Ireland's Eye

This guide to Ireland's Eye off Howth turns on a September evening in 1852, when the artist William Kirwan brought his wife Sarah out for an ordinary day trip, he to sketch and she to swim in a quiet cove. It follows what the boatman found when he rowed back out, and the odd detail that made a doctor's verdict of drowning start to unravel. Along the way you'll hear about the Martello tower built against a French invasion that never came. Best walked along the shoreline toward the cove known as Long Hole.