The Garden of Ireland - Irish Pictures (1888)
From Irish Pictures Drawn with Pen and Pencil (1888) by Richard Lovett
Chapter II: The Garden of Ireland
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Kingstown Esplanade and Bray Head
FEW capitals are richer in pretty and picturesque scenery close at hand than Dublin. Still fewer possess in addition wide tracts of exceedingly lovely country so close that almost all of the best parts can easily be visited in a day's picnic. The inhabitant of Dublin need be at no loss how or where to enjoy himself when he snatches a holiday from the ordinary routine of daily work. The counties of Wicklow and Wexford present an almost embarrassing choice of delightful excursions.
He has only to take the train, and in a few minutes he is at Kingstown, a fashionable suburb of the great city. This is a modern place, and owes much of its importance to the fact that the mail traffic between Dublin and Holyhead passes through it. Large hotels have been built here; there are multitudes of well-kept villas, and it has become a fashionable resort for well-to-do merchants and people of leisure. Kingstown during the summer gives itself up to music and promenading, to bathing and lounging, to yachting and the never-failing delight of watching the mail packets come and go. The land rises abruptly from the harbour, enabling the place to look beautiful under the white light of day, and even more beautiful under the subdued glow of the many lights dotted about the hilly streets and lanes.
The favourite excursion in the immediate neighbourhood of Kingstown is the walk to the top of Killiney, a bold hill rising to the height of 480 feet. Enthusiastic residents occasionally affirm that the view from the top of this on a fine clear day has no rival in Europe; and although the traveller may not always see his way to the acceptance of this conclusion, he will readily admit that it is impossible to get a lovelier view at so little cost in the way of exertion.