The Forty Foot Pool is an open-air, seawater bathing pool that took its name from the army regiment, the Fortieth Foot, that was stationed at Sandycove's tower until the regiment was disbanded in 1904. At the close of the first chapter of Ulysses, Buck Mulligan heads off to the Forty Foot Pool for a morning swim. A morning wake-up here is still a local tradition, in summer and winter: the Christmas Day Dip is one of Dublin's most enduring traditions.
Pressure from female bathers eventually opened this public stretch of water – originally nudist and for men only – to both sexes, despite strong opposition from the 'forty foot gentlemen', who eventually agreed.