The caves of Howth, which add an eerie interest to the wild coast-line of the peninsula, were of great use in bygone days for the harbouring of illicit cargoes of liquor. Extensive smuggling was carried on in the eighteenth century, and many an affray took place with the preventive officers. On one occasion, in 1764, smugglers were surprised in a cave near the Needles, which some antiquaries claim to have been a hiding place of Dermot and Grania. A desperate fight took place, in which the officers recovered 160 casks of whiskey, but lost two men. At the beginning of last century there were people living in Howth who claimed to be descendants of the smugglers shot by revenue men, and one of them had an ancestor killed by a button, which had been loaded into a pistol when all the bullets were exhausted.
The Irish Times, January 16th, 1931.