The Martello Tower and The Kiosk, which is one of only three in all of Ireland. The Kiosk is a great shop for sweets, ice-cream and beach needs. The village of Portmarnock has a population of roughly 10,000 and is surrounded by Golf Courses on all sides. Our beach was always popular, but it became the focus of world attention in the early ninteen hundreds because of the part it played in avation history. Preparation had begun at Baldonnel, but the crew decided that Portmarnock beach offered a better site for take off.
Many local people remember it well.
Crowds came from everywhere and a lot of them were foreign tourists. Some came well prepared, with foodstuffs and other things. They lit campfires and didn't seen to mind the drizzle at all. Some reports said that the crowd was as big as ten thousand. It was four in the morning when the Souhtern Cross took off.