North County Dublin
The Waterside House Hotel in Donabate is located right on the shores of North County Dublin’s panoramic coastline. For tourists visiting Dublin, North County Dublin is well worth a visit.
The whole of North County Dublin can be accessed through Dublin’s Train Service known as the ‘Dart’ or by Dublin Bus.
There is so much to see & do in North County Dublin...
Walking & Cycling: Some suggested short and medium walks include Ardgillan Castle & Demesne, Red Island in Skerries, The Cliff Walk in Lough shinny, Newbridge Demesne in Donabate, Malahide Demesne, Howth Head, and both the Liffey and Tolka Valleys.
Watersports: The Dublin Bay Coastal Strip of Fingal has grown in popularity for the water sport enthusiast as it offers sailing, diving, and windsurfing.
Sea Kayaking: Shearwater Sea Kayaking was set up by Sean Pierce and Eileen Murphy to cater for the growing interest in sea kayaking on Dublin’s north side. Based in Howth, we deliver Summer sea kayaking courses to teenagers and introductory and improver courses to adults.
Shearwater Sea Kayaking - Contact Details
Sean Pierce
13 Shenick Grove, Skerries, Co. Dublin
086-8368736
Eileen Murphy
Manor Kilbride, Blessington, Co. Wicklow
087-9885658
Equestrian: Balcunnin Equestrian Centre, Skerries, Contact (01) 8490964
Dymphna’s Equestrian Centre, Surgalstown, Swords Contact (01) 8900710
Kilronan Riding Club, Cloughran, Swords Contact (01) 8400028
Canoeing: The River Liffey, home to the Irish Canoe Union's National Training Centre
(www.irishcanoeunion.ie ), offers an excellent environment for sport racing, long distance racing and wild water events
Sailing tuition is available at Fingal Sailing School in Malahide and also from Skerries, Rush and Sutton Sailing Clubs. Fingal Traditional Sailing, in Rush, provides various programmes of sailing tuition in the Galway Hooker, a traditional Irish sailing boat.
Marinas: Excellent marina facilities at Howth and Malahide provide safe moorings and a range of on-shore facilities from shops, pubs, restaurants, and entertainment
Sail boarding is particularly popular along the Malahide Estuary and tuition is available at the Fingal Sailing School.
The National Diving School of Ireland is located in Malahide allowing the visitor to savour the fascinating underwater world that lies off the coast of Fingal.
North County Dublin for the Day
The Skerries Mills complex comprises a watermill, two windmills and associated mill races, mill pond and wetlands. The history of the mills can be traced to the early 16th century while a bakery was established on the site in 1840. The Mills demonstrate an efficient and clean use of water and windpower and are a rare survival of the 17th, 18th and 19th century industrial history. All three mills are restored to working order by FÁS & Fingal County Council and are open to visitors throughout the year.
The Dublin Butterfly House features hundreds of butterflies in a natural habitat and allows the visitor to experience their fascinating life cycle at first hand. The Butterfly house affords the visitor the pleasure of watching hundreds of the world's most spectacular and colourful butterflies flying all around. Open April - Sept.
The National Transport Museum in Howth Demesne houses Ireland's only comprehensive assembly of public and commercial road transport. A century seperates the oldest of the exhibits from the newest, recording the golden age of commercial vehicles.
Historical North County Dublin
Boasting some of the finest houses and gardens in Ireland, Fingal combines history and beauty to delight the eye and stimulate the imagination.
Newbridge house & Demesne, Donabate was built in 1736 for Archbishop Cobbe. Original furniture, paintings and objets d'art are a feature of this gracious Georgian house. The extensive 150h demesne includes a walled garden, a wildlife and Deer Park, playing and walking areas and a 19th Century working farm, where animals, machinery and old farming techniques are on view. A museum of 19th Century rural life is contained in picturesque old buildings around the 18th century courtyard.
North County Dublin has twelve Martello Towers which were built as coastal defences during Napoleonic times.
Ardgillan Castle & Demesne, near Balbriggan, was built in 1737. Now beautiful restored and furnished in Victorian style, the principal rooms, kitchens and the Down Survey Exhibition (a series of survey maps from 1654) are open to the public. The park commands views of the coast and contains a rose garden, a walled herb garden and Victorian conservatory.
Malahide Castle & Demesne was built in the 12th Century by the Talbot family, who remained in residence until 1975. There are many period rooms on view and the castle contains the National Portrait Collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. The courtyard accommodates craft workshops and Tara's Palace, a spectacular display of dolls, antique toys and doll's houses. The 109ha park encompasses pleasant walks, play and picnic areas, a cricket pitch, tennis courts, 9-hole golf course and a pitch and putt course. Also within Malahide Demesne lie the Talbot Botanic Gardens, home to over 5,000 different species of plants.
The demesnes' parks and gardens are maintained by the Parks Department of Fingal County Council.
Swords Castle is a complex collection of mediaeval buildings built between the 12th and 14th centuries as a fortified palace for the Archbishops of Dublin.
The 6th century Lusk Round Tower, its attached tower house is of 16th Century origin and contains the Lusk Heritage Centre and an exhibition of Fingal's medieval churches.
Howth Castle, built in 1464, is not open to the public, but its rhododendron gardens are a 'must see'. The magnificent views present aspects over Dublin Bay to the South and the Mourne Mountains to the North.
Swords Round Tower, located in the grounds of the Church of Ireland in Swords, is all that remains of an early Christian foundation.
