Dún Laoghaire

This guide to Dun Laoghaire near Dublin opens on a storm-lashed night in November 1807, when two ships, the Prince of Wales and the Rochdale, were driven onto the rocks just west of here while crowds on the beach could only watch. It follows the campaign that finally convinced Dublin's shipowners to build a refuge harbour, and engineer John Rennie's design for the great granite pier that still shelters the water below. It also traces the town's brief spell renamed Kingstown, after a royal visit in 1821.