iPod history trail reels in the years

A Dún Laoghaire guide brings the past to life, writes Niall Foley.

LOOK OUT TO sea past the Victoria Fountain and let the voice transport you back to November 20th, 1807. There is no traffic. No fountain. No harbour even. The Dún Laoghaire around you is just a fishing village. It is a freezing, wild night. Across the treacherous waters of Dublin Bay come the screams of drowning soldiers. Or maybe it is the howling wind.

The Rochdale and the Prince of Wales are wrecked before your eyes. Desperate soldiers struggle for salvation. But Captain Jones cuts the ladder to the Prince of Wales' lifeboat. For Captain Jones, there is safety and, later, charges of murder. For 385 troops, there is the shock of ice water, a few moments of frenzy, and then . . . nothing.

A church bell rings. You pause your iPod, and move on to the next stop in this unique tour of Dún Laoghaire.

Produced by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council's heritage department, the guide is available to download for free at www.iopener.ie, a site maintained by the local authority. The site also features a map of Dún Laoghaire, while included in the audio commentary are simple directions.

The project is the brainchild of Richard Cremins, acting director of Services, Economic Development and Planning, and Richard Shakespeare, senior executive officer for Culture, Community Development and Amenities. Heritage officer Tim Carey wrote the script, which is spoken by local writer Joseph O'Connor.

Currently, the Dún Laoghaire guide is the only tour available on the website. Council officials hope other local authorities, encouraged by council heritage officers, will produce and promote their own walking tours for the site.

The local history guide features eight stops of interest, and each section is marked by the peal of a church bell. The tour begins at the Victoria Fountain and tells how the sinking of the Rochdale and Prince of Wales forever changed the nature of a quiet, rural area.

Dún Laoghaire became the chosen port for an "asylum harbour'' in Dublin Bay. Designed by the Scottish engineer John Rennie (responsible also for London Bridge), it remains the largest man-made harbour in Ireland.

Stop two, by Carlisle Pier, considers the sea tragedy of February 1861 which claimed 23 ships around Dún Laoghaire, including Captain James Boyd and five crew of the Ajax. The deaths led to the establishment of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute base in the town.

Carey's script humorously recalls when George IV sailed on by, much to the embarrassment of local dignitaries who were waiting to welcome him. He landed instead in Howth, leaving redundant the elaborate Dún Laoghaire decorations.

At stop three, Dún Laoghaire's public baths are recalled in their glory. Boasting "cold seawater baths, hot fresh water baths, seaweed baths and Russian steam baths", the image provides a sorry contrast to the dereliction before your eyes.

The next stage places you by Scotsman's Bay and in the centre of a great Irish literary triangle. To the right are Dalkey and Killiney, once the home of Nobel laureate George Bernard Shaw. To the left is the East Pier, associated with another local Nobel Prize winner, Samuel Beckett.

The Martello Tower of Sandycove, housing the James Joyce museum, marks the next stage, while the tour reaches its furthest point from Dún Laoghaire at stop six, and Sandycove Road. Local landmarks include the birthplace of Roger Casement at 4 Lawson Terrace.

At stop seven, O'Connor recounts how the customary peace and quiet of sleepy Glasthule village was rudely disturbed by a German Luftwaffe attack on December 20th, 1940. The final stage takes you to the People's Park, opened in 1890 by town commissioners as a public space.

O'Connor finishes the tour with a recital of his poem, Afternoon Tea at the Royal Marine, on growing up in the area. It recalls the baths, Teddy's ice cream, chips and vinegar, the ghost of the Pavilion Cinema, and the Mariner's Church:

"Elderly gentlemen, playing crown green bowls,

Grass-stains on the knees of their white, ironed slacks.

Forever young. Forever in Kingstown.

Punk beauty on the Pier,

Hand shading her eyes,

As she gapes across the billows at the

astonishment of Howth.

And the sea, always murmuring.

The clank of ropes on masts.

As Banville has it, in his Book of Evidence: 'Like the sound of a Chinese orchestra'."