Jax Stumpes: British Isles Explorer: Dún Laoghaire, Ireland (3/29/2022)

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

British Isles Explorer: Dún Laoghaire, Ireland (3/29/2022)

Tuesday, March 29, 2022 (continued)

After the motorcoach tour and tendering back to the Viking Venus, we had a late lunch, then went back to take the tender into the port of Dún Laoghaire.

Inside the Viking Venus lifeboat cum tender, where
the pilot sits raised at the upper windshield

East Pier Lighthouse and dwelling (1847,
by George Halpin) became automated in 1977

The town of Dunleary was established in 1816 to be the major port for Dublin. It was renamed Kingstown in 1821 following the visit of King George IV. In 1921, the town reverted to its original name, except with the Irish spelling of Dún Laoghaire.

On the left is the Lexicon Library and Cultural Centre
(2012-2014, by David Naessens) looming over the former
Moran Park House (1845), now the Irish Design Gallery

The Moran Park House was formerly the Harbour House, the receiving location of a wireless transmission by Gugielmo Marconi on 7/20/1898, reporting the results of the annual regatta of the Royal St George Yacht Club from a tugboat 40 km/25 miles offshore. It was the first commercial use of Marconi's wireless radio communication.

King George IV Monument (1821) to
commemorate his visit to the port

A view across Dún Laoghaire Harbour (1816-1842, at which
time it was the largest artificial harbor in the world) (KSS)

RMS Leinster Memorial Anchor (1918) commemorates the
Dún Laoghaire-Holyhead mail boat that was
sunk by German submarine UB-123 on 10/10/1918

Somewhere out along the East Pier is a memorial plaque
for Samuel Beckett who had placed one of his
characters out on the pier in Krapp's Last Tape

Statue (2021, by Mark Richards) of Roger Casement,
who was born nearby in Sandycove, and was executed
for treason in the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising

Dún Laoghaire Baths (1843) are being redeveloped

People's Park (1890)

People's Park Victorian Shelter now houses "tearooms"

Former Dun Laoghaire Christian Institute
(1884-1888) was established for young
provincial Protestants who moved to
Kingstown for their first jobs (KSS)

Former Mariners Church (1837) houses the
National Maritime Museum of Ireland (KSS)

Mural (2021, by Paul Francis) of a feat of heroism with
the sinking of the HMS Leinster: 13-year old Dorothy Toppin
was swept off a life raft, then the ship's fireman,
William Maher, jumped into the sea to save her

Royal Marine Hotel (1863) has hosted many heads of state,
as well as the likes of Frank Sinatra and Charlie Chaplin;
plus Irish freedom fighter Michael Collins is believed to
have hidden out in Room 210 with his partner Kitty Kiernan

Bank of Ireland (1900 for Daniel O’Connell’s National Bank)

St Michael's Church (1829, but destroyed by fire, 1895
bell tower, 1973 new church by Pierce McKenna)

Oratory of the Sacred Heart (1918-1919); the oval chapel
was built by the Dominican St Mary's Convent to honor
the local Irish who died during World War I

Unfortunately the Oratory was closed, so we missed the interior wall paintings that took Sister Concepta Lynch 16 years to complete. Painted in Celtic Revival style, she included themes from Irish Christian art as well as from the Book of Kells.

Happiness Comes in Waves mural (2021, by Vanessa Powers)

Carnegie Library (1912, by O'Callaghan & Webb) was
funded by Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American
industrialist and philanthropist, known for establishing
free public libraries throughout the United States, Britain,
Canada and other English-speaking countries