Forty Foot
The Forty Foot () 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. Name The name "Forty Foot" is somewhat obscure. On an 1833 map, the Marine Road (located to the west) was named the Forty Foot Road, possibly because it was wide; the name may have been transferred to the swimming place, which was called the Forty-Foot Hole in the 19th century. Other accounts claim the name was given by fishermen because it was forty feet ( fathoms) deep, but the water in the area is no deeper than . 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. Use At first, it was exclusively a male bathing place, and Sandycove Bathers Association, a men's swimming club was established. Owing to its relative isolation and gender-restrictions it became a popular spot for nudists. On 24 July 1974, about a dozen of female equal-rights activists ("Dublin City Women’s Invasion Force") went swimming, and sat with placards. and later,