On the grounds of Howth Castle is a 3000 year old
dolmen tomb known as
Aideen's Grave. According to legend it is the resting place of the mythological figure
Aideen. This legend is the subject of the poem 'Aideen's Grave' by
Samuel Ferguson. In ancient history
Ptolemy's second-century map of Ireland shows Howth as an island named
Edri Deserta (sometimes rendered as
Edros).
11th to 16th centuries After
Brian Ború, the
High King of Ireland, defeated the Norse in 1014, many Norse fled to Howth to regroup and remained a force until their final defeat in Fingal in the middle of the 11th century. Howth still remained under the control of Irish and localised Norse forces until the invasion of Ireland by the Anglo-Normans in 1169. Without the support of either the Irish or Scandinavian powers, Howth was isolated and fell to the Normans in 1177. One of the victorious Normans, Armoricus (or Almeric) Tristram, was granted much of the land between the village and Sutton. According to the historian Samuel Lewis: In 1177, Sir Amorey Tristram and Sir John de Courcy landed here at the head of a large military force, and totally defeated the Danish inhabitants in a sanguinary battle at the bridge of Evora, over a mountain stream which falls into the sea near the Baily lighthouse. This victory secured to Sir Amorey the lordship of Howth, of which his descendants have continued in possession to the present day, under the name of
St. Laurence, which Almaric, third baron, assumed in fulfilment of a vow previously to his victory over the Danes near Clontarf, in a battle fought on the festival of that saint. The territory of Howth was confirmed to Almaric de St. Laurence by King John.... Tristam built his first castle overlooking the harbour and the St. Lawrence link remained until 2019 (see
Earl of Howth). The original title of Baron of Howth was granted to Almeric St. Lawrence by
Henry II of England in 1181, for one
Knight's fee. Howth was a minor trading port from at least the 14th century, with both health and duty collection officials supervising from Dublin, although the harbour was not built until the early 19th century. A popular tale concerns the clan leader and sometime pirate
Gráinne O'Malley, who was rebuffed in 1576 while attempting a courtesy visit to
Howth Castle, home of the
Earl of Howth. In retaliation, she abducted the Earl's grandson and heir, and as ransom, she exacted a promise that unanticipated guests would never be turned away again. She also made the Earl promise that the gates of Deer Park (the Earl's demesne) would never be closed to the public again, and the gates are still open to this day, and an extra place is set for unexpected guests during formal dinners in the dining room.
19th century 's footsteps on the West Pier In the early 19th century, Howth was chosen as the location for the harbour for the mail packet (postal service) ship. Construction began in 1807. One of the arguments used against Howth by the advocates of
Dún Laoghaire was that coaches might be raided in
the badlands of Sutton (at the time Sutton was open countryside). However, due to
silting, the harbour needed frequent
dredging to accommodate the packet and the service was relocated to Dún Laoghaire in 1809, after £350,000 had been spent on Howth. English King
George IV visited the harbour in August 1821, which is remembered today by an imprint of his shoes (see left picture) carved by a local stonemason on the West Pier. The population was 1,538 inhabitants at the time of the
1841 census. Irish poet and writer
William Butler Yeats was a resident of Howth in the 19th century. There is a
blue plaque dedicated to Yeats at Balscadden House on Balscadden Road which was his cottage home from 1880 to 1883. The plaque contains the
couplet “I have spread my dreams under your feet/ Tread softly because you tread on my dreams” from his poem '
Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven' (1899). Howth would feature in Yeats writings. The first time is the 1893 essay 'Village Ghosts' recounting the paranormal folklore of the village and the second is in the poem 'Beautiful Lofty Things' (1938); "
Maud Gonne at Howth station waiting a train".
20th century to present On 26 July 1914, 900 rifles were landed at Howth by
Erskine Childers for the
Irish Volunteers. Many were used against the
British in the
Easter Rising and in the subsequent
Anglo-Irish War. Among the members of the Howth branches of the
Irish Volunteers and
Cumann na mBan who participated in this event were the well-known writers
Padraic Colum and
Mary Colum. Members of both the Howth Volunteers and
Baldoyle section of the
Irish Citizen Army participated in the
Easter Rising in Dublin city and in
Fingal. A strong local branch of
Sinn Féin developed in the area and there was considerable local involvement in both the
Irish War of Independence and
Irish Civil War. The harbour was radically rebuilt by the Office of Public Works in the late 20th century (a documentary was done on the much-delayed project in 1986), with distinct fishing and leisure areas formed, and the installation of a modern ice-making facility. A new lifeboat house was later constructed, and Howth is today home to units of both the
RNLI (lifeboat service) and the Irish Coastguard. In 2019, Howth Castle and its demesne, including Ireland's Eye, were sold to Tetrarch Investment group, with an element of the site close to the demesne gate immediately sold on again for development, to Glenveagh Properties. ==Nature==