Editing Forty Foot

{{Short description|Promontory in Ireland}}
{{About|the promontory near [[Dublin]]|river in [[Cambridgeshire]]|Forty Foot Drain|the [[Canadians|Canadian]] band and their debut album|Forty Foot Echo}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox landform
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| name              = Forty Foot
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| native_name       = {{native name|ga|Cladach an Daichead Troigh}}
| type              = [[Promontory]]
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[[File:Forty Foot 2008.jpg|thumb|Forty Foot changing rooms and clubhouse kitchen, 2008]]
[[File:Sunrise In 40 Foot Dublin Ireland Seascape Photography (244908235).jpeg|thumb|Sunrise at the Forty Foot, 2018]]

The '''Forty Foot''' ({{Langx|ga|Cladach an Daichead Troigh}})<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.logainm.ie/en/1165031|title=Cladach an Daichead Troigh/Forty Foot|website=Logainm.ie}}</ref> is a [[promontory]] on the southern tip of [[Dublin Bay]] at [[Sandycove]], [[County Dublin]], [[Ireland]], from which people have been swimming in the [[Irish Sea]] all year round for some 250 years.<ref>as of 2008</ref><ref name=".org">
*{{Cite web|url=http://www.fortyfoot.org/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929144544/http://www.fortyfoot.org/|url-status=dead|title=Fortyfoot|archivedate=September 29, 2007|website=fortyfoot.org}}
*{{cite web |title=FORTY FOOT |url=http://www.40foot.org/ |website=40foot.org |access-date=12 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041013141423/http://www.40foot.org/ |archive-date=13 October 2004}}</ref>

==Name==
The name "Forty Foot" is somewhat obscure. On an 1833 map, the Marine Road (located {{cvt|1.5|km}} to the west) was named the Forty Foot Road, possibly because it was {{cvt|40|ft}} wide; the name may have been transferred to the swimming place, which was called the '''Forty-Foot Hole''' in the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uW5iTi8f_b8C&dq=%22Forty+Foot+hole%22+dublin&pg=PA24|title=Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses|first1=Don|last1=Gifford|first2=Robert J.|last2=Seidman|date=December 23, 1988|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520067455|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kNOAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Forty+Foot+hole%22+dublin&pg=PA543|title=Country Life Illustrated|date=December 23, 1899|publisher=Hudson & Kearns|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Other accounts claim the name was given by fishermen because it was forty feet ({{frac|6|2|3}} [[fathom]]s) deep, but the water in the area is no deeper than {{cvt|20|ft|m fathom}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pub-histories/republic-of-ireland/county-dublin/the-forty-foot-dun-laoghaire|title=The Forty Foot Dun Laoghaire - J D Wetherspoon|website=www.jdwetherspoon.com}}</ref> Others have attempted to link it to the [[40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot]], who supposedly bathed there, but they were stationed at [[Richmond Barracks]] in [[Inchicore]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5O3AwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Forty+Foot+hole%22&pg=PA73|title=Literary Translation: Quest for Artistic Integrity|first=Jin|last=Di|date=June 3, 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317639978|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://panoramicireland.com/blog-ireland-guide/forty-40-foot-dublin-irish-sea-swimming|title=Swimming at Dublin's Forty Foot|first=Darren|last=McLoughlin|website=panoramicireland.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.askaboutireland.ie/learning-zone/primary-students/looking-at-places/dun-laoghaire-rathdown/baths-and-bathing/origins-of-baths-and-bath/famous-baths/|title=Famous Baths|website=www.askaboutireland.ie}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xQeWDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Forty+Foot+hole%22+dublin&pg=PT166|title=Family Walks Around Dublin|first=Adrian|last=Hendroff|date=May 31, 2017|publisher=Gill & Macmillan Ltd|isbn=9781788410076|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Use==
At first, it was exclusively a male bathing place, and ''Sandycove Bathers Association'', a men's swimming club was established.<ref name=".org"/> Owing to its relative isolation and gender-restrictions it became a popular spot for [[nudists]].<ref name=".org"/> On 24 July 1974, about a dozen [[women's liberation movement|female equal-rights activists]] ("Dublin City Women’s Invasion Force") went swimming, and [[sit-in|sat]] with [[placard]]s.<ref name="protest-forty-foot">
*{{cite web |last1=O'Mara |first1=Aoife |title=ON THIS DAY: Irish women protested men-only bathing at the Forty Foot |url=https://www.meanwhileinireland.com/on-this-day-irish-women-protested-men-only-bathing-at-the-forty-foot/ |website=Meanwhile in Ireland |access-date=12 September 2022 |date=19 July 2022}}
*{{cite web |title=The Forty Foot Is For Women Too: Women Invade Male Bathing Resort |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1666-women-and-society/370228-women-invade-male-bathing-resort/ |website=[[RTÉ]] Archives |access-date=12 September 2022 |language=en |date=1974}}
</ref> and later, including fewer than five women, swam nude in 1989.<ref name="rte.ie/631349">{{cite web |title=Nude Bathing At The Forty Foot |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2014/0717/631349-nude-bathing-at-the-forty-foot/ |website=[[RTÉ]] Archives |access-date=12 September 2022 |language=en |date=July 1989}}</ref> Now swimming is open to men, women, and children. In 2014, the ''Sandycove Bathers Association'' ended the ban on women club members,<ref name="protest-forty-foot"/> and they may now use the onsite changing rooms and clubhouse kitchen.<ref name="wheresmybackpack/forty-foot">{{cite web |last1=Prideaux-Mooney |first1=Ailsa |title=Freezing at the Forty Foot |url=https://wheresmybackpack.com/2016/01/06/freezing-at-the-forty-foot/ |website=Where's my backpack? |access-date=12 September 2022 |language=en |date=7 January 2016}}</ref> The swimming club requests voluntary contributions for the upkeep of the area.<ref name=".org"/>

==Safety==
Death, near-drowning and hypothermia have resulted from swimming at Forty Foot.<ref name="irishexaminer-30953758">{{cite news |title=Man, 50s, dies after getting into difficulty at Dublin's Forty Foot |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30953758.html |access-date=12 September 2022 |work=[[Irish Examiner]] |date=29 September 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Cuddihy |first1=Tony |title=Woman pulled from the sea at Dublin's Forty Foot during storm today |url=https://www.her.ie/news/woman-pulled-sea-dublins-forty-foot-storm-today-391963 |access-date=12 September 2022 |work=Her.ie |date=2018-03-02 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Leary |first1=Kim |title=Brave lifeguards rescue injured swimmer at Forty Foot beach |url=https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/brave-lifeguards-rescue-injured-swimmer-23761852 |access-date=12 September 2022 |work=DublinLive |date=22 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="thejournal.ie/5397391">{{cite news |last1=Burke |first1=Céimin |title=Exhausted swimmer rescued clinging to rocks near Dublin's Forty Foot |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/swimmer-rescued-forty-foot-dublin-5397391-Mar2021/ |access-date=12 September 2022 |work=TheJournal.ie |date=March 31, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

==In literature==
[[James Joyce]] and [[Oliver St. John Gogarty]] once resided at the [[Martello tower]] together. It is now the [[James Joyce Tower and Museum]].  The opening section of Joyce's ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'' is set here, with the characters [[Stephen Dedalus]] and [[Buck Mulligan]] being partly based on Joyce himself and Gogarty, respectively. Buck Mulligan described the sea as "The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea."

The Forty Foot also featured in the novels ''[[At Swim-Two-Birds]]'' by [[Flann O'Brien]] (1939), ''[[At Swim, Two Boys]]'' by [[Jamie O'Neill]] (2001) and '' Nessuna notizia dello scrittore scomparso '' by [[:it:Daniele_Bresciani|Daniele Bresciani]] (2017).

==In media==
The Forty Foot is featured in the series ''[[Bad Sisters (TV series)|Bad Sisters]]''.<ref name="irishtimes-horgan-forty-foot">{{cite web |last1=Falvey |first1=Deirdre |title=Is that Sharon Horgan in the Forty Foot? ‘Swim to her!’ |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/is-that-sharon-horgan-in-the-forty-foot-swim-to-her-1.4644636 |website=[[The Irish Times]] |access-date=12 September 2022 |language=en |date=August 11, 2021}}</ref>

In the 2023 documentary film ''[[Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, With Dave Letterman]]'', [[David Letterman]] visits the location, which ends up serving as inspiration for the composition of a song by [[Bono]] and [[the Edge]] called "40 Foot Man" featured in the credits of the show.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman |url=https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/movie/bono-and-the-edge-a-sort-of-homecoming-with-dave-letterman |publisher=Disney+|date=March 17, 2023}}</ref>

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |last1=Wainwright |first1=Loudon III |author1-link=Loudon Wainwright III |title=The 10 Best Places to Swim in the World, According to Me |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/19/opinion/sunday/best-places-swim-world.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=19 August 2017}}
* {{cite web |title=Surf Report: Forty Foot |url=https://magicseaweed.com/Forty-Foot-Surf-Report/8105/ |website=Magic Seaweed |language=en}}

==Images==
<gallery mode="packed" caption="Forty Foot" widths="150px" heights="150px">
File:Forty foot pic.jpg|Forty Foot changing rooms and clubhouse kitchen, 2008
File:Sunrise In Sandycove Dublin Ireland (97559339).jpeg|Sunrise at the Forty Foot, 2015
File:Sunrise In Sandycove Dublin Ireland (97656477).jpeg|Sunrise at the Forty Foot, 2015
</gallery>

{{clear}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050131180252/http://40foot.org/ 40foot.org] usurped site
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110707221140/http://fortyfoot.org/ Fortyfoot.org] usurped site
*[http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/2013/0122/647316-documentary-podcast-fortieth-of-foot-forty-foot-sandycove-dublin-bay/ the Forty Foot], 1982 RTE documentary

[[Category:Places in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown]]