County Dossier
Dublin
A county of bay, river and the capital's long history.
Dublin stands on the east coast where the River Liffey enters Dublin Bay, combining coastal plain, estuary and the lower slopes of the Dublin Mountains to the south.
At a glance
Dublin at a glance
A county of bay, river and the capital's long history.
- Province of Leinster
- Viking founding (c. 841)
- Formed from earlier Norse kingdom + Leinster territories
- Area: 356 sq miles / 922 km²
- Population: 1,270,603
- County top: Kippure 2,484 ft / 757 m
County Geography
Dublin meets Meath to the north and north-west, Kildare to the west and south-west, and Wicklow to the south, while the Irish Sea forms the county’s eastern edge. The county is shaped by Dublin Bay, the Liffey and its lower plain, and the southward rise into the mountains.
Dublin is easy to recognise through Dublin Bay, the Liffey plain, and the southern mountain edge.
Map Reference
View Dublin on the map
Dublin is the county. The map shows its boundary, places, and neighbouring counties.
The county.
The county boundary.
Nearby counties and places.
Places and routes
Dublin, Swords, Howth, Tallaght, and Balbriggan show the county from its central bay-side core to its northern coast and southern plain.
Connections
The county’s routes have long centred on the Liffey crossing at Dublin and then spread north and south along the coast and west across the plain. Movement follows the bay, river, and plain.
Names
- Dublin
- County Dublin
- County of Dublin
Baile Átha Cliath is the Irish form of Dublin. County Dublin is the formal historical style, the county name grew from the Norse and Irish town at the bridge-ford, and the older county story includes the capital, the Pale, and the wider coast-and-plain district around them.
Dublin was a county by the twelfth century, and the relationship between bay, river, plain, and southern upland still gives the historic county a clear geography beyond the capital itself.