Things to do
5-
Baily Lighthouse
A squat white light of 1814 on the south-eastern tip of the head, the last Irish lighthouse to be automated in 1997. There is no public access to the compound, so it is looked at from the cliff path above rather than visited.
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Howth Castle
The seat of the St Lawrence family for eight hundred years until it was sold in 2019, with rhododendron gardens and a neolithic portal tomb called Aideen's Grave in the grounds. The house itself is not open, so this is the demesne and the tomb rather than an interior.
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Howth Harbour
The pier where the Asgard landed rifles for the Volunteers in 1914 and where the trawler fleet still ties up, with fish sold straight off the boats at the West Pier. Grey seals wait at the steps and the whole thing is five minutes from the DART station.
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Ireland's Eye
An uninhabited island a kilometre and a half offshore with a Martello tower, a ruined eighth-century church and a gannet and guillemot colony on the eastern stack. Boats run from the East Pier in summer and the crossing is short and often choppy.
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Howth Head Cliff Walk
A waymarked circuit around the headland from the harbour, six kilometres on the purple route, running above sheer heather slopes with Ireland's Eye offshore and the Wicklow hills across the bay. The path is exposed and unfenced in places and the ground is wet after rain.