Description
Book SynopsisExplore Dún Laoghaire and its coastal surroundings with local painter, historian and writer Peter Pearson as he reveals the story behind its transformation from rocky granite shoreline to grand Victorian ‘watering place’.
Peter Pearson is a Dún Laoghaire man, familiar with every brick and stone of the harbour and town. Here he traces the social, historical and architectural development of Dún Laoghaire, Sandycove and Dalkey, from a stretch of granite coastline with a small fishing village up to the present day.
Pearson tells the story of a harbour designed to be a refuge from storms. Begun in 1816, and built in Dalkey granite, it is one of the most attractive artificial harbours in the world. It witnessed one of the world’s first lifeboat services, the fastest mail and passenger boats of the day, and the arrival of the first railway line in Ireland. Pearson also examines the social dimension, from the early settlement and development of houses and villas, with evocative names like Sorrento and Vico, to the slum alleys of Kingstown and the first council housing.
With over 250 illustrations, including early maps and many previously unseen photographs and images, this is a fascinating journey through the history and heritage of Dún Laoghaire, Sandycove and Dalkey.
Praise for Peter Pearson’s Decorative Dublin: ‘Beautifully illustrated … contains endless riches.’ The Sunday Tribune
‘[Pearson] writes with enthusiasm and knowledge about his subject.’ Frank McDonald, The Irish Times
‘Pearson’s is an infectious passion.’ Books Ireland
Trade ReviewOur gift of choice ... it should be on every Christmas list
-- Councillor Mary Hanafin
handsome and multifaceted
-- RTE Radio 1's Bowman on Sunday
On the southern side of Dublin Bay, Peter Pearson in The Granite Coast turns his perceptive focus on a narrative sweep of life in Dun Laoghaire, Sandycove and Dalkey, marshalling a formidable array of information. He examines social change from the settlement and development of villas, with names such as Sorrento and Vico, to the slum alleys of Kingstown and the first council housing. The book is enhanced with more than 250 illustrations, including early maps, rare photographs, watercolours and sketches, a superb accompaniment to the prose
-- Irish Times
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments v
Maps viii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Dublin Bay’s Granite Coast 7
From Dún to Dunleary 14
Martello Towers and the Napoleonic Threat 18
Chapter 2: The Victorian Harbour – A Masterpiece in Stone 24
From Dunleary to Kingstown 24
The Kingstown Harbour Master 41
The Lifeboat Service 43
Harbour Architecture 46
Lost Activities of Dún Laoghaire Harbour 51
The Irish Lights 52
The Harbour Company 55
Chapter 3: Kingstown: Infant City of the Steam Age 56
Royal Visit 57
Mail and Passenger Services 59
The Dublin-to-Kingstown Railway 66
Chapter 4: Birth of a Seaport Town 70
Housebuilding and the Victorian Style 70
Development of the New Town 80
Churches 85
Chapter 5: An Elegant Victorian Watering Place 94
Yachting and Sailing 94
Chapter 6: Seafront Houses and Terraces: 1840–1860 109
Residential Kingstown – The Victorian Taste 114
Chapter 7: Sandycove and Bullock 123
Sandycove’s Rocky Shoreline 123
Residential Sandycove 125
The Forty Foot 129
Bullock Harbour 130
Bullock Castle 132
Castle Park and Other Houses 136
Chapter 8: Dalkey – A Sense of the Picturesque 139
Dalkey Island 143
The King of Dalkey 146
Medieval Dalkey 146
Dalkey Quarry 151
Eighteenth-century Dalkey 153
Chapter 9: Nineteenth-century Dalkey – the Coastline 156
Sorrento Terrace 164
The Vico Road 167
Dalkey Hill 169
The Railway 172
Chapter 10: Society and Social Change 174
Terraces and Squares: Dún Laoghaire in the 1860s 174
The Royal Marine Hotel 177
Red-brick Decades 180
Charity and Social Change 186
Chapter 11: Civic Dún Laoghaire 192
Township Administration 192
Public Buildings: 1870–1900 196
Chapter 12: Culture and Amenity in Dún Laoghaire 209
Sport in Dún Laoghaire 217
Transport 218
The Coal Trade 222
Gas, Light and Telephone 225
Chapter 13: Modern Times 227
Mid-Twentieth Century 227
The Shopping Environment 229
Recent Times 232
Select Bibliography and Further Reading 240
Index 242
