The beginning of the 19th century was an exciting time in European
history. The British Empire still encompassed Ireland and a great
many other more distant countries. In France the revolution of 1789
was well over, and so was the first effort at a Republic. In 1804
Napoleonic Code was adopted in France by its self crowned emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte. It was one of the first legal frameworks in
Europe. All this while both nations were busy being at war with one
another.
This history of this cache begins in Corsica in 1794. At
Mortella Point there was a tower which although the British
eventually captured[1] put up a very tough defence against a naval
attack. The British, fearing attack from Napoleons navy in the
early 1800’s, built towers around the British coast, which at
the time also contained Dublin. The towers were known as Martello
Towers. The ones around Dublin were all built in 1804.
The other notable claim to fame of the Irish Martello Towers is
that James Joyce wrote about one in his novel Ulysses. We will
visit this tower on this cache.
Napoleon never attacked and the towers lay idle. Over the years
they have had a variety of uses. Some were used for storage, some
used as private houses.
This multicache will take you through the most interesting and
accessible Towers in South Dublin. Not all towers are included as
some are locked away on private property; some have been
"developed" (ruined by ugly extensions as private residences) and
one is on an Island. The tour starts on the Strand at Sandymount
and continues along the coast finishing in Dalkey Hill. At each of
the towers on the way there is a visual clue that you must note to
give the final cache coordinates. For those wishing to use public
transport, the best method is to use the DART rail service, each of the towers are
a 10-20 minute walk from the nearest Station.
The first clue is at the Martello Tower in Sandymount N
53° 19.516 W° 6 12.419. This is on the coast road from Dublin,
accessible by the No. 3 bus and a 10 minute walk from the Sydney
Parade DART Station. This Tower has strong iron doors. Note the
last digit of the year that J. Bennet of Church St. Dublin made the
doors. We will call this digit A.
Next we move to the tower near Booterstown N 53° 18.394 W 6°
11.302. "ROS 5 A 85?" The digit at ? is B. Please note that
it is not necessary to approach the railway tracks to see the
numbers, they are quite visible from the tower and the path.
Moving Down the coast we approach the tower at Seapoint Beach N
53° 17.857 W 6° 9.589. This is a popular place for swimmers, basic
showers are provided if you feel like a swim! This is also the
location of two maritime tragedies. Two ships were grounded near
here in 1807 with only a handful of survivors. C is one plus
the number of flag poles on the tower. The original clue
depended on a now removed information plaque. I'll leave it here in
case anyone wants to do some research for the answer!: The Rochdale
ran aground how many feet from the tower? Add the digits up to get
C. This information and more is on notice boards located
near the tower.
Next we move to the most famous of the towers. The one which
James Joyce immortalised in Ulysses. The building is now a museum
to Joyce, details of opening hours are available from The James Joyce
Tower. It is located in Sandycove, with Sandycove and Glasthule
the nearest Dart Station. Near to the tower there are some houses
at N 53° 17.299 W 6° 6.771. On top of some houses are three lions,
but how many eagles are there? That’s D. ***The
single Eagle recently blew down in a storm! The answer to this
stage is 1. I'll come up with another clue soon. Even though you
know the answer its still worth a visit!***
From each of these caches you will have been able to see
Dalkey and Killiney hills to the South. The westmost with the
obelisk is Killiney hill. The Eastern one is Dalkey hill, and the
castle like structure on top of it is actually the telegraph tower
used to communicate with the Martello towers along the coast. Our
final location and the cache container is near to the tower.
The coordinates of the container are
N 53° 16.AD3
W 6° 6.B4C
You do not need to climb cliffs (up or down) to get at this!
There is a stairs to the East of the telegraph tower to get between
the top of the hill and the middle quarry. There may be rock
climbers very near the cache on a good day; however they are
usually friendly and have never been known to bite.
With the cache done you might like to visit Dalkey for some refreshments.
There are plenty of restaurants and pubs to relax in after a hard
days caching!
[1] several times in fact, see www.martello-towers.co.uk
for more detailed discussion.