If the walls could talk in this cluster of coastguard cottages in Dún Laoghaire, imagine the tales they could tell. Nestled between the west and east pier, the coastguard station and terrace of cottages for the workers’ families were the first of a new generation of stations to be built around the coast in the late 1850s. The first six cottages were completed in 1859, while two more cottages were added in 1864.
When the 1911 census was conducted, 10 couples were living in the cottages with their 26 children. During the War of Independence, the authorities were concerned enough about the safety of the coastguard station workers and their families that they advised the men to be prepared to have their wives and children evacuated at short notice. The coastguards left their stations when the Irish Free State was formed in 1922 and the buildings became occupied by staff working at the harbour.
Three of the cottages have since been occupied long term but now, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has breathed new life into four others in order to provide social housing.
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