Howth

A 20-minute train ride from Dublin takes you to Howth (rhymes with ‘both’) a pretty village, fishing centre and yachting harbour.

 Howth’s Lighthouse, built in 1818

Ireland’s Eye is a small uninhabited island off the coast of Howth.  It is a bird sanctuary, playing host to a large variety of seabirds including thousands of guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, gulls, gannets, cormorants and a few breeding pairs of puffins.

Off one end of the island is a huge freestanding rock called “the Stack”.

The ruins of a Martello tower, built in 1803, are still on the island.

St. Mary’s Abbey, in Howth, was originally founded in 1042 by the Viking King Sitric.  Parts of the ruins date from 1235 with the majority being from the 15th and 16th centuries.