Barleycove or Barley Cove () is a bay and beach in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, on the south coast of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is situated close to

Mizen Head Mizen Head ( ga, Carn Uí Néid) is traditionally regarded as the most southerly point of mainland Ireland. It is at the end of the Mizen Peninsula in the district of Carbery in County Cork. Geography Mizen Head is one of the extreme points ...

on the Mizen Peninsula, with

Crookhaven Crookhaven () is a village in County Cork, Ireland, on the most southwestern tip of the island of Ireland. With an out-of-season population of about sixty, it swells in the summer season to about four hundred, when the occupants of the seasonal ...

Goleen Goleen () is a small rural village in County Cork on the south-western tip of Ireland. Farming, tourism and construction work are among the main occupations of the local people. Location Goleen is located towards the south-western end of the ...

being the nearest villages. The area surrounding Barleycove is popular during the summer months. The beach itself has been designated as one of several

Special Areas of Conservation in Ireland Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer Literature * ''Specia ...

under the European Union's

Habitats Directive The Habitats Directive (more formally known as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The E ...

, due to the variety of wildlife and habitats in the sand dunes.

Origin of dunes

On 1 November 1755 there was an earthquake and tsunami recorded in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Portugal. It was reported in the ''Cork Journal'' of 2 November 1755 that 15ft waves were experienced as a result of this event. A side-effect of the tsunami is the dune system at Barley Cove, where much of the beach's sand was deposited by these large waves.

References

{{coord, 51, 28, 12, N, 9, 46, 53, W, region:IE_type:city_source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title Beaches of County Cork Tourist attractions in County Cork