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Active Language Learning Locations

Dun Laoghaire

Two of our centers are located in DUN LAOGHAIRE (universally pronounced as dunleary)which is a large residential town, shopping area and holiday resort, beautifully situated on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. The area is renowned as one of the most magnificent in Europe. Two fine piers shelter its magnificent harbour and being Ireland's chief yachting centre races are held regularly from May to September. There is bathing at Seapoint ,Sandycove and Killiney, several 18-hole golf courses within a short distance of each other. Leopardstown racecourse, driving range and short golf course is 5km away. Other local activities include indoor swimming, tennis, bowls, sea angling, ten-pin bowling and walking.

Dun Laoghaire History

History and tradition run deep in Dun Laoghaire. Its name is derived from the fortress built there by a fifth-century King of Ireland. At the beginning of the last century it was a small fishing village. In 1834 the Dublin - Dun Laoghaire railway was opened, and with the completion of the harbour (1859) and the establishment of the mail boat service with Holyhead, the town developed rapidly. In 1821 its name was changed to Kingstown to commemorate the visit of George IV, but in 1920 the name of Dun Laoghaire was restored. The town became a borough in 1930.

Around Dun Laoghaire

Close to Dun Laoghaire (3km north) is Blackrock, with two fine shopping centres and a quaint village. At Sandycove, just south of Dun Laoghaire, is the Martello Tower where James Joyce once lived. Today it is opened to the public as a Joyce museum. 3km south of Dun Laoghaire is the secluded and pleasant town of Dalkey. There are very fine views of Dublin Bay from Sorrento Terrace and Sorrento Park. There are remains of two castles which guarded the town and harbour in medieval times. A Martello tower and fragments of St. Begnet's Oratory crown Dalkey Island, the largest of a group of rocky islands offshore.

Birr

Our second location is BIRR which translated from Irish into English means ''Spring Wells'' . It is a prosperous market town on the Camcor River with tree-lined malls and quite Georgian streets. Birr Castle withstood many a siege in the wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It later became the residence of the Earls of Rosse, and the 3rd Earl maintained a famous observatory there, with a telescope made to his own design. The gardens, which cover one hundred acres, contain over one thousand catalogued trees and are noted for their spring flowering and autumnal colouring. The gardens have been entered to the Guinness Book of Records. Birr boast an Indoor swimming pool, 18 hole golf course, horse riding and tennis courts. Birr Vintage Week is held every August and is a very successful festival.

Around Birr

KILCORMAC on the road to Tullamore is the village of Kilcormac, where a beautifully carved wooden pieta is in the Catholic Church and is believed to be the work of sixteenth-century artists. Nearby are the famous Slieve Bloom Mountains - there is a Slieve Bloom Display centre in Birr itself. A few miles to the south of Birr is the fifteen-century Leap Castle. The castle was burned to the ground in 1922 but many of its interesting features still remain. It is reputed to be one of the most haunted castles in Ireland.

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