Blackrock
Suburb of Dundalk
Beach Promenade
Blackrock (Irish: Na Creagacha Dubha), is a seaside village just to the south of Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland (here are directions). The village is in the townland of Haggardstown. The current population of the village is about 3,000.
In the 1950s and 60s, Blackrock was a holiday destination for people in landlocked Monaghan and Cavan. The beach that is pictured in the colourised postcards of that era (still on sale) was created with sand imported from beaches further down the coast, as the sand was continually washed away to contribute to the buildup of silt in Dundalk Bay. Although it is no longer considered a tourist resort, there remains a tradition of visiting Blackrock on the 15th of August (vide the Celtic feast of Lúnasa).
Cooley Mountains
Since the late 1960s, Blackrock has expanded significantly and has become more of a suburb to Dundalk. With the opening of the M1 motorway to Dublin, there has been another wave of expansion and it is also becoming a commuter town with access to North Dublin.
The view looking North over Dundalk Bay from the promenade toward the Cooley Mountains is impressive.
In common with a number of east coast locations, the beach has a very gentle gradient and the sea retreats about 5 km at low tide. The exposed seabed is a mixture of sand and mud flats.
Beautiful Ireland 