important character in Joyce ...

wanders the strand, while later the same day, in the "

Nausicaa Nausicaa (; grc, Ναυσικάα, Nausikáa, or , ) also spelled Nausicaä or Nausikaa, is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey''. She is the daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaeacia. Her name means "burner of ships" ( 'ship'; 'to ...

" episode,

Leopold Bloom Leopold Bloom is the fictional protagonist and hero of James Joyce's 1922 novel '' Ulysses''. His peregrinations and encounters in Dublin on 16 June 1904 mirror, on a more mundane and intimate scale, those of Ulysses/Odysseus in Homer's epic po ...

sits on a rock and masturbates as he watches a young woman sunbathing.

References

External links

{{coord, 53, 19, 25, N, 6, 12, 21, W, type:landmark, display=title Sandymount Places in Dublin (city) Beaches of the Republic of Ireland Bathing Ramsar sites in the Republic of Ireland Tourist attractions in Dublin (city)