Howth Harbour Walk: Explore the UNESCO Biosphere of Dublin Bay

(16 reviews)

Dublin audio tour: Howth Harbour Walk: Explore the UNESCO Biosphere of Dublin Bay

This is a 2.2mi walking tour

It takes an average of 90 mins to complete.

Dublin

Ireland

$8.99

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About the Tour

Discover Howth Harbour. Get a feeling for the working piers and the bustling life of this ancient port. Find your inner mariner. The waves of Irish history have always washed over Howth and the sea is our timeless, sometimes unforgiving companion. You’ll be walking for about 90 minutes, and while the surfaces are generally hard, they are sometimes uneven. By the end, you’ll have a personal sense of Ireland, the island, and how we have lived here for 8,000 years.

On this tour, you can look forward to hearing and learning about:

The everyday bustle of our busy fishery harbour
The 800-year-old Abbey with its battlemented walls
The development of Christianity from the time of St Patrick
How the Tuatha De Danann, the Celts, the Vikings, the Normans and the Anglo Irish are linked to Howth Harbour
The dock where the Howth Guns were landed by Molly Osgood and Erskine Childers
The rock and roll history of Howth and Ireland including Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott, The Cranberries and U2

Tour Producer

Shane O'Doherty

1 tour

An international adventurer and history aficionado telling the ancient story of Ireland through my home port of Howth, sharing the coastal landscapes, and human footsteps of 10,000 years in this unique Unesco Biosphere.

Preview Location

Location 13

Howth Lighthouse

You are coming towards the mouth of the Harbour and Howth Lighthouse now. Keep on up the ramp on your right to the end of the nib where you can survey Howth Sound and the north coast as far as Skerries.

The sheds on the right-hand side housed the original lifeboat station,... You are coming towards the mouth of the Harbour and Howth Lighthouse now. Keep on up the ramp on your right to the end of the nib where you can survey Howth Sound and the north coast as far as Skerries.

The sheds on the right-hand side housed the original lifeboat station, The Howth Boat Club the Howth Seventeen and the Crab men. The 17 sheds were destroyed by storms in 2018. The storming waves, charging over the pier, eventually came through the roof, the old boats started moving about trying to escape, damaging each other like frightened horses in a burning stable.

In 1914, Mr Erskine Childers, author of Riddle of the Sands and a British Imperialist whose conscience forced him to take up the Irish cause came to Howth with a smuggled consignment of German Mauser Rifles that are known as The Howth Guns. His sturdy yacht, The Asgard was built by Colin Archer at his yard in Larvik in Norway. There he also built the Fram that took Amundsen to the South Pole. The Asgard was helmed by Childers wife Molly Osgood, the daughter of an American doctor from Boston. The Lista, another Archer build is also in the harbour still. Childers was later executed by the authorities of the Irish Free State. His son, Erskine Hamilton Childers became the fourth President of Ireland.

Howth Harbour Lighthouse, built in 1817, is at the end of the pier guarding the mouth of the harbour. The strong stepped circular wall defends a gun position. Ireland Eye is the uninhabited island just offshore. From the nib at the end of the pier, you have a commanding view of the north coast of Dublin, running by Baldoyle, Portmarnock, Malahide and Portrane up to Skerries and beyond.

In pre-Christian times the island was called InisFallon and features in the Celtic myths and legends. When the Christians came the Sons of Nessan, a pagan warlord, converted to Christianity and established a monastery on the island. You can see the ruin, just above sea level below the highest peak at the centre of the island. The island became known as Inis Mac Nessan its Irish name to this day. There are many stories and legends around the Sons of Nessan, and their greatest legacy is a Celtic illuminated manuscript called The Garland Of Howth, now protected at the library in Trinity College along with the Book of Kells. This is our own little Island of Saints and Scholars, and you can sense the wild and humble life the monks sought by the position of the monastery and the lack of any real change on the island since their time.

At the eastern, or left end of the island, there is a Martello Tower, one of three in the area, built by the British to discourage invasion by Napoleon.

Right, let's head back. Walk back along the pier. I'll meet you closer to the entrance so you can enjoy the views in peace. Read More

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Major Landmarks

Howth Harbour
Irelands Eye
The Martello Towers
Cill Mac Nessan
St Marys Abbey

Getting There

Route Overview

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Start location
Howth Demesne, Dublin, Ireland
Total distance

4km
Final location
3A Harbour Rd, Howth, Dublin, D13 X2D0, Ireland
Distance back to start location

117.78m

Directions to Starting Point

Start the tour at Howth Dart Station, Harbour Road Howth. It's a 35-minute journey by taxi, train or bus from Dublin city centre.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

I mention several spots along the way, and there is plenty to explore afterwards, when you have a feel for the place.

Best time of day

Sunrise is visible to the east, sunset to the west and the bustling life of the harbour gives us all energy at any time. I like when the yachts are racing in the summer on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings, or Saturday afternoon. Good weather is great, but tough weather is more evocative.

Precautions

Keep an eye on the weather and watch out for high tide and easterly winds. That can be the most exciting time to visit, but also the most uncomfortable. Howth generally has better weather than Dublin, but it is exposed to the sea , and the sea is indifferent to our comfort.

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App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”