Displaying items by tag: Battery

14th November 2023

Renowned Property Overlooking Famous ‘Forty Foot’ Swimming Spot Is Sold to Irish Buyer

The storied Battery above the Forty Foot in Sandycove has a new owner, as The Irish Times reports.

With a price tag of €3 million, the three-bedroom home created on the site of a former Dublin Bay military installation was sold this past July to an Irish buyer, a year after it was put on the market.

At the time, the move prompted a local campaign calling on Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to buy the property to “provide space and facilities” for bathers at the famed swimming spot while also “serving to protect our historical and architectural heritage”, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

But even the new owner will have to abide by the rules of the architectural conservation area in which the Battery is situated, not to mention that its boundary wall is a protected structue.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in Waterfront Property

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Online Petition Calls on Local Authority to Buy Storied Property Overlooking Famous ‘Forty Foot’ Swimming Spot

More than 400 people have signed a petition calling on Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to buy the Battery above the Forty Foot in Sandycove.

The three-bedroom home created on the site of a former Dublin Bay military installation has been on the market since last month with a price tag of €3 million, as Irish Times Property reports.

Local campaigners have put up posters locally with a link to their petition, which suggests that DLRCoCo could purchase the property to “provide space and facilities” for bathers at the famed swimming spot, while also “serving to protect our historical and architectural heritage”.

The Battery with its old fortifications next to the famed Forty Foot swimming hole | Credit: Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty Dalkey

Built from Dalkey granite, the Battery has a military history that extends from the early 1800s until the Emergency during the Second World War. It passed from State hands into private ownership in 1955, when it was subsequently transformed into a characterful family home.

The campaign says: “We have a wonderful opportunity to return the Battery to public ownership and for the council to acquire the space it needs to develop vital facilities, meet its own objectives for creating suitable outdoor amenities that promote community health and wellbeing and to preserve and protect our architectural and historical heritage and our environment.”

One of the posters taped up locally with a link to the petition | Credit: Afloat.ie

Despite the Forty Foot’s enduring popularity for bathers, campaigners point out that it “lacks many basic facilities” such as a dedicated lifeguard station with first aid, toilets and showers, drinking water and a “warm safe space” for cold-water swimmers.

For more on the campaign, see the petition on Change.org.

Published in Forty Foot Swimming

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National Yacht Club Facilities

Facilities include a slipway directly accessing Dun Laoghaire Harbour, over eighty club moorings, platform parking, pontoons, fuelling, watering and crane-lifting ensure that the NYC is excellently equipped to cater for all the needs of the contemporary sailor. Berths with diesel, water, power and overnight facilities are available to cruising yachtsmen with shopping facilities being a short walk away. The club is active throughout the year with full dining and bar facilities and winter activities include bridge, snooker, quiz nights, wine tasting and special events.

National Yacht Club History

Although there are references to an active “club” prior to 1870, history records that the present clubhouse was erected in 1870 at a cost of £4,000 to a design by William Sterling and the Kingstown Royal Harbour Boat Club was registered with Lloyds in the same year. By 1872 the name had been changed to the Kingston Harbour Boat Club and this change was registered at Lloyds.

In 1881. the premises were purchased by a Captain Peacocke and others who formed a proprietary club called the Kingstown Harbour Yacht Club again registered at Lloyds. Some six years later in 1877 the building again changed hands being bought by a Mr Charles Barrington. and between 1877 and 1901 the club was very active and operated for a while as the “Absolute Club” although this change of name was never registered.

In 1901, the lease was purchased by three trustees who registered it as the Edward Yacht Club. In 1930 at a time when the Edward Yacht Club was relatively inactive, a committee including The Earl of Granard approached the trustees with a proposition to form the National Yacht Club. The Earl of Granard had been Commodore of the North Shannon Y.C. and was a senator in the W.T.Cosgrave government. An agreement was reached, the National Yacht Club was registered at Lloyds. The club burgee was created, red cross of Saint George with blue and white quarters being sky cloud, sea and surf. The Earl of Granard became the first Commodore.

In July of 1950, a warrant was issued to the National Yacht Club by the Government under the Merchant Shipping Act authorising members to hoist a club ensign in lieu of the National Flag. The new ensign to include a representation of the harp. This privilege is unique and specific to members of the National Yacht Club. Sterling’s design for the exterior of the club was a hybrid French Chateau and eighteenth century Garden Pavilion and today as a Class A restricted building it continues to provide elegant dining and bar facilities.

An early drawing of the building shows viewing balconies on the roof and the waterfront façade. Subsequent additions of platforms and a new slip to the seaward side and most recently the construction of new changing rooms, offices and boathouse provide state of the art facilities, capable of coping with major international and world championship events. The club provides a wide range of sailing facilities, from Junior training to family cruising, dinghy sailing to offshore racing and caters for most major classes of dinghies, one design keelboats, sports boats and cruiser racers. It provides training facilities within the ISA Youth Sailing Scheme and National Power Boat Schemes.

Past Commodores

1931 – 42 Earl of Granard 1942 – 45 T.J. Hamilton 1945 – 47 P.M. Purcell 1947 – 50 J.J. O’Leary 1950 – 55 A.A. Murphy 1955 – 60 J.J. O’Leary 1960 – 64 F. Lemass 1964 – 69 J.C. McConnell 1969 – 72 P.J. Johnston 1972 – 74 L. Boyd 1974 – 76 F.C. Winkelmann 1976 – 79 P.A. Browne 1979 – 83 W.A. Maguire 1983 – 87 F.J. Cooney 1987 – 88 J.J. Byrne 1988 – 91 M.F. Muldoon 1991 – 94 B.D. Barry 1994 – 97 M.P.B. Horgan 1997 – 00 B. MacNeaney 2000 – 02 I.E. Kiernan 2002 – 05 C.N.I. Moore 2005 – 08 C.J. Murphy 2008 – 11 P.D. Ryan 2011 – P. Barrington 2011-2014 Larry Power 2014-2017 Ronan Beirne 2017 – 2019

At A Glance - National Yacht Club 2024 Events