4"Howth Castle." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 July 2012. Web. 19 July 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howth_Castle>.
An 1895 book described the scenery in the vicinity of the monument: "There are many beautiful spots on the Hill of Howth, and there is no place near Dublin, at all events, which teems with such rich and varied associations with our history and literature. But there is one spot in Howth preeminent in its beauty and preeminent too in its associations. It is a dell in the demesne bordered on one side be precipitous cliffs. A grassy path lies through it edged with ferns and shaded with larches and firs, and graceful silver birches, such as McWhirter so loves to paint, and then it ascends in a gentle slope to the top of the cliffs. In the latter end of May, and beginning of June, these cliffs from base to summit are all ablaze with the purple, and rose, and flame colour, and yellow and white blooms of myriads of rhododendrons, while along the right, beyond and among the ferns, is spread a great blue carpet of wild hyacinths. Near toward the path ascends the cliff, another path turns off to the right and leads you to the Cromlech of Howth." (Carton, R.P. "The Associations of Scenery. Part II." The Irish Monthly 23.263 (1895): 234-35.)