Dursey Island ( ga, Baoi Bhéarra or '
) lies at the southwestern tip of the
Beara Peninsula
Beara ( ga, Béarra) or the Beara Peninsula is a peninsula on the south-west coast of Ireland, bounded between the Kenmare "river" (actually a bay) to the north side and Bantry Bay to the south. It contains two mountain ranges running down it ...
in the west of
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 ...
in
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 ...
. Dursey Island is 6.5 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres wide. The island is separated from the mainland by a narrow stretch of water, Dursey Sound, which has a very strong
tidal race
Tidal race or tidal rapid is a natural occurrence whereby a fast-moving tide passes through a constriction, resulting in the formation of waves, eddies and hazardous currents. The constriction can be a passage where the sides narrow, for example ...
, with the submerged Flag Rock close to the centre of the channel.
The island has just six or so permanent residents, and is connected to the mainland by Ireland's only
cable car. The cable car system is due to be closed for maintenance from April until November 2022,
during which period a temporary ferry is due to operate.
Dursey has no shops, pubs or restaurants. At one point there was a post office on the island; this has since closed.
Geography and fauna
The
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...
s on the island are Ballynacallagh, Kilmichael, and Tilickafinna. There are three main peaks, the highest 252m.
The promontories and rocks off Dursey include:
Bull Rock
Off the western point of the island are three rocks: Bull Rock, Cow Rock and Calf Rock.
Bull Rock Lighthouse, which stands on Bull Rock, was built in 1888 and automated in March 1991. Bull Rock was inhabited until this time.
Calf Rock
A staffed lighthouse on Calf Rock was destroyed in a storm in 1881 and its remains can still be seen.
Cow Rock
Cow Rock is home to a number of nesting colonies of seabirds.
Dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
s,
whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...
s and
basking shark
The basking shark (''Cetorhinus maximus'') is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark, and one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Adults typically reach in leng ...
are sometimes seen in the sea off the island.
History
![Oileán Baoi (Dursey Island), Standing stone - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Oile%C3%A1n_Baoi_%28Dursey_Island%29%2C_Standing_stone_-_geograph.org.uk_-_284000.jpg)
Prehistoric sites have been surveyed on the island, including examples of
bullaun
A bullaun ( ga, bullán; from a word cognate with "bowl" and French ''bol'') is the term used for the depression in a stone which is often water filled. Natural rounded boulders or pebbles may sit in the bullaun. The size of the bullaun is high ...
and
cup-marked stones in Ballynacallagh, a prehistoric hut site at Killowen, and a radial stone enclosure at Maughanaclea.
More prominent archaeological sites are visible at Ballynacallagh, where there is a ruined monastic church and graveyard, and at the site of a castle on Oileán Beag ("Small Island"). In 1602 this castle site was a garrison of the
O'Sullivan Beare family. It was destroyed (along with
Dunboy Castle
Dunboy Castle () is a ruined 15th century castle on the Beara Peninsula in south-west Ireland near the town of Castletownbere. The castle's tower house and bawn were destroyed in the 1602 Siege of Dunboy, though its ruins remain open to the p ...
) during the
Nine Years' War
The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...
.
Philip O'Sullivan Beare claimed that all of the occupants of the castle were killed by a force under the command of
George Carew in the
Dursey massacre
The Dursey massacre, also called the Dursey Island massacre, took place in June 1602 during the Nine Years' War on Dursey Island off the Beara Peninsula in southern Ireland. According to Philip O'Sullivan Beare, a group of around three hundred Ga ...
. The 300 islanders were killed; Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare gathered his people from across Cork and set off to take shelter with the O'Rourkes of
Leitrim. Of the 1,000 that set off, 35 survived to reach the O'Rourkes after the convoy was repeatedly attacked.
Little evidence of the castle site remains.
On the highest point on the island, at Tilickafinna, is a signal tower dating to the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. This narrow rectangular tower had two storeys over a basement, with each storey supported by vaulted stonework. The tower has been in ruin since the mid-19th century.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
a whitewashed sign saying ''
Éire
() is Irish for "Ireland", the name of both an island in the North Atlantic and the sovereign state of the Republic of Ireland which governs 84% of the island's landmass. The latter is distinct from Northern Ireland, which covers the remainde ...
'' was built and painted close to the signal tower to indicate to pilots that they were overflying neutral Ireland. In July 1943 a Luftwaffe
Junkers Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...
crashed in fog on Crow Head near Dursey, killing all crew.
Tourism
![Dursey Island Cable Car 09 2015 09 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Dursey_Island_Cable_Car_09_2015_09_02.jpg)
The island is popular with day-trippers and walkers during the summer months. A
waymarked section of the
Beara Way
The Beara Way () is a long-distance trail in the southwest of Ireland. It is a long circular trail around the Beara Peninsula that begins and ends in Glengarriff, County Cork, also passing through parts of County Kerry. It is typically compl ...
loops around the island. Dursey Island's Beara Way walk marks the beginning of Europe's
E8 European long distance path
The E8 European long distance path or E8 path is one of the European long-distance paths, leading 4,700 km (2,920 miles) across Europe, from Cork in Ireland to Bulgaria.
Route
After Ireland it crosses the Irish Sea into Wales and then in ...
, which crosses Europe, ending in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.
Spanning Dursey Sound, the
aerial tramway
An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...
is Ireland's only cable car, and one of the few cable cars that cross the sea in Europe. Used both by tourists and the local population, it has been closed for maintenance for much of 2022.
Dursey Sound is also one of the "signature discovery points" along the
Wild Atlantic Way
The Wild Atlantic Way ( ga, Slí an Atlantaigh Fhiáin) is a tourism trail on the west coast, and on parts of the north and south coasts, of Ireland. The 2,500 km (1,553 mile) driving route passes through nine counties and three provinces, s ...
- a coastal touring route that stretches along Ireland's Atlantic coastline.
Dursey has no shops, pubs or restaurants, but a few holiday homes are rented on the island.
Gallery
File:Ruined church, Dursey Island. - geograph.org.uk - 282370.jpg, Ecclesiastical ruins and graveyard at Ballynacallagh
File:Crashed ju88 dursey island.JPG, Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called '' Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...
memorial sign on the mainland next to Dursey cable car
File:Signal Tower, Dursey Island - geograph.org.uk - 350237.jpg, Napoleonic era signal tower
File:Neutrality - Dursey - geograph.org.uk - 283765.jpg, Remains of World War II "EIRE" neutrality sign
File:BS4 small.jpg, A basking shark
The basking shark (''Cetorhinus maximus'') is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark, and one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Adults typically reach in leng ...
feeds in the Dursey Sound.
References
{{Authority control
Islands of County Cork
Tourist attractions in County Cork
Beara peninsula