Sandymount Strand
| Designations | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Sandymount Strand/Tolka Estuary |
| Designated | 7 June 1996 |
| Reference no. | 832[1] |
Sandymount Strand (
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. 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.[2]
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
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 in November 2002, symbolizing the friendship between the Irish and Mexican people. This work, named Awaiting the Mariner, was created by Mexican sculptor Sebastián 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.[5]
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 James Joyce 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 with the sun rising over Killiney Hill around 21 December each year. The face of this stone is also a sundial.[6][7]
In fiction
"Am I walking into eternity along Sandymount strand?"
James Joyce based two episodes of his 1922 novel Ulysses along Sandymount Strand. In the third episode, "Proteus", Stephen Dedalus wanders the strand, while later the same day, in the "Nausicaa" episode, Leopold Bloom sits on a rock and masturbates as he watches a young woman sunbathing.
References
- ^ "Sandymount Strand/Tolka Estuary". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ McAteer, Desmond (1935). "Suggested Airport for Dublin". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 24 93: 73–84 – via www.jstor.org/stable/30097160.
- ISBN 978-1-8488-4535-0.
- ^ "The Martello Tower in Sandymount". Dublin City Council. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ^ "Sculpture on Sandymount strand creates shock waves". 6 November 2002. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
- ^ "Sandymount Walking Trail Map & Guide", Dublin City Council, 2015, retrieved 17 March 2017,
The Gallan Gréine marker stone was carved by Cliodna Cussen and dedicated to James Joyce in 1983 [..] The face of this stone is also a sundial
- ^ Leeza Kane (30 December 2013), "D4 Local Sculpture Explained", Four News, retrieved 17 March 2017
External links
