The common stingray was much celebrated in the fishing village of Ringsend, county Dublin, Ireland, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The village, colloquially known as “Raytown,” has a special relationship with this remarkable elasmobranch. Shared, never sold, amongst the villagers, the “towed ray” was central to their daily food supply, while also being prized for its reputed healing powers. Now gone from Dublin Bay and protected along Irish coasts, the ray remains strongly rooted in the identity of Ringsend and its local history.
