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Narrative of a residence in Ireland during the Summer of 1814, and that of 1815 (Author: Anne Plumptre)

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Tedious Voyage to Ireland. — Arrival in Dublin Bay. — Obliged to anchor there. — Importunities of the Boatmen to row the Passengers on Shore, and their exorbitant Demands. — The Pier. — The Light-House. — The shelly Bank. — The North and South Bull. — The Bathing-Houses. — The Pigeon-House. — Beautiful Scenery round the Bay. — Arrival in the City of Dublin.

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On the 14th of July about eight in the evening we arrived at Liverpool. We had intended stopping a day to look about the town, but found so excellent a packet, the Loftus, about to sail the next morning, that we agreed unanimously it was better to relinquish this intention, and secure a passage on board it. From the state of the weather there appeared every reason to expect a long passage: thus it became of some importance not to lose the opportunity of going in a vessel much more commodious than the generality of packets. We had here a very neat little stern cabin, with stern lights, for the ladies; a thing I never found in any other packet where it has been my lot to be a guest; very little attention is paid in general to the accommodation of female passengers.

On the 15th at nine in the morning we embarked, having joined company for the voyage with two very pleasant officers going to Ireland, who had travelled with us all the way from Birmingham.

That the voyage would be tedious we knew was to be expected, but we were told that thirty-six hours was the longest ever known; and in providing ourselves with sea stores, we did not think of calculating upon a longer term, but made what we thought an ample provision, supposing it to run to the utmost of that extent. The first day however we made very little progress, and at the expiration of twenty-four hours were no further than off Holyhead. About noon the second day we were entirely becalmed for three hours; and the tide setting against us we rather lost than gained way, so that the Welch coast was still in sight as evening closed in. In the night we had rather more wind, and at daybreak


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the Hill of Howth, the north point at the entrance of Dublin Bay, and Bray-head, a conspicuous height a little below the south point, were both in sight. About two o'clock we had advanced as far into the bay as the state of the tide at that time would permit, and were obliged to come to anchor till there should be water sufficient to go over the bar into the harbour: this we were informed would be about six in the evening.

We were immediately beset by a number of boats soliciting to carry us on shore, offering their services at the moderate rate of only five shillings a head. Some wanted to carry us to Dunleary, a small harbour on the bay for fishing-boats; others proposed to carry us to the more general place of landing, the Pigeon-house; but all agreeing in the same exorbitant demand. As however, according to the expectation held out, the ship would get into the harbour at a sufficiently early hour, we were not disposed to make this addition to the price of our passage. Our captain was somewhat importunate with us to go on shore immediately, — impertinently, as we thought, — and this only made us the more determined not to comply. We had just provisions left for a dinner, and were not sorry to contemplate at our leisure the beautiful scene around. Some of the passengers being in a greater hurry began to bargain with the boatmen, but could get no abatement whatever in their demands. After a long altercation between one man in the ship above and another in the boat below, the former having made offers so much beneath the price required as to excite the utmost indignation in the bosom of the latter, he turned to his comrades and said, That fellow would kill a louse, and live upon the fat. The majority of the passengers were however at length obliged to yield, since the sons of Neptune would not; for their stock of provisions not holding out so well as ours, they had no other resource against dining with a certain gentleman, Duke Humphry yclep'd, — one whose table d'hôte is by no means in general request.

In another respect our party, or I must rather here take the whole credit to myself and say, I had been more provident than the rest of the passengers; for I had made a little provision of food for the mind, which they did not seem to have thought of, and had put up some books with my other sea stores: among these was Lady Morgan's excellent novel of O'Donnel. — As I was going to visit a part of Ireland admirably described in this work, the county of


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Antrim, and had besides a letter of introduction to the amiable authoress at Dublin, it received great additional interest from being read as I was crossing the Irish Channel. Now this being a species of food which happily does not diminish by use, my stock served for the whole company on board the ship, and I believe by the conclusion of the voyage there were few of the passengers who had not read O'Donnel.

When six o'clock arrived, a different story was told from what had been given out when the ship came to anchor; we were now informed that the water would not serve for going over the bar before nine. In short we found that, for reasons best known to himself, our captain was determined not to go into the harbour that night: and since against this determination, though a gross and flagrant imposition, no redress could be obtained, we were obliged at length to take a boat, or we must have remained on board till the next morning, without provisions, or, what was still worse, without a dish of tea to console us. Thus much however was gained by holding out so long against the unreasonable demands of the boatmen, that they were now content to carry us to the Pigeon-house for one shilling each instead of five.

Dublin Bay is six Irish miles1 in breadth at its mouth, measuring from the Hill of Howth, the northernmost point, to Dalkey Island, the most southern, and seven in depth from the entrance to the mouth of the Liffey. The inner part, called the harbour, is divided off by a stupendous stone pier which stretches all together three miles from the shore, beginning at the village of Ringsend upon the bay. The former part from Ringsend to the Pigeon-house was begun in 1748, and finished in less than seven years: the remaining mile and quarter from the Pigeon-house to the Light-house was begun about the year 1760, and was completed in eight years. The Light-house by which it is terminated, and which stands nearly in the centre of the bay, is a circular stone


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building rising eighty feet above the pier, and one hundred above low-water mark. A gallery with an iron balustrade encircles it on the outside about half way up, the ascent to which is by a narrow steep winding stone staircase, also on the outside. From this gallery is the best point for taking a survey over the bay and the fine country round it. In order to obviate the objection to the sandy foundation on which this structure was of necessity to be raised, it is built on empty wool-packs; an idea for which the engineer was indebted to the ingenuity of his wife. The great sand-bank, called the bar, runs from the end of the pier to the north shore of the bay; vessels of any size can cross it only at the flow of the tide: a flag is kept flying upon the top of the Light-house during the time it may be passed, so that a vessel immediately on entering the bay knows the state of the water.

The new part of the pier with the Light-house is constructed of granite from Bullock, a village on the southern shore of the bay about six miles from Dublin. This stone is remarkable for the quantity of mica it contains, which is sometimes to be found in flakes as large as a sixpence. The stone has a soft and crumbly appearance, and is so when first cut from the quarry, — consequently it is very malleable, — but it hardens exceedingly by the operation of the outward air, till it becomes an extremely solid and durable material for building: the vast mixture of mica gives it a very glittering appearance. The heights to the south at the entrance of the bay, extending through a considerable tract, are all of this granite. It is much used for mending the roads, to which its soft and crumbly nature when first taken from the quarry renders it well adapted, and it is ground to pieces before the air has had time sufficient to produce the effect of hardening it.

Carriages can come no further along the pier than to the Pigeon-house; the remainder is only a footway; it is twenty feet in breadth, but has no parapet or defence of any kind, so that in stormy weather it is difficult to stand against the force of the wind. A large sand-bank runs along the side of this pier next the bay, which at low-water is entirely uncovered; and rising in some places to a level with the pier itself, any one may step immediately from the one to the other. A profusion of shells are always deposited here; the large Solens are in such abundance, that one spot is as it were paved with them: there are besides several sorts of the Venus, Ostrea, Donax, and others. But it is remarkable


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that a live shell is very rarely to be found; the greater part are commonly in a state of absolute decay. A large tract of the bay on the north side, at the end towards the city, is at low water entirely uncovered, and displays little better than a vast expanse of mud. There is no doubt that by the aid of embankments it might soon be completely drained; and converted into cultivable land: this tract bears the name of the North Bull. On the south side of the bay, but at some distance from the town, beyond the pier, is another large tract equally uncovered at low-water, which has the name of the South Bull. This is a fine sand, and is a great resort for walkers and riders. In this and various other parts round the bay are a number of small boxes, like sentry boxes, for the use of bathers to dress and undress. For ladies these are extremely inconvenient, since instead of plunging from them immediately into the water, as with English bathing machines, they must walk some way from the sentry box in the bathing dress before the water is reached. I never saw a bathing machine to go into the sea any where in Ireland.

The appellation of the Pigeon-house will perhaps be thought a truly Irish one, since it is applied to a little cluster of houses at the junction between the old pier and the new one. At this place passengers from vessels coming into the harbour land, and here is a custom-house for the examination of goods. A long coach is always waiting against the arrival of the Holyhead packets, to carry passengers to Dublin; and there are besides a number of coaches, jaunting-cars, and jingles, which may be hired by those who do not choose the long coach, so that a ready conveyance into the city may always be depended on. The Pigeon-house was so called from a man by name Pigeon being the first person who kept a public house upon the spot. Here is a quay, alongside of which formerly all the packets were allowed to come; but the Liverpool packets taking passengers at the same price as the Holyhead, though double the distance, had for some time engrossed the custom so much that the owners of the Holyhead packets grew jealous, and in a fit of spleen petitioned against this indulgence being allowed them any longer; and being in the Government service they had interest sufficient to obtain their suit. But this piece of spite falls much more on the passengers than on the ship-owners, against whom it was directed. Their custom is not diminished by it; while the passengers, instead of being able to step


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from the quay to the vessel, are now obliged to be rowed nearly a mile to it. This regulation was made very soon after our arrival at Dublin.

The scenery round the bay is every way extremely beautiful. To the north is the Hill of Howth, with the little islands or rocks of Lambay and Ireland's Eye, the village of Clontarf, and a number of delightful villas scattered about. To the south are the villages of Blackrock, Dunleary, Dalkey, Monkstown, Bullock, and others, running in succession along the shore, with the Wicklow mountains in the back-ground, among which Bray-head and two conical summits called the Sugar-loaves are the most conspicuous; while in the centre, though seen at a distance, lies the city of Dublin itself. Yet when the extent of the bay is considered, it must appear obvious that the bolder features of the landscape alone can be very distinguishable, looking from the centre; that to obtain an accurate idea of the minuter, it would be necessary to coast round it2.

This bay is often compared with the bay of Naples, and is generally considered as yielding in beauty to that alone. Never having been at Naples, I cannot judge of them by comparison: but beautiful as I think Dublin Bay, I must prefer to it one which I had previously seen, the bay of Toulon, and another which I did not see till afterwards, the bay of Belfast, or, as it is more commonly called, Belfast lough3. Toulon bay has always appeared to me one of the most enchanting scenes that the imagination can picture to itself, and, from being much less extensive than the bay of Dublin, every object around is distinctly seen from the centre, or even from shore to shore. The same may be said of Belfast lough; the scenery round is equally beautiful with that round Dublin Bay, and the shores approaching so much nearer to each other, though it runs as far inland, every object is seen clearly and distinctly. But the bay of Toulon has one great and decided advantage over any thing in these northern climes, in the brilliancy which the delicious sun of Provence casts over


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all its scenery: this gives landscapes of that country a superiority of which those who have been accustomed only to our atmosphere, loaded as it too commonly is with vapours, can scarcely form an idea.

The drive from the Pigeon-house to Dublin is not calculated to give a stranger a very favourable impression of the new country he is come to visit. Nothing can be more filthy and disgusting than the town of Ringsend at which the pier terminates, nor can much be said for the remainder of the way till the suburbs of the city are passed. To compensate, if he has then any way to go into the city, he must necessarily pass through some of the best parts of it. At the recommendation of our fellow-travellers, the two Irish officers, we went to Levin's hotel in Mary's street on the north side of the river, by which means we saw sufficient to remove the unfavourable impression first made upon us. Here we found comfortable accommodations, very civil attendance, and for a hotel in a large city not unreasonable charges. In ordering supper we desired to have a roasted chicken, begging that it might not be a very small one. "No, no," said the waiter, "I understand: it shan't be a mere sucking chicken." — The next day I was settled very pleasantly in a lodging in Frederick-street South, from which I had a side view into the gardens of Trinity College.


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