Saint Patrick’s Church in Dalkey, built at a quarry above Bulloch Harbour

Saint Patrick’s Church, Dalkey, stands on a granite outcrop above Bulloch Harbour (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

Saint Patrick’s Church is the Church of Ireland parish church in the heritage town of Dalkey, in South County Dublin and dominates the granite outcrop above Bulloch Harbour.

The opening of the Dublin and Kingstown railway in 1834 gave greater access from Dublin to the burgeoning suburbs of south Dublin. In 1836, the need was identified for new churches to serve the growing populations of Dalkey, Bulloch and Sandycove.

The population of the area grew so much over the next 33 years that no fewer than eight churches were built where there was none before. Monkstown Parish Church, dating from the Middle Ages, was replaced with a new church in 1779. A still larger church opened in 1831, with a parish that stretched from Temple Hill at one end to Loughlinstown at the other end.

New churches then opened one after another, including: Saint Matthias’ Church, Killiney Ballybrack (1835), the Bethel Episcopal Free Chapel, Kingstown, later Christ Church, Dun Laoghaire (1836), the Mariners’ Church (1843), Saint Patrick’s Church, Dalkey (1843), Holy Trinity Church, Killiney (1858), Saint John’s Church, Monkstown (1860), Kill o’ the Grange (1864) and Saint Paul’s Church, Glenageary (1867).

As each church opened, parish boundaries were adjusted. At first, Saint Matthias’ Church had catered for all of Killiney and Dalkey and as far as Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire). The old church in Dalkey was in ruins by the 17th century, and Dalkey was part of Monkstown parish until the 19th century.

A garrison of soldiers was still stationed in the Martello Tower and Battery on Dalkey Island In the 1830s and 1840s. All the other Martello Towers had been abandoned in the 1820s, but through an oversight at the War Office, the Dalkey Island garrison was overlooked and continued to enjoy free accommodation and allowances for a further 20 years. There are records of marriages, births and deaths of people who lived on the island, but Dalkey Island has had no inhabitants since the 1850s.

With the increased travel opportunities and mobility offered by the railways and buses, large villas were built in Dalkey for summer accommodation, and new houses were built along the coast at Coliemore Road and part of the north end of Vico Road.

The needs for a church in Dalkey led to formation of trustees to build a new church first known as Dalkey Episcopal Chapel of Ease, within the Parish of Monkstown. Numerous sites were examined, and the present site was offered free by the Ballast Board of Dublin Port, later Dublin Port Company. The land was being quarried for stone shipped from Bulloch Harbour, and the site was reached by the private Ballast Office Road, now Harbour Road

Saint Patrick’s Church, Dalkey, was designed by Jacob Owen (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The Archbishop of Dublin consented to the new church and plans and estimates were accepted in 1837 from the architect John Howard Louch who, at the same time, was designing a new trustee church in Harold’s Cross. But in 1839, Jacob Owen (1778-1856), won the design contract for a plan with 500 seats on the ground floor and 168 in the gallery, at an estimated cost of £1,600. The church was built by a Mr Hickey began, and the foundation stone laid on 24 June 1840.

Jacob Owen was engineer and architect to the Board of Public Works (1832-1856). He was born in Llanfihangel, Montgomeryshire, North Wales on 28 July 1778, the son of Jacob Owen and his wife Margaret, née Ellis, and went to school in Monmouth before becoming a pupil of the English canal engineer William Underhill.

Owen then went to London, where he joined the Royal Engineers Department of the Ordnance in 1805. For most of his career with the Board of Ordnance, he was based in Portsmouth, where he also ran a private practice with his son, Thomas Ellis Owen.

On the recommendation of Colonel John Fox Burgoyne, chair of the new Board of Public Works in Ireland, Owen appointed architect and engineer to the board in 1832.

After he retired in 1856, Owen continued to be involved in the affairs of the RIAI, which he had joined in 1839. He founded the Irish Civil Service Building Society with James Higgins Owen in 1864. He moved to Southsea, Hampshire, and died of cancer at Toll End, Tipton, Staffordshire, the home of his daughter Mary Anne and her husband, Dr Thomas Underhill, on 29 October 1870. He was buried in the family vault in Mount Jerome Cemetery.

Saint Patrick’s Church, Dalkey, was completed in 1843 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Meanwhile, the church in Dalkey was completed in 1843, and Archbishop Richard Whately of Dublin preached at the opening service on Sunday 5 March 1843.

Only the west (rear) and north transept galleries were included in the original church, but it was always planned to increase the seating capacity. This happened in 1853, when the church was developed by Joseph Welland, architect to the ecclesiastical commissioners, at an estimated cost of £315.

Welland added a south transept gallery and stairway, a small organ loft on the north side, an enlarged west gallery, a central three-decker pulpit, a reader’s desk and Holy Table behind a curved communion rail, and a robing room where the chancel now stands.

Because the church had was not sufficiently endowed, its consecration was delayed. After a 30-year delay, the church was consecrated on 20 August 1868 and dedicated to Saint Patrick. It became a parish church and was assigned a parochial district from Monkstown parish.

Several structural alterations were made to the church in 1879. At that time, there was no chancel, and there was an old-fashioned three-decker wooden pulpit and straight-back box pews. The alterations included the addition of the chancel, vestry room, organ chamber, new pews and the redecoration of the church. They were designed by Edward Carson; the work was completed within 10 months, and the church reopened on Sunday 14 December 1879.

Charles Leslie JP presented the church with a cut-stone sexton’s lodge and schoolhouse in 1870 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The church is distinguished by the square tower with long narrow openings. It is rather squat, cruciform in plan, with three lancet windows in the transepts. The square apse has a large east window in which is set unusual Star of David tracery.

In the early 1890s, pink and green tinted glazing was installed in the tall lancet windows that did not already have stained glass. The great bell was presented to mark Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee in 1897.

Saint Patrick’s was originally a trustee church, and the trustees appointed the incumbent and managed church endowments. On the proposal of Bishop Maurice Day of Clogher, the trustees agreed in on 22 October 1909 to transfer the church, its property and its endowments to the Representative Church Body of the Church of Ireland.

Wet and dry rot were found throughout the church in 1955-1956, and the roof, windows and three galleries were removed. Only the west (rear) gallery was replaced, and it reinforced to accommodate boarders from Castle Park on Sunday mornings. The robed boys’ choir from the school sat at the front of the church.

The pulpit was moved closer to the organ to improve the sight lines, and the prayer desk was turned sideways, the tower was refurbished, new cedar louvres were fitted to the belfry, and the west window was reframed in teak to replace rotten softwood.

Saint Patrick’s Church looks out across Bulloch Harbour, Dalkey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Charles Leslie JP presented the church with a cut-stone sexton’s lodge and schoolhouse in 1870, built at his own expense and designed by the Dublin architect Edward Carson, father of Sir Edward Carson. The granite was quarried on the site.

The original hall served as a classroom, Sunday school and parish meeting room, while the front room in the lodge was used as a library.

The hall was extended in 1883 and the school was first registered as a National School in 1894, with 30 pupils, 12 boys and l8 girls.

The whole complex was totally upgraded and extended in 1999, when a new school building was added, with an upper-level covered link to the church. The modern design by the architect was David Jordan harmonises with the older buildings on the site.

The Revd Richard Legge Tyner was appointed chaplain of the church in 1836 before it was built. He was succeeded in 1843 by the Revd Edward St P Leet (1800-1878), who was chaplain in 1843-1874. Leet’s son, Major-General William Knox Leet, was awarded the Victoria Cross during the Zulu War in 1878.

Later Rectors of Dalkey included Canon Ricky Rountree (1983-1997), who later became Rector of Powerscourt and Archdeacon of Glendalough, and Canon Ben Neill (1997-2012), a former Dean of Waterford (1986-1997). Since 2013, the Revd Bruce Hayes has been the Rector of Dalkey.

Saint Patrick’s Church, Dalkey, ceased being a trustee church in 1909 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The Church of the Assumption adds to the character of Castle Street in Dalkey

The Church of the Assumption on Castle Street, Dalkey, Co Dublin … first built in 1840-1841 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Weddings and funerals do not offer adequate time to appreciate or explore the architecture, history and liturgical emphases of a church. I was in the Church of the Assumption on Castle Street in Dalkey, Co Dublin, in recent years for a nephew’s wedding and for the funeral of Maeve Binchy in 2012, but neither occasion was an appropriate time to wander around the church and the church grounds.

On New Year’s Day [1 January 2019], as I strolled along Castle Street in search of the seven mediaeval castles of Dalkey, I decided to take some time in the Church of the Assumption, which stands opposite Dalkey Castle and the ruins of Saint Begnet’s Church, and beside Archbold’s Castle.

The Church of the Assumption is a Gothic Revival, granite Roman Catholic Church, at the west end and on the south side of Castle Street. It was built in 1841 and reordered and partially rebuilt 50 years later, is set on a north-south axis with the chancel located at the north end or Castle Street side.

By the beginning of the 19th century, the Catholic population of Dalkey increased due to quarrymen and workers providing granite for the pier at Dun Laoghaire. The Dublin to Kingstown Railway in 1834 brought more worshippers.

After Catholic Emancipation, Canon Bartholomew Sheridan (1787-1862) became the first Parish Priest of the newly-formed Parish of Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) from 1829 to 1864. This has been described as ‘a mini-diocese which ran from Kingstown to Little Bray.’

Canon Sheridan called a meeting of Dalkey residents in March 1840. A site opposite the ruins of Saint Begnet’s was leased from Thomas Connolly, and a new church was built in 1840-1841.

Later, Thomas Connolly’s son, Canon James Connolly, Parish Priest of Saint Kevin’s, Harrington Street, Dublin, would donate the site on Castle Street to the new church in Dalkey.

Inside the Church of the Assumption, Dalkey … the church was redesigned and reoriented in the 1880s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The church was dedicated on 26 September 1841. It is a simple Gothic Revival structure in local granite and render with a square bell tower. It is on Castle Street opposite the ruins of the tenth century Church of Saint Begnet, woman and abbot, who also gives her name to the church on Dalkey Island.

At first, the church consisted only of the present nave, the altar was where the gallery is today, and the main door was 10 metres back from Castle Street. The humble walls were pebbles, mortar and earth, coated in plaster.

As Dalkey grew in the 1880s, Canon George Harold, Parish Priest of Dalkey (1880-1894), decided to extend the church out towards Castle Street and to relocate the sanctuary at the north end. Cut granite was used to build the new transepts and sanctuary, and the handsome, three-stage, stone bell tower was added at the south end of the church.

The roof was raised, and a fan-vaulted ceiling was put in place. A gallery was built and fitted with a two-manual organ by the Dublin organ-builder, John White.

The Last Supper in marble relief on the front of the altar designed by Ashlin and Sharp (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The High Altar, altar rails and baptismal font were designed in 1900 by AWN Pugin’s son-in-law, George Coppinger Ashlin (1837-1921), and the work was carried out by Edmund Sharp (1853-1930), who at this stage was producing altars at the rate of almost one a week in his workshop at Brunswick Street, Dublin.

Two angels by Mayer of Munich flank the reredos. Side shrines with statues of Our Lady and the Sacred Heart in white marble are dated 1897. The mosaic work on the sanctuary floor was carried out around 1915 by Ludwig Oppenheimer. The marble panels in the sanctuary were added in 1932.

The Last Supper in marble relief on the front of the altar by Ashlin and Sharp has survived the post-Vatican II liturgical changes.

The stained-glass windows over the altar are French in origin and were restored by Abbey Stained Glass in 1991 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The stained-glass windows over the altar are French in origin. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, which gives its name to the church, is in the centre. Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid, the patrons of Ireland, flank her to left and right. These windows were restored by Abbey Stained Glass of Kilmainham in 1991.

Above the fine marble baptismal font is a painting of the Baptism of Christ executed in Rome in 1911 by G Bravi.

The timber relief of Cardinal John Henry Newman was carved by Sean McDonnell (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The plaster Stations of the Cross were restored to their original colour in 1991 by Sean McDonnell. He also sculpted the timber relief of Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), who lived at Mount Salus in Dalkey during the autumn of 1854 while establishing the Catholic University in Dublin. He wrote, ‘Tastes so differ that I do not like to talk, but I think this is one of the most beautiful places I ever saw.’

In the same niche is a plaque with the closing words from a sermon Newman preached on 19 February 1843, two years before he became a Roman Catholic:

May he support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen and the evening comes; and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in his mercy may he give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest and peace at the last.

The church was renovated in 1991 for its 150th anniversary, and the porches and sacristy were re-ordered.

The icon of Saint Begnet, Abbot of Dalkey, by Colette Clarke (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The icon on the Baptistry wall of Saint Begnet, Abbot of Dalkey, was written by the iconographer Colette Clarke and was installed in 2010. This icon was commissioned by Father John McDonagh, a former parish priest, to mark the Feast of Saint Begnet and was sponsored by parishioners Finbar and Maeve Breathnach.

Little is known about the life Saint Begnet, or Becnat, patron of Dalkey. She is recorded in the 11th century genealogies of Irish saints as Becnat, daughter of Colmán, son of Āed, possibly a member of the aristocratic family of Dál Messin Corb, which ruled over north and central Leinster until 700 AD.

When they lost control of these territories, their rule was confined to the Wicklow Mountains, but they maintained control of some of the most important ecclesiastical offices in Leinster and Saint Kevin of Glendalough was also a member of the Dál Messin Corb.

Saint Becnat and her churches in Dalkey and Dalkey Island, belonged to the familia Coemgeni, ‘the family of Cóemgen, and her churches ultimately came under the protection of the monastery at Glendalough.

Before working on this icon, Collette Clark researched and read about Saint Begnet and life in the seventh century when she lived.

She selected the final image of Saint Begnet as a young woman of noble birth, with Celtic looks and her head covered. The head covering was fastened with a brooch modelled on the Killarney Brooch (ca 800 AD). The garment colours come from the image of the Virgin Mary in the Book of Kells. The neck decoration is from the Book of Dunna and the pattern for the inner garment is from the Book of Kells. The bracelet is based on gold bracelets in the National Museum of Ireland and the cross on the bracelet is based on the cross in the grounds of Saint Kevin’s Church in Glendalough.

In the icon, Saint Begnet holds a staff in her right hand to show she is the shepherd of her people and in her left hand she holds the church she founded on Dalkey Island.

Finally, the name, Naomh Begnet, was placed on the panel using the Uiscial Script as this script was used by Celtic monks from the fifth to eighth centuries. The finished icon was then left to dry for some time before it was varnished using shellac varnish.

Saint Becnat’s feastday is on 12 November, as recorded in the late mediaeval Book of Obits of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Two days later, 14 November, is the feastday of Saint Lawrence O’Toole, Abbot of Glendalough and Archbishop of Dublin, who died in 1180.

The proximity of this church to Castle Street and its relationship with the nearby mediaeval buildings, as well as its three-stage stone bell tower, give a unique historic character to this part of Castle Street.

The three-stage bell tower at the south end of the Church of the Assumption, Dalkey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Exploring myths about Shakespeare’s Irish links by the shore in Dalkey

The view from the peak of Sorrento Park across the Dalkey Islands, Sorrento Terrace, Killiney Bay and the Wicklow Mountains (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016; click on image for a full-size view)

Patrick Comerford

I am working on a paper for publication in April to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare on Saint George’s Day, 23 April 1616.

There is a persistent legend that the Bard’s description of Elsinore in Hamlet is based on a description of by the composer John Dowland (1563-1626). One of Dowland’s better known works is the lute song Flow my tears. The first verse is:

Flow my tears, fall from your springs,
Exil’d for ever let me mourn;
Where night’s black bird her sad infamy sings,
There let me live forlorn.

His best known instrumental work is Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares, Figured in Seaven Passionate Pavans, a set of seven pavanes for five viols and lute, each based on the theme derived from the lute song Flow my tears.

The legend about Shakespeare and was embellished – without any supporting historical evidence – by the Irish composer, William Henry Grattan Flood, who spent much of his working life as the organist of Saint Aidan’s Cathedral, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.

Grattan Flood claimed that Dowland was born in Dalkey, Co Dublin, and suggested that Dowland’s description of Elsinore was nothing less than a description of Coliemore Harbour in Dalkey. The story has continued to grow and grow, like Topsy, to the absurd point that it is even said that Shakespeare visited Dowland at Dalkey, arriving in Ireland at Coliemore Harbour.

In mediaeval times, Dalkey was the port for Dublin, with large ships anchoring and unloading their cargoes in the deep, sheltered waters of Dalkey Sound, and the “seven castles” of Dalkey were built to store the goods.

I could hardly resist the temptation to visit Dalkey this afternoon, to see the plaque in Sorrento Park celebrating the supposed connection with Dowland and to visit Coliemore Harbour.

Sarah Purser’s mosaic of John Dowland in Sorrento Park (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Sorrento Park is just across the road from both Sorrento Terrace and Coliemore Harbour, and I found the Dowland memorial near the south-east corner of the park, close to the entrance opposite Sorrento Terrace.

The Irish artist Sarah Purser (1848-1943) designed the memorial to John Dowland in 1937. The work was carried out by HV McGoldrick, and it is a rectangle of mosaic work set in granite outcrop near the south-east corner of the park.

It was restored in 1996 by Dalkey Community Council but has since been defaced – the face of Shakespeare’s friend has been gouged out crudely by uncultured vandals. Although you can still see Dowland’s hands plucking at the lute, it is impossible to know whether Sarah Purser portrayed him with seven flowing tears.

From the summit of the park I looked out to the Dalkey Islands, down onto Sorrento Terrace, and out across Killiney Bay towards Bray Head, the Sugar Loaf the Wicklow Mountains.

Although the roof has been removed from the once-fine Victorian bandstand, Sorrento Park is a typical Victorian park and was gift to the people of Dalkey from Lady MacDonnell, whose family built Sorrento Terrace.

The MacDonnell family handed over Sorrento Park to trustees who opened it to the public in 1894, although it had been used for many public events before that date.

Lady MacDonnell was born Blanche Ann, daughter of Francis Skurray of Beckington, Somerset, and in 1847 she married Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell (1814-1881) of Sorrento House. He was a lawyer, judge and colonial governor, and his colonial posts included Governor of the British Settlements in West Africa, Governor of Saint Vincent, Governor of South Australia, Governor of Nova Scotia and finally Governor of Hong Kong (1865-1872).

During his time in Hong Kong, MacDonnell developed Victoria Peak, and built a hospital for the local Chinese population. But he ran up such a huge budget deficit the government had to ask HSBC for a financial aid package. Several places around the world are named after him, including MacDonnell Road in Hong Kong, and the MacDonnell Ranges and Sir Richard Peninsula in Australia.

Sir Richard was a son of the Revd Richard MacDonnell (1787-1867), 29th Provost of Trinity College Dublin, and Jane Graves (1793–1882), second daughter of the Very Revd Richard Graves, Dean of Ardagh.

Richard MacDonnell was the visionary behind Sorrento Terrace, famous today as the most expensive row of houses in Ireland. His home originally sat on five acres of lands that included the lands now known as Sorrento Park.

He was a man of broad vision and liberal views and an early advocate of Catholic Emancipation when such views were unpopular in TCD.

The story is told that on one occasion he was showing a lady around the library in TCD. Clasping her hands together, she exclaimed: “Oh Mr Provost, pray Mr Provost, have you read all these books?” To this he replied: “In time my dear lady, in time.”

His house, Sorrento Cottage, is now owned by The Edge of U2. MacDonnell named the house after Sorrento on the Bay of Naples, and he compared Killiney Bay with the Bay of Naples and the Great Sugar Loaf with Mount Vesuvius.

In 1845, the family built Sorrento House, the first and largest of the houses on Sorrento Terrace. The family stipulated that each house had to adhere strictly to the design of architects Frederick Darley and Nathaniel Montgomery.

Coliemore Harbour this afternoon … like a small village in Cinque Terre (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Down at Coliemore Harbour this afternoon, the scene with colourful upturned boats was more like one of the small villages in Cinque Terre than Sorrento. There were views out to the Dalkey Islands, and we took further advantage of the views from the park above the harbour.

Queenstown Castle … one of the many Victorian Houses on Coliemore Road (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Coliemore Road is lined with an interesting collection of Victorian Houses, including Queenstown Castle and Springfield House.

Behind a more modern block of apartments known as Berwick House, is the site of Scotch Rath. Here I found a fading memorial to Walter Berwick, son of the Revd Edward Berwick of Leixlip, Co Kildare, who was the second President of the Queen’s College, Galway (now NUI Galway) from 1850 until he died in office in 1877. The memorial was erected by his wife Harriette Berwick and also remembers their only child Harriette Mary Berwick.

The memorial to Walter Berwick on the site of Scotch Rath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

From Dalkey we continued on to Bray, for a late lunch in Carpe Diem and a walk along the beach and the promenade. It was a fitting end to a busy weekend.

A cruise in the late autumn evening sunshine around Dalkey Island

Sailing out of Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the St Bridget on Saturday evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

The sunny summer-like weather that has taken everyone by surprise at the end of September continued throughout the weekend. On Saturday evening, two of us boarded the St Bridget, a 26 metre steel hull vessel owned by Dublin Bay Cruises for a 70-minutes cruise from Dun Laoghaire to Dalkey.

Initially, we had planned a cruise with Dublin Bay Cruises early last month from Howth to Dublin city centre, but ended up visiting Ireland’s Eye instead.

Dublin Bay Cruises is a family-owned business. Eugene Garrihy, his wife Clare and their three daughters run cruises between Dun Laoghaire, Dublin Port and Howth Harbour. Although the St Bridget can take 120 passengers, there was perhaps no more than two dozen people on board as we sailed from the East Pier in Dun Laoghaire on a clear, bright, sunny evening, with Howth Head to the north.

From 1821 to 1921, this was known as Kingstown. It is said the harbour is the largest “man-made” harbour in Western Europe, and for over a century it was the starting point for the main sea route from Ireland to Britain.

The coast line south of Dun Laoghaire is like the shoreline on an Italian lakeside in the autumn sunshine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

We left shortly after 5.30 and headed south past the James Joyce Martello Tower at Sandycove, the Forty Foot swimming area, Bullock Harbour, Dalkey Island and Collimore Harbour, Sorrento Point and Killiney Bay, before turning back around Dalkey Island to return to Dun Laoghaire.

Coliemore Harbour served as a port for Dublin between the 14th to 17th centuries, when the River Liffey had silted up. Today it is often used for short hops to Dalkey Island.

The first islands we came to are three small islands to the north of Dalkey Island, known as Lamb Island, Clare Island and Maiden Rock.

Dalkey Island was first inhabited over 6,000 years ago … but it has no residents today (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Dalkey Island is just 300 metres offshore and has an area of 9 hectares (22 acres), 450 metres long and 250 metres wide. Its name comes from the Irish deilg (“thorn”) and the Old Norse øy (“island” – as in Ireland’s Eye). The island has no residents, but we could see the remains of a church, houses, fortifications and a Martello Tower.

Archaeological evidence shows that the first residents lived on Dalkey Island in the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age, and that it was inhabited in the 4th millennium BC or 6,000 years ago. There are remains of an Iron Age fort at the north of the island, but only the ditch is noticeable today.

People continued to live on the island through the Iron Age to the Early Christian period, and there are suggestions that the island was a trading centre during Roman and Viking times.

The ruined stone church, named after Saint Begnet, was built in the ninth or tenth century, but there may have been older wooden church on the site. The church was probably abandoned when the Vikings used the island as a base to form part of the busiest port in Ireland at the time.

In 1804, the Admiralty built a Martello Tower and a gun battery on the island as part of an early warning system in the face of a threatened Napoleonic invasion. It is one of eight Martello Towers dotted along the Dun Laoghaire coastline.

The builders of the Martello Tower used the church ruins as living quarters, and altered the east side of the church, adding windows and a fireplace.

The Muglins are attractive to scuba divers but a danger to shipping (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Bray Head was to our south as we turned to sailed around to the east side of Dalkey Island, and then heading north between the island to our west and to our east the rocks known as “The Muglins.” They are a danger to shipping and have been fitted with a distinctive beacon.

The sun was setting as we rounded the small islets to the north of Dalkey and sailed back into Dun Laoghaire Harbour at about 6.45.

Dalkey Island, with Bray Head to the south (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)