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‘riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”
These are the famous opening lines of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. As Wake passages go, they are pretty clear; it is after them that the trouble begins. They have been recited in many places and on many occasions over the years. But it is something else to recite them, not just in the Environs, but in Howth Castle itself. In the words of another very distinguished literary figure – indeed, the last recipient of the Nobel Prize, of which Joyce was never considered worthy – this was indeed bringing it all back home.
Howth features very prominently in Finnegans Wake because the basic image of the book is of a giant figure laid out in the landscape of north Dublin, with his head at Howth (thought to derive its name from the Old Norse Hofuð, head), his phallus at the Wellington Monument in the Phoenix Park, and his feet sticking up "where he last fellonem", at Castleknock, "well to the west". Given this geographical orientation, Howth becomes quite a focus in the work: the second sentence of the Wake begins with a reference to the Norman knight Sir Armoricus (or Almeric) Tristam, who at the battle of Evora in 1177 defeated the Irish and Norse remnants who had been holding out at Howth against King Henry II. As a reward, he was granted the Barony of Howth, beginning the line of what eventually became the earls of Howth.
That line died out only as late as 1909, and the castle and extensive “Environs” are now owned by the Gaisford St Lawrence family, related through marriage to the earls. (The name “St Lawrence” was taken by Armoricus when he became the first baron of Howth because he won his victory on that saint’s feastday and the family have used it ever since.)
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Hence, in the second sentence of Finnegans Wake, "Sir Tristram . . . had passencore [not yet, passenger] rearrived from North Armorica [Armorica being the Latin name for Brittany, as in Armoricus Tristam above] on this side the scraggy isthmus of Europe Minor [the "isthmus" being the isthmus of Sutton, and Ireland being Europe Minor] to wielderfight [fight again] his penisolate war:" [Peninsular War, among other things, Howth being a peninsula]. The arrival of this invader, this stranger, is indeed the foundational moment of the book, as its prominent position testifies.
Nor is this by any means the sole Howth and environs reference: “by the neck I am sutton on”, alluding to the isthmus of Sutton, “isthmus” being the Greek word for neck, will suffice as an indication of the richness of this emblematic location in the work.
The oldest surviving part of Howth Castle today is a 15th-century tower; the house itself is largely 18th century but it was extensively remodelled in the early 20th century by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the greatest British architect of the period, who is of course responsible for the first World War Memorial at Islandbridge.
Visiting it is an unusual experience – most “great houses” that one sees are monuments to a vanished past, no longer possessing a life of their own: one admires the artefacts, the furniture, the décor, etc, in a detached way.
Howth Castle, though, has a strongly lived-in feel, for the very good reason that it is indeed lived in, being the continuously inhabited home of the St Lawrence family. When one enters through the still forbidding black front door and steps into the dark reception room (characteristically of houses of the time, there is no entrance hall) the weight of history is all around, but so is the atmosphere of a continuous present, a living experience that still permeates the entire building.
The visit to Howth Castle was undertaken by members of the James Joyce Institute of Ireland, the longest-running of the various Joyce organisations in Dublin, precursor of the James Joyce Centre and the Dublin James Joyce Summer School, among others.
Founded in 1973 by a number of early enthusiasts, the James Joyce Institute provided a focus and a venue for Joyce-related activities at a time when there was literally nowhere else. It is now engaged in a long-running (to say the least) weekly perusal of Finnegans Wake in the James Joyce Centre in North Great George's Street, Dublin.
Almost as inspiring as reciting the opening lines of Finnegans Wake in the castle to which they refer was to see, at the huge table in the dining room, the place laid out for an unexpected guest. This tradition goes back to the story of the pirate queen Grace O'Malley, who once called unexpectedly to the castle, was denied entry by the then earl, and in revenge kidnapped the earl's heir, returning him only when the earl agreed that such discourtesy would not be shown to guests in the future. Hence the place at the table permanently laid out.
Much is made of this legend in Finnegans Wake, especially on pages 21-23, where the activities of "her grace o'malice" are recounted in the form of a three-part story involving a similar tussle between her and "Jarl van Hoother", the Earl of Howth, ending in a final settlement, as symbolised by the motto of Dublin. Further evidence of the primal presence of Howth in Joyce's "meanderthalltale".
Tickets for tours of Howth Castle during June, July and August are available to book online at howthcastle.com