Art & culture

Ask most Dubliners where this place is and they won’t have even heard of it. Chances are that they have even walked past it several times without even noticing it. But once it catches your eye, you won’t be looking away in a hurry.

A church has existed on the site since the 1100s and its present canonical Italianate facade dates back to the early 1700s, although it has since lost its tower and steeple. The interior is surrounded by galleries on three sides, dividing floor level into naves and aisles, but services only take place twice monthly (every second Sunday at 10:00) and opening hours aren’t always abided by so interior viewing isn’t guaranteed.

Despite the fact that it seems to have fallen slightly into disrepair, St. Werburgh’s church is a charming find, only a stone’s throw from Christchurch Cathedral and offers a pleasant foil to it’s more grandiose but tourist-crowded neighbor.

Dublin City Gallery the Hugh Lane, to give it its full, cumbersome title, is located in a beautiful old town house worthy of a visit in its own right. This, combined with the quality of the exhibits, make it the one truly must-see public gallery in the city.

The permanent collection includes many of the most prominent Irish artists of the 20th century, such as William Orpen, Roderick O’Connor, Louis Le Brocquy and Jack B Yeats. Also featured are works by the man often cited as Ireland’s greatest living painter, Sean Scully.

The jewel in the crown, though, is a remarkable reconstruction of Francis Bacon‘s studio at 7 Reece Mews, South Kensington, where he lived and worked from 1961 until his death in 1992. It was donated to the Hugh Lane by Bacon’s former partner, John Edwards, in 1998. “I work much better in chaos,” Bacon once said, and this is reflected in the 7,000-plus seperate items recovered from the small studio and transported to Dublin.

Out of the chaos emerged some of the greatest figurative paintings of the 20th century, and this faithful reconstruction offers a fascinating insight into the artist’s mind.

Ask a member of Dublin’s chattering classes to name their favourite “secret spot” in the city, and there’s a fair chance the response will be the Iveagh Gardens. It has become this almost mythical place that nobody is supposed to know about, yet everybody does.

Nevertheless, it remains true that, thanks to its concealed location behind the National Concert Hall, this wonderful park attracts nothing like the crowds of nearby St Stephen’s Green.

The gardens combine traditional English landscaping with formal features like statues, fountains, rockeries and a rose garden. The real beauty of the place, however, is the feeling of quiet seclusion.

If you fancy reading a book, having a nap or just whiling away a few hours on a sunny day in Dublin, this is a much more attractive option than jostling for space in St Stephen’s Green.

Built in 1824, St Stephen’s Anglican Church is referred to locally as “the Pepper Canister,” owing to its pepper pot-shaped cupola, which has recently undergone restoration. This dome, together with the Georgian neo-classical facade on its Western side, make the church one of the city’s most distinctive historical sights in its own right.

What really impresses me, however, is how beautifully it fits in with its surroundings. The view of the church from Merrion Square, via the Georgian magnificence of Upper Mount Street, is one of the most arresting images in the city.

Should you wish to see the more modest inside of the church also, services take place at 1:00 every Sunday. There are also seperate visiting hours, and regular programmes of classical recitals, details of which can be obtained from the website below.

Even if, like many, you gave up on Ulysses after about ten pages, you will still be familiar with the place where Buck Mulligan came down for his “scrotum tightening” morning dip in the “snot green” waters of the Irish Sea. Joyce actually lived in the Martello Tower here for a while, which is now a Joyce museum.

The Forty Foot is also famous for the fact that up to relatively recent times it was exclusively a gentleman’s bathing area, popular with nudists, before feminists stormed the barricades.

Never mind the history though, the simple reason I love this place and frequent it every summer is that its just a great place to swim. It is essentially just a rocky outcrop next to Sandycove Beach, on which a few basic shelters have been built, and out of which steps have been carved down into to the sea. The water is nearly always cold, even in summer, there can be strong currents, jellyfish are sometimes a menace, and regular swimmers have even been know to take the odd bite from a seal. But these challenges and obstacles are all part of what makes swimming here such an exhilarating experience.

If you happen to be in Dublin at Christmas and feel like doing something a bit crazy, the Christmas Day swim here is a hugely popular local tradition.

To get to the Forty Foot from town, take the DART to Sandycove/Glasthule station. Its a pleasant 10-minute walk from there.