THROUGH

IRELAND:

COMPRISING

TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL DELINEATIONS
OF EACH PROVINCE;

TOGETHER WITH

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE RESIDENCES OF THE
NOBILITY AND GENTRY,

Remains of Antiquity,

AND EVERY OTHER OBJECT OF INTEREST OR CURIOSITY.

FORMING A COMPLETE GUIDE

FOR THE

TRAVELLER AND TOURIST.

ILLUSTRATED WITH

Four Hundred Engravings.

7500

BY THOMAS CROMWELL.

PROVINCE OF LEINSTER.-VOL. II.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN;
J. GREIG, BACK ROAD, ISLINGTON;

AND P. YOUNGMAN, WITHAM AND MALDON, ESSEX.

1820.

Witham & Maldon:

PRINTED BY P. YOUNGMAN.

Bequest of Mrs. James
Huntley Campbell

1-28-32

EXCURSION VII.

Through the Environs of Dublin, lying within the County of Dublin, and within a circuit of eight miles from the City.

THE tourist who, in the preceding Excursion, accompanied us to Howth, will doubtless prepare himself for numerous objects of equal interest, dispersed through the remaining environs of Dublin; and in this respect we fear not that he will experience disappointment. But, owing to the contrariety in the geographical positions of the places mentioned in this Excursion, we have found it impossible to sketch such a route as the traveller would be easily enabled to follow from our description of them; and have therefore thought it best to arrange them in alphabetical order, at the same time giving their several distances and bearings from the capital. Upon which plan, we shall first notice

BALDOYLE, six miles and a half N. E., upon the Irish Sea. This is a pleasant little bathing-village, commanding from its open beach a fine prospect of Howth and the adjacent islands. The air is keen, but pure and salubrious.

BALLYFERMOT, three miles and a half W. by S., is interesting only for its ruins of an ancient Castle.

BLACK ROCK, four miles S. E. This is a large and handsome village, agreeably situated upon Dublin Bay, and which, with WILLIAMSTOWN and BOOTERSTOWN, villages uniting with it, may be said to form a town of considerable size. From the last-mentioned place, which lies in the approach from Dublin, the marine and coast view is eminently beautiful; embracing the general fea

tures of the bay, with the pier and harbour, Howth, and the islands beyond its sandy isthmus, a rich country finely studded with villas, and the promontory of the Black Rock, with the plantations contiguous, which slope down to the water's edge. To see these places to the greatest advantage, the tourist should visit them either at bathingtimes, or on a Sunday; when the bustle and hilarity of the crowds who proceed hither in their endless succession of cars* and other vehicles, exhibit a scene not to be paralled in any of the outlets to the British metropolis. On Sundays more particularly, perhaps, this road is actually clogged with the numbers who are going to or returning from Black Rock or Dunleary (the latter place about a mile and a quarter farther along the coast) and whose supreme pleasure appears to be that of fellowship on the ride, or in partaking of the Snack at one or other of the Snack-houses which abound in these villages, and seem to present their signs, decorated with this alluring and peculiar word, in perpetuity.-A snack, it should be mentioned by the way, is another name for what is generally a tolerably substantial substitute for a dinner, without being so expensive as a meal under the latter appellation might prove.—In addition to the cars, and a comparatively small number of jingles, Dunleary and Black Rock Royal Mails' and Flys' are continually passing and repassing along the road, besides a few gigs and carriages of other descriptions.-The Rev. Sir Harcourt Lees, Bart. has a handsome seat at an inconsiderable distance from Sea-point, and but little farther from Black Rock.

* The Jaunting Car of Dublin is very frequently an agreeable and not unhandsome conveyance. This machine holds from four to six persons, (besides the driver) who sit back to back, the wheels, concealed from their view, revolving under them. Though ever so heavily laden, one sorry horse only is afforded for the draught; and the rate at which the animal proceeds, is, under these circumstances, really astonishing. The use of this vehicle has of late years nearly supplanted that of the Jingle, before described, in Dublin.