the swimming points in howth.

gomalley

Hi folks,
I have heard recently that there is a good spot for swimming in howth.I believe there is a 30ft jump/drop or something to that effect.Farely familiar with Howth but no idea where it is so If anyone knows and could point me in the right direction,I would be very much obliged.Figured it might take a bit off road to find it.Any help very much appreciated,ta in advance!
regards,
Gary.

gomalley

Oh yeah and any idea of when is a go or no go time of year for said locations?Imagine this time of year might be a bit chill but stand to be corrected..

tricky D

Lion's Head 53°21'47.67"N 6° 3'40.27"W on Google Earth. Access from Ceanchor Road or Baily Lighthouse access road. Ropes in place to assist climb down. Mainly use confined to summer with fairly calm sea.

gomalley

cheeeeeerrs!!

pARTner81

be very careful accessing this spot, some of the banks are giving away. I was down there doing the jumps at the end of the summer and as I was leaving I spotted that there had been a fresh fall into the water, it was quite visible. The descent is not for the faint hearted. But a great spot to jump from and swim, I'll be back up there this year I think, I'd like to do some training, swimming from the head to the bailey. Good luck with it.

spoonface

pARTner81 wrote: »

be very careful accessing this spot, some of the banks are giving away. I was down there doing the jumps at the end of the summer and as I was leaving I spotted that there had been a fresh fall into the water, it was quite visible. The descent is not for the faint hearted. But a great spot to jump from and swim, I'll be back up there this year I think, I'd like to do some training, swimming from the head to the bailey. Good luck with it.

Yeah it's a great spot but like the other posters said, be very careful on the way down and use the ropes. Once you climb over the initial fence, if you make a mistake just there, it could literally cost you your life as there's absolutely no barrier to stop you going all the way to the bottom. Once you've gone down the rope, beware of glass and short metal rods sticking up from the concrete near the high jumps.

I looked into the history of this place a while back and managed to get hold of some photos of the place in it's heyday, when it had a boiler & hot showers, changing rooms, a long-drop toilet, trapezes, ladders and a proper diving boards. These pictures have never been published before, enjoy! I have more info on this place, if anyone's interested PM me.

Also, there's a shorter way to get there - park above the lighthouse road and a bit to the right of its gateway, there's a house called Dane's Hollow (you'll only see the gate and security camera's not the house) and just to the right of its gates you'll see a gap before the next house, it's a narrow public laneway that takes you straight down to the Lion's Head.

pARTner81

Great photos. you can still see the remnants of how it looked inside the huts, with the fire place and the tiling, and the floor is mosaicked! Very cool indeed. I would love to see the full restoration and care of these places.

spoonface

pARTner81 wrote: »

Great photos. you can still see the remnants of how it looked inside the huts, with the fire place and the tiling, and the floor is mosaicked! Very cool indeed. I would love to see the full restoration and care of these places.

Indeed. Actually, if you go beyond those huts you can find the long-drop toilet (you wouldn't see it unless you go looking) and in there the tiling is still all in good shape. The guy who built all this was Professor James Bayley Butler - he said he didn't play golf and needed something to do with his spare time! He got a number of his students to come along on weekends and help him with the whole project, which would have taken some doing.

He used explosives to clear a lot of the rock and used a winch (somewhat visible in one of the photos) to bring all the cement needed up from a boat below. In it's heyday there were even waterpolo events held here, with a team coming across from the old Blackrock baths.

MyWebPersona

Great photos. I would say it was fantastic on a hot summers day

tmabr

wow amazing pics spoonface,

i cant believe i never heard of this place, and i spent every day of my school hols back in the early 90s getting the dart out to howth to swim in the outdoor pool in balscadden and jumping and diving off cat rock into the sea - must take a drive out to see this.

funny un-related story. one saturday evening we had a few beers and decided to get the dart out to hang out at the pool and drink a few more beers. 3 lads walking down them treacherous steps to the pool-its still bright but late in the evening. so we arrive down at the pool watching the sun go down enjoying a beer and we hear this loud rumble. there was a large cave in the corner of the pool right under the house above which was eroding as we looked at it. so what do 3 half drunk idiot 17 year olds do - we stand underneath this avalanche and watch in amazement
A few days later we take a drive out to see how much had come down and before us was half of the house which had been 30 metres above rolled down into the sea and pool- right were we were standing . we would have been dead and never found under that rubble especially as we didnt tell anyone where we were going. i dont know when it fell- maybe that night or a few days later but it was scary just to look at.

spiderman1885

Brilliant photos, really interesting stuff!

hardCopy

Nice photos spponface.

I've some fun memories of the three-bar and four-bar jumps, I never had the bottle to jump The Razor. Take care on choppy days though, one of my mates lost an awful lot of skin trying to scramble out in rough waves!

dario28

spoonface wrote: »

I looked into the history of this place a while back and managed to get hold of some photos of the place in it's heyday, when it had a boiler & hot showers, changing rooms, a long-drop toilet, trapezes, ladders and a proper diving boards. These pictures have never been published before, enjoy! I have more info on this place, if anyone's interested PM me.

.

Great Pic's any idea when they were taken , wearing full business suits to go swimming , classic !!


- If you havent already seen there is an Old Howth Photos facebook page run buy the guy who own Cafe Ciara , you can add to the collection also , some cracking pics there.

Any other info on this spot would be great ?

spoonface

The best guess I have is of the swimmers around 1930's and the other one approx 1950's.
Professor James Bayley Butler did a lot of work to make it as good as it was then, installing a hot water boiler, bringing in cement by boat, installing a winch to lift work materials to shore and employing gelignite to shift some rock. He said he didn't play cards and didn't play golf so had to do something with his time, so this and the gardens above (including a Roman Ruins garden incorporating some chunks from the attacked Four Courts! ) were his life's work.

Is the Razor the highest point, on the right hand side, on a sort of square shape ? If so I've been off it a couple of times but you get quite a smack when you hit the water! Go at high water for the big jumps obviously and be aware of where the rocks lie under the surface (e.g. the leftside jumping point's rock juts straight out further, so the safe(st) target is the mid point between the 2 sides i.e. the passage towards the cave.

http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/easytide/EasyTide/ShowPrediction.aspx?PortID=0618&PredictionLength=7