Come to Baldoyle in winter and the estuary is the whole point. Baldoyle Bay is internationally important for light-bellied Brent geese, which fly in from Arctic Canada to feed on the eelgrass of its mudflats, and at low tide the flats are also worked by black-tailed godwit, redshank, curlew, golden plover and shelduck. The reserve was established in 1988 and covers 195.5 hectares of state-owned tidal water, salt marsh and dune – a Ramsar wetland, Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation, and part of the Dublin Bay Biosphere.
Be clear about what this is, though: a wild, protected estuary, not a visitor attraction. There are no boardwalks, no hides and no café at the water. You watch from the coast road and the shore, there’s an interpretive sign at the northern end, and parking nearby is scarce. Bring binoculars and check the tide – the flats flood fast, and a falling tide is when the birds come in to feed.
The name
Baldoyle, Baile Dúill in Irish, takes its name from the dubh-ghaill, the ‘dark foreigners’ – the Danish Vikings who found the sheltered bay handy for their shallow-draught longboats and the fresh water of the Mayne and Sluice rivers. It’s a neat piece of local history: the dark foreigners named Baldoyle, while the fair-haired Norwegians, the fionn-ghaill, gave their name to Fingal, the county around it.
The Vikings left a fishing village that lasted into the 19th century, by then doubling as a small bathing resort with a coastguard station; the old core around Dublin Street and College Street is now a protected Architectural Conservation Area. The lands once belonged to the medieval Priory of All Hallows, and the Christian Brothers later kept a novitiate, a retirement home and a cemetery here.
The racecourse that became a park
For 120 years Baldoyle had a racecourse. It ran from about 1853 until 1973, when it closed; the land was eventually sold to developers and is now the housing scheme known as The Coast, along with Seagrange Park – which has a playground, sports pitches and a community garden on part of the old course – and the walking corridors that link the village to the estuary. Racecourse Park nearby is home to Baldoyle United FC and Na Dubh Ghall GAA.
One more thing the town quietly makes: Sudocrem, the pink nappy-rash cream in half the bathroom cabinets in Ireland, is produced at the Baldoyle Industrial Estate off the coast road, where the pharmaceutical firm Mylan is the largest tenant.
Walks and a pint
The estuary’s flat edge links into the wider Fingal coastal walkway that Fingal County Council is extending along the shore. From here you can pick up coast paths towards Portmarnock to the north or Sutton and Howth Head to the south, the latter with its cliff walks and views of Ireland’s Eye. The modern Baldoyle Library, on the front, has sea views and is a good wet-weather stop. For a pint afterwards, the Elphin is the traditional local on the coast road.
Getting there
There’s no station called Baldoyle. The nearest DART stops are Sutton and Bayside on the Howth branch, a short walk or bus ride from the village, and Clongriffin on the northern line, which opened in 2010 to serve the new developments. Dublin Bus routes H1 (Baldoyle to the city centre) and H2 (via Portmarnock) run the area, and the coast road has a cycle track if you’d rather ride in from Howth or Clontarf.
Time a visit for a falling tide on a winter afternoon: that’s when the Brent geese and the waders move onto the exposed mud, close enough to the road to watch without disturbing them.