Kitesurfers and hardy swimmers in the winter cold at Dollymount

Kitesurfing on the beach at Dollymount this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford

It has been a busy Advent and Christmas season, with Carol services, Sung Eucharists, Choral Evensongs, seasonal sermons, cathedral meetings … as well as dinners, parties, shopping, cards and family visits.

I was preaching at the Sung Eucharist in Christ Church Cathedral this morning, and it was encouraging to see how many people were present this morning, both members of the cathedral congregation and visitors and tourists.

The Sunday after Easter is often known as Low Sunday, because of the low tone to celebrations after the climax of Easter. But it is also associated with the low numbers attending churches on that Sunday too. And the same might be said about the Sunday after Christmas.

Happily, this was not so at this morning’s Eucharist.

As the Communion Motet this morning, the Voluntary Choir sang ‘The truth sent from above,’ often known as the ‘Hereford Carol.’ This carol was collected early in the last century by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Cecil Sharp and other folk song collectors in Shropshire and Herefordshire, and the version the choir sang this morning is the one collected by Vaughan Williams.

Vaughan Williams collected this Dorian mode version of this carol at King’s Pyon, Herefordshire, in 1909 from Mrs Ella Leather, a folk singer. He later used this carol to open his Fantasia on Christmas Carols (1912).

Kitesurfers enjoying the high winds on Bull Island this afternoon (Patrick Comerford, 2015)

After coffee in the crypt and family visits in Clontarf, two of us decided to clear our heads this afternoon and went for walk along the length of the Bull Wall, with the waters of Dublin Bay to one side and the sands of Bull Island or Dollymount Beach on the other.

It was interesting to see how busy the port is, even on a Sunday afternoon during this extended holiday weekend. It was surprising too to see one or two swimmers braving the cold temperatures, the high tides and the choppy waters this afternoon.

Out on the long stretch of sand at Dollymount Beach, a dozen or more kitesurfers were taking advantage of the high winds along the shoreline.

It is good to get the salt air into my lungs after a few busy days like this.

Brave or foolhardy? A swimmer off the Bull Wall in Dublin Bay this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

A tour through the battlefields of Clontarf

The tide was out at the Bull Island and Clontarf at mid-day today (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

I am working throughout the weekend with students who are on a residential weekend, and I had spent time with my GP on Thursday evening, going through the results of a blood tests and a hospital check-up and receiving another injection for my B12 deficiency.

When my B12 levels run down and my sarcoidosis symptoms play up as I face tough working demands, no matter how pleasant, the physical symptoms can be quite demanding and trying. So it was good to get the opportunity to head off after this morning’s service in the institute chapel, and to spend some time taking photographs for a magazine feature I am writing for next month, marking the 1,000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf on Good Friday 1014.

There are many questions to ask about the Battle of Clontarf and the myths that surround out, including why it has come to be regarded as an Irish victory over the Vikings when Brian Boru was slain on the battlefield, the O’Brien dynasty eventually lost its grip on the Irish monarchy, and the Vikings prospered, seeing Dublin prosper as a city and staging a major invasion of England.

The towers and turrets of Clontarf Castle under blue skies today (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Indeed, the battle was fought on a far wider landscape than Clontarf, and my photographic tour took me through Phibsboro, Glasnevin, Finglas, Drumcondra, Fairview, Clontarf and Dollymount.

It was a beautiful sunny, spring morning, with clear blue skies, and an ideal day for concentrating on photography. The tide was out at Fairview, Clontarf and Dollymount, but it all added to the beauty of the locations for my photographs.

Later two of us headed further north to Howth, which is still associated with King Sitric, the Viking King of Dublin. We walked along the West Pier before having lunch in Il Panorama, a crowded and delightful Italian-style café and bistro.

By the time it came to returning to work, I felt refreshed and ready to go again.

‘Ye who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing’

The tide covered the sands and there were no cars on the beach at Dollymount after last night’s storm (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

It seems every piece of coastline on these islands took a battering over the last few days, and that nowhere escaped the high tides, the gales and the storms.

This afternoon, council workers were diligently reinforcing the sea defences along the coastline in Clontarf after yesterday’s heavy battering, moving and replacing sandbags and clearing away some of the heavier debris that has been deposited along the seafront.

But the sunshine was strong despite the low temperatures, and I could feel the strength of the sun against my face as I walked across the wooden bridge at Dollymount and along the Bull Wall that link Clontarf with the Bull Island.

Walking along the wooden bridge connecting Clontarf and the Bull Island (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

On my regular beach walks, I constantly wonder why local authorities allow cars onto our beautiful beaches. The breach at Dollymount is firm and flat and stretches for 5 km, and it is said many Dubliners learned to drive on this beach at low tide.

However, there were no cars on the beach early this afternoon. Traffic across the wooden bridge was slow, and cars could get no further than the entrance to the Royal Dublin Golf Club. The popular, narrow, sandy access to beach used like a road at weekends by motorists to gain access to the beach was now like a river as the waves continued to push the water in past the sand dunes.

A redundant warning at Dollymount this afternoon: ‘Emergency Access No parking This Side’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The signs on the northern side of the passageway read: “Emergency Access No parking This Side.” But with the long grass banked up behind the new flow of water this looked more like a reminder of the canal leading from the Bay of Fethiye into Çaliş in south-west Turkey.

The lengthy, sandy beach was covered by the tidal waters, and the quaintly-names Ladies’ and Gents’ Bathing Shelter offered no shelter at all, with the waves and debris lapping against the steps leading into the water from these concrete structures.

The exceptional winter sunshine and the aftermath of the storm had many walkers out on the wall. No-one dared wade down onto the beach itself.

The water covers the steps beneath the ‘Gents’ Bathing Shelter’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

From Dollymount, two of us continued on along the road by Saint Anne’s Park and through Bayside and Sutton to Howth. Once again, people were out in large numbers, attracted by the sunshine and the aftermath of last night’s storm.

We had two double espressos and two panini in Il Panorama, a pleasant if packed Italian-Australian café and wine bar on the seafront. The Perth was filled with mozzarella di bufala, artichokes and aubergines; the Alice Springs had pesto, fresh tomatoes and pecorino cheese.

Ireland’s Eye and the Lighthouse at the end of the East Pier seen from the end of the West Pier in Howth this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

But the sea was still calling, and we walked the length of the West Pier, past the restaurants and fish shops, to the end, to see Ireland’s Eye and the Lighthouse at the end of the East Pier across the narrow passages, and beaches at Clermont and the Burrow near Sutton to the west.

On the way back, we stopped once more to look at the mop-up operation in Clontarf. Between the North Wall and the East Wall, Dublin Bay was deceptively calm.

Looking back at the wooden bridge at Dollymount with the twin towers of the Pigeon House beyond (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Until now I have never liked winter – the cold, the snow and the ice may look pretty, but I have seldom enjoyed them, and at this time of the year I tend to cope with this attitude by planning or imagining summer holidays in the Mediterranean. However, we have had one of the most wonderful summers, and one of the warmest autumns in recent memory, and this has turned out to be a beautiful winter despite the harsh weather in the past two weeks or so.

Calm waters at Clontarf this evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Yet the cold, the floods and the rains must be making life even more difficult for those who already find it harsh: the homeless, those living on the streets, those in sheltered housing or housing that is vulnerable in this weather, people who cannot afford adequate heating. And I am reminded of the words in the Christmas carol ‘Good King Wenceslas’:

Sire, the night is darker now,
and the wind blows stronger.
Fails my heart, I know not how.
I can go no longer.
Mark my footsteps my good page,
tread thou in them boldly:
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
freeze thy blood less coldly.

In his master’s step he trod,
where the snow lay dented.
Heat was in the very sod
which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure,
wealth or rank possessing,
ye who now will bless the poor
shall yourselves find blessing

Debris washing against the North Wall this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Ash Wednesday in a Jesuit retreat house

The Jesuit Centre of Spirituality at Manresa … based in the former Baymount Castle in Clontarf (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

I spent Ash Wednesday on retreat in Manresa, the Jesuit Centre of Spirituality in Clontarf. The retreat was facilitated by two Jesuit members of the Manresa team, Father Piaras Jackson, who until recently was editor of Sacred Space www.sacredspace.ie the daily prayer site, and Father Brendan Comerford, a former Director of Novices in the Jesuit Novitiate who also teaches spirituality in the Milltown Institute.

Throughout the day, we were in the Conference Room, the Prayer Room and the Pedro Arrupe Chapel. But there was time too after lunch and at the end of the day for a stroll down to the shoreline at Dollymount looking out onto Bull Island and the wooden bridge across to the narrow water.


The Jesuit saints … one of the Evie Hone windows in the Prayer Room (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

The focus points in the Prayer Room are five spectacular stained-glass windows by Evie Hone (1894-1955), originally designed for the Jesuit House in Rahan, near Tullamore. When the house in Rahan was closed, the windows were relocated to Manresa, where a new prayer room was built in 1992, designed to display them at their most resplendent.

These five windows, with their expressive intensity and vibrant colours, create an atmosphere of warmth and immediacy that enriches the prayerful atmosphere in Manresa.

Evie Hone was born into a family of distinguished Irish artists. She was a descendant of Joseph Hone, a brother of Nathaniel Hone. At the age of 11, she became partially lame from infantile paralysis. A visit to Assisi in 1911 made a profound impression on her. In 1921, with her friend Mainie Jellett (1897-1944), she became a pupil of the cubist painter Albert Gleizes, who had turned increasingly to religion.

Today, Evie Hone’s reputation rests largely on the expressive intensity of her stained glass output; one of the best known of her works is the window in Eton Chapel. But she was also closely involved in the Irish art scene, and once had a studio in the coachyard in Marlay Park, Rathfarnham.

The Jesuit community in Manresa lives in a house that was originally known as Granby Hall and then as Baymount Castle.

At one time, the house was residence of James Traill, Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Connor (1765-1783). He was consecrated bishop on Saint Michan’s Church, Dublin, in 1765, and died suddenly in Abbey Street, Dublin, in December 1783.

Baymount Castle was bought and renovated in 1838 by Robert Warren (1787-1869), and he continued to live in the castle until 1847, when he moved to Killiney.

Robert Warren was a property speculator and developer and he made a great deal of money on the sale of lands to the Dublin-Bray railway. He built Killiney Castle (now Fitzpatrick’s Castle Hotel), and Victoria Castle (now Ayesha Castle). He lived in Killiney Castle but also had a town house at 40 Rutland Square (now Parnell Square). Killiney Castle had demesne of 33 acres, and he built Holy Trinity Church on part of the lands.

However, when he died on 20 June 1869 his estate foundered mainly due to the failure of a speculative development in the Foxrock and Galloping Green area and his property was sold off through the incumbered estates court.

Meanwhile Baymount Castle had been acquired by the Irish Loreto Sisters, who ran a school there. When the house was destroyed by fire in 1851, the Loreto Sisters renovated it once again, but they later sold it and moved to Balbriggan.

In 1898 the castle was bought by Lord Ardilaun, a member of the Guinness family and the owner of the neighbouring Saint Anne’s estate.

When World War I began, William Lucas Scott opened a preparatory school for boys that continued in Baymount Castle until 1936.

The castle was then acquired by John Tudor Gwynn (1881-1956), at the time the Irish Affairs Correspondent of the Manchester Guardian, and a former colonial administrator in India. His father, John Gwynn (1827-1917), was Dean of Raphoe and a lecturer in theology in Trinity College Dublin; his mother, Lucy Josephine O’Brien, was a daughter of the Irish patriot, William Smith O’Brien. Dean Gwynn was also the father of the Robert Malcolm Gwynn (1877-1962); another son, Brian Gwynn, was the father-in-law of Archbishop George Simms.

In 1948, the Archbishop of Dublin asked the Jesuits to establish a north-side retreat house, and they bought Baymount Castle, with 17 acres. Retreats began in 1949. Building work on the new retreat house began in 1966, and it opened in 1967.


Looking out onto Bull Island and Dublin Bay from the shore at Dollymount below Manresa (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

An afternoon in Howth before the storm

Waiting for a storm on the West Pier in Howth this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Patrick Comerford

There are strong warnings of a storm tonight, and walkers and motorists alike are being told to stay away from coastal paths and roads as we prepare for the high waves. The weather warnings are giving a continuing alert for gale force winds from 90 to 130 kph across Ireland tonight, with the winds peaking between midnight and 3 a.m.

The full moon means the waves should be higher and the waters choppier tonight. As we drove out along the road through Clontarf to Howth this afternoon, some houses had sandbags outside preparing for the worst with the high tide tonight.

By the time we got to Howth, the waters were choppy, the weather was blustery, and there fast-moving grey clouds overhead without any sky to be seen. But there were no high waves at either the West Pier or the East Pier.

Thanks to a gift voucher given a few months ago, we went for lunch at the award-winning restaurant Aqua at the north end of the West Pier.

A view south to Sutton... but I could do no justice to the panoramic views offered on three sides from Aqua Restaurant in Howth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

On three sides, Aqua offers stunning sea views from Sutton around past Ireland’s Eye and across Howth Harbour to the coastline at Portmarnock and Malahide. However, the grey skies and choppy seas meant my camera was doing no justice to the panoramic views as we sat to eat.

Aqua specialises in seafood, but this vegetarian was also well catered for. One of us had Smoked Fish Risotto with Truffle Oil and Balsamic Dressing; Cod; Christmas Pudding; and an Americano. I had Grilled Asparagus, with Rocket Salad and Parmesan Cheese; Penne Pasta, with Basil and Tomato Sauce and Rocket Salad; and a double espresso. We shared a bottle of Sensi Pinot Grigio, a light semi-fragrant wine with a sweet lemon-citrus finish.

Looking back at Aqua from the West Pier in Howth late this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

From Aqua, we strolled along the West Per, which was busy with families taking holdiay walks.

Looking down at the Baily Lighthouse from the summit at Howth Head this evening (Photographb: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

It was 4 p.m. when we decided to go up to Howth Summit to see whether the storm was rising. On each side, the dramatic cliff walk spread beyond us. Below us were the flickering lights of the Baily Lighthouse, built in 1814 on the south-east corner of Howth Head. It stands on the site of an old stone fort and there has been a hilltop beacon here since at least 1667.

To the south, there were views out to Dublin Bay, and across to the Wicklow Mountains. But the wind was too strong to attempt stepping out on the cliff walks, and daylight was fading fast.

We drove back through Sutton, Kilbarrack and Raheny into Dublin. At the Bull Wall, the wooden bridge was reflected in the waters that separate the North Bull Island and Dollymount.

The wooden bridge reflected this evening in the waters between the North Bull Island and Dollymount (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Moonlight sonata at Dublin Bay

Moonlight glistening on Dublin Bay last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Patrick Comerford

Three of us were feeling homesick for a little Greek food last night, and as we were already on the north side of Dublin we booked a late table at Cape Greko in Malahide.

Cape Greko, which opened eight years ago, is Malahide’s first Greek and Cypriot restaurant. It is on the corner of New Street, and some of the tables have views of the marina and the coast.

Cape Greko takes its name from the Cape Greko peninsula in Cyprus, and the head chef, Demetris Pierei, has been influenced by different regions in Greece and Cyprus.

Demetris Pierei has a passion for traditional Greek Cypriot cooking (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Demetris has a passion for traditional Greek Cypriot cooking that began at an early age when he began working in local tavernas and hotels in Cyprus. He then studied to become a chef and patisserie in Larnaca Institute of Technology and worked in some of Cyprus’s renowned five-star hotels in the Paralimni and Protaras resort area.

He moved to Ireland in 2001 with his Irish wife. When he opened his restaurant in Malahide, he remained true to his roots, offering Greek Cypriot-inspired cuisine in Cape Greko.

Cape Greko appeared in Trevor White’s The Dubliner’s “100 best restaurants in Dublin” in 2006, and has also appeared in the Georgina Campbell guides.

Cape Greko’s logo, an amphora, on the stairs leading up to the restaurant last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Cape Greko’s logo is an amphora, the narrow-necked jar and two handles used in classical Greece for storing and carrying win and olive oil. But we had more than wine and olive oil last night; we had three dishes:

Mousaka came in the traditional form of layers of sliced courgettes, aubergines, potatoes, tomatoes and minced beef cooked in red wine, topped with béchamel sauce and oven baked in a clay dish.

The Seafood Souvlaki or kebabs included skewered marinated monkfish, organic salmon, mussels and tiger prawns cooked on the grill and served with homemade dressing.

As for the vegetarian, I had Mediterranean chickpea and cous cous, which was Greek-style cous cous, cooked with chick peas, raisins, peppers, mushrooms, red chillies and almonds.

These came with a side salad, home-made chunky chips and garlic sautéed potatoes. And we also had olives, tzatziki, hummus, haloumi and feta – all Greek-style, and all served at the same time.

I never got to walk along the beach in Malahide last night – it was too late when we left Cape Greko. But we drove back along the coast through Malahide, Portmarnock and Baldoyle. The moon was almost full, and when we reached Sutton there was a complete vista before us of the lights encircling Dublin Bay, with water in the bay glistening in the moonlight.

Dublin Bay ... a long way from Cape Greko and the Mediterranean (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

It was a long way from Cape Greko and the Mediterranean. But after the rains and storms of the previous night, we could not resist stopping in the midnight calm before we reached Bull Island and enjoying the autumn peace.

There is a full moon late tomorrow night [Saturday/Sunday].

A walk on the Velvet Strand at Portmarnock

The long sandy beach, beautiful smooth sand, at Portmarnock is known as the Velvet Strand (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Patrick Comerford

It was a dull and overcast morning. After the Choral Eucharist in Christ Church Cathedral, two of us decided to go for lunch and a walk on a beach north of Dublin.

By the time we got to Dorset Street, there were heavy traffic jams, formed by people trying to get to Croke Park for the Closing Eucharist of the International Eucharistic Congress.


A dull but busy afternoon below Malahide Yacht Club (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Eventually, we made our way through Phibsborough, Cabra and Finglas, onto the M50, and on to Malahide. There was a lot of activity in the water below the club house of Malahide Yacht Club at Saint James’ Terrace, and Malahide looked like an attractive option for a beach walk later in the afternoon.

But as we left Cape Greko, the Greek and Cypriot restaurant on New Street, the rain began to pour down. We were not surprised – the rainfall in Dublin so far in June far has been more than 200% of the average.

We abandoned our plans for a walk on the beach, but still thought we might catch a glimpse of the sea, and headed south along the coast towards Portmarnock.


Walking through the sand dunes onto the beach at Portmarnock, Co Dublin, this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Portmarnock is 15 km north of Dublin city centre, south of Malahide and north of Baldoyle. Although Portmarnock has no harbour, the name means the Port of Saint Marnoch or Mernoc, a missionary bishop who is said to have arrived here from Iona in the fifth, sixth or even seventh century. Saint Marnock was associated with Saint Columba and also gave his name to Kilmarnock, Inchmarnock and Damrnock in Scotland. The ruins of his church are said to stand in the graveyard off the Strand Road.

We stopped at the Martello Beach in Portmarnock, where a narrow beach leads onto a sandy peninsula with sand-dunes and a lengthy sandy beach known as the Velvet Strand. Its beautiful smooth sand is popular with wind-surfers and kite-surfers, although this afternoon there were just some families, a few people walking their dogs and a small group playing volleyball.

From the Velvet Strand, there are views out to Lambay Island and Ireland’s Eye. At first, the low clouds and the grey skies made it difficult to make out the yachts sailing around Ireland’s Eye and Howth Head, but the sun started breaking through, and looking north past the Martello Tower it was possible to see the outline of the Donabate and Portrane peninsula and the Round Tower at Portrane sticking up above the horizon.


The ‘Eccentric Orb’ on Portmarnock Beach commemorates the first circumnavigation of the globe by a plane in 1930 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Above the beach, the Southern Cross Monument or “Eccentric Orb” was erected in 1999 to commemorate the first circumnavigation of the globe by a plane in 1930.

Thousands of people were on the beach in Portmarnock to see the take-off at 4 am on 23 June 1930 to see Charles Kingsford Smith, an Australian pilot, and his crew take off in the ‘Southern Cross’ on the second west-bound transatlantic flight, first to Newfoundland and then on New York and to Oakland, California, completing a circumnavigation of the globe.

The sculpture recalling this flight is in the shape of the globe, marked with all the continents and the flight path. The monument, designed by Remco Dfouw and Rachael Joynt, is built from limestone, is 2.5 metres high, has a circumference of 2 metres, and weighs eight tons. The bronze needle points directly to the North Star.

In a second pioneering flight, the first solo west-bound transatlantic flight began from Portmarnock beach on 18 August 1932, when a British pilot, Jim Mollison, took a de Haviland Puss Moth from Portmarnock to New Brunswick.

By the time we were leaving Portmarnock, the sun was shining, and it was now a bright sunny afternoon as we drove through Baldoyle, Sutton, Dollymount and Fairview to the city centre.


The wooden bridge to Bull Island at Dollymount late this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

The sun shines on the ‘canon in residence’

Unseasonal sunshine on the River Liffey this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Patrick Comerford

I am the canon-in-residence in Christ Church Cathedral this week. So I had a busy day, preaching at the Choral Eucharist this morning, and taking part in Choral Evensong later this afternoon.

The setting for the Eucharist this morning was Francis Grier’s Missa Trinitatis Sanctae, composed in 1991 for Trinity Sunday in Westminster Abbey.

This English composer has been a chorister at Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, a music scholar at Eton, and an organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, as well as Assistant Organist and then Organist at Christ Church Oxford. He has written extensively for the Anglican choral tradition, and he was an appropriate composer for our Eucharist on Passion Sunday this morning as his latest work The Passion.

In the afternoon, the settings for the Preces and Responses were by Thomas Ebdon (1738-1811), while the settings for the canticles Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were from the Evening Service in F Minor by Alan Gray (1855-1935), once the organist at Trinity College, Cambridge.

A sunny afternoon in Trinity College Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

In between, there was time for lunch at the Taverna in Dublin’s Italian Quarter on the north side of the River Liffey, and for a stroll through Trinity College and along Grafton Street and Wicklow Street. The sun was warm, there were bright reflections in the river, and it seems as though the arrival of Summer Time has brought exceptional early summer sunshine too.

After Evensong, the temperature was still hovering between 16 and 20, which is simply unbelievable in Ireland for this time of the year. The extra hour summer time gives was a chance not to pass on. Two of us went back across the river again, and out to the North Bull Island for a stroll along the long beach on this lengthy, narrow offshore island.

Long stretches of sand, sunshine and a view across to Sutton from Bull Island this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

We parked near the sand-dunes, and crossed onto the beach, which was bathed in warm hazy sunshine. The sand was flat and the tide was out. Despite the hazy sunshine, there were views across Dublin Bay to Bray Head in the south and Sutton and Howth Head nearer to the north.

Although this can be a very crowded beach in the summer, the tide was out in the late afternoon, and in places there were open, isolated broad stretches of sand.

Families were playing with kites, children were making sandcastles, a few younger men were learning to dive on the flat sands – even the ice-cream sellers were out in their vans with their hurdy-gurdy tunes. One couple had found a lengthy sandbank to walk along and in the reflections it looked as though they were walking on water.

Hazy sunshine at the wooden bridge linking Dollymount and Bull Island (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

On the way back from Dollymount, we stopped to look at Clontarf Castle, which is said to date back to 1172, when Hugh de Lacy built the castle on the site as part of an inner circle of defences protecting Dublin. Later, the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller had a house on this site until the Dissolution of the Monasteries at the Reformation in the 16th century.

Clontarf Castle later passed to the Fenton and King families, but during the Cromwellian era, Clontarf was granted in 1649 to John Blackwell, who sold it to John Vernon, who was Quarter-Master General of Cromwell’s army. The family motto was Vernon Semper Viret, “Vernon always flourishes,” and the Vernon family remained in Clontarf for almost 300 years.

George Frideric Handel was a frequent visitor to Clontarf Castle during his stay in Dublin for the premiere of his Messiah in 1742. Dorothy Vernon of Clontarf Castle was from Hanover and was said to be “particularly intimate” with the composer, who wrote a piece called Forest Music for her, said to combine German and Irish melodies. It is said that the area of Dollymount takes its name from this member of the Vernon family.

Clontarf Castle ... home to the Vernon family for almost 300 years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Between 1835 and 1837, the distinguished Irish architect William Vetruvius Morrison rebuilt Clontarf Castle for the Vernon family. The last direct descendant line of Vernons to live at Clontarf Castle was Edward Kingston Vernon (1869-1967), who inherited Clontarf from his father in 1913.

Edward Kingston lived in the castle for only six months before leasing it to his nephew John George Oulton, and the castle was sold to the Oulton family in 1933. JG Oulton died in Clonttarf Castle in 1952, and his son Desmond Oulton had to sell the castle to pay death duties and debts. The building lay vacant for a number of years until 1957, but has since become a four-star hotel.

It was after 6, and the sun was still warm – the temperature was still around 15 or 16. As we reached the north bank of the Liffey, there was a warm glow from the sun on the waters of the river. And there are promises that this sunny weather is going to continue for the rest of this week ... a good week for “the canon-in-residence.”

Sunshine in the lingering late evening on the banks of the River Liffey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)