About Killiney Hill

Killiney Hill has wonderful views over the surrounding area: Dublin Bay to the north, Killiney beach and the Wicklow Mountains to the south and the Irish Sea and the Mountains of Wales (on a clear day).

It is crowned by an obelisk, standing proudly n the summit of the hill, erected in 1742 in ‘a year of scarcity and hardship, when fever and famine devastated Ireland.’

The winter of 1740 was an incredibly cold one, followed by a severe summer of rain and floods. This wiped out the crops and killed off livestock. The following winter was again artic with temperatures not getting above minus 10 for a month. A wealthy landowner, John Map as, commissioned the Obeslik as a famine relief project to provide employment and income for local families.

Below and to the left is the step pyramid, also known as the “Wishing Stone”. According to legend a wish comes true when you circle all levels of the pyramid, climb to the uppermost pinnacle and, while looking towards St. Begnet’s Oratory on Dalkey Island, silently state your wish.

Partly hidden among rocks and trees to the right is a smaller, stone built, cone shaped structure, known locally as the Witches Hat. It has one small entrance and looks out to sea.

The hill was declared a public park in 1887 by Prince Albert Victor of Wales, in memory of Queen Victoria's Jubilee and was then called Victoria Hill.  Historians tell us that the name Killiney is derived from the anglicisation of the Gaelic, Cill Inion Leinin, which means the Church of the Daughters of Leinin. These five holy women were named Druigen, Luigen, Luicell, Macha and Riomhtach.