Sunday, December 14, 2008

Dalkey Island (Deilginis)

Open KML file to view Dalkey Island in Google Earth!

Dalkey Island is an island located 300m offshore from Dalkey (Deilginis), a coastal suburb south-east of Dublin City Centre. The Irish name Deilginis means 'Thorn Island'. The island is thorn-shaped and this is from which Dalkey acquired its name. There are no hiking trails as such on the island but due to its small size it is easy to explored without any guidance.

There are a number of ancient remains on the island with the ruins of St. Begnet's Church (7th century) and a Martello Tower being the most historic ones. Martellos are small defensive forts that were built during the 19th century and used for coastal defence against a potential invasion during the Napoleonic era. The Martello Tower on Dalkey Island is one of the most remote towers in the former British Empire.


View Dalkey Island in a larger map


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