[6] 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.

[7][8][9][10] At first, it was exclusively a male bathing place, and Sandycove Bathers Association, a men's swimming club was established.

[3] On 24 July 1974, about a dozen female equal-rights activists ("Dublin City Women’s Invasion Force") went swimming, and sat with placards.

In 2014, the Sandycove Bathers Association ended the ban on women club members,[11] and they may now use the onsite changing rooms and clubhouse kitchen.

The Forty Foot also featured in the novels At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien (1939), At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill (2001) and Nessuna notizia dello scrittore scomparso by Daniele Bresciani (2017).