The castle at Carrighaolt has always been a beautiful landmark, from out in the estuary, to when you drive into Carrigaholt from Kilkee and the view of the estuary opens up before you. Carrigaholt Castle is one of Ireland’s many tower houses and was built around 1480 by the…
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The internationally recognised Loop Head Heritage Trail can be accessed on foot, bike or car, depending on what speed you wish to explore the peninsula at. Trail maps can be picked up at any of the Loop Head Tourism network businesses (look for the locally crafted bronze disk on the…
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Kilbaha Gallery is a family run Art Gallery, Coffee House and Retail Experience. For the 2020 season, due to COVID 19, Kilbaha Gallery will be operating primarily online, but will happily take specific enquiries. We hope to return with a bigger and better experience in the near future. Watch this…
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Ring forts are the most common monuments on the Irish landscape and are known by several names, including fort, rath, dún, lios, cashel and caher. They consist of a circular or oval area, around 25 to 50 metres in diameter, enclosed by one or more earthen banks. They were erected…
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There has been a lighthouse at Loop Head since 1670, originally a signal fire on the roof of a single-storey cottage (which can still be seen on the grounds), where the lightkeeper lived. The present tower, which stands 23 metres high, was built in 1854. The range of the light…
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In the 19th century, the landlords of Loop Head refused to give over a site for the building of a church for Roman Catholic worship in Kilbaha. The local priest at the time, Fr Michael Meehan, came up with the idea of celebrating mass on the foreshore, which is no…
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Surrounded as they were by water, the people of Loop Head often needed to defend their position. Mediaeval castles such as the one at Carrigaholt were strategically located for defence. Carrigaholt Castle stands at the end of the fishing pier overlooking the Shannon Estuary and the harbour. It is enclosed…
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Loop Head’s location, with the treacherous Atlantic on one side and the busy shipping lanes of the Shannon Estuary on the other, means that much of its history naturally tells of the water. At one time, many inhabitants of the southern shores of the peninsula eked a living from piloting…
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The chequered military history of Loop Head can be pieced together from relics dating from the 15th century (see Carrigaholt Castle) right up to the 20th. Several gun batteries such as the one at Kilcredaun, built in 1814, were erected around the coast to help repel a French invasion during…
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The Sally O’Keeffe is a Shannon hooker – a traditional wooden sailing vessel – designed and built from scratch by a team of devoted local enthusiasts. The Sally O’Keeffe is named after a noted sailor who lived on the Querrin Shore in the 19th century. She is an open, 25-foot,…
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Over the centuries, scores of ships have met a watery end off Loop Head, on both the Atlantic coast and in the Shannon Estuary. In 1836, the Intrinsic, bound for New Orleans, sank along with her crew of 14 in a bay near Bishop’s Island in Kilkee. The wreck site…
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