Old Head of Kinsale

The Old Head is a narrow finger of rock reaching about three kilometres into the Celtic Sea south of Kinsale, with a red and white banded lighthouse at the tip and the remains of a de Courcy castle across its neck. The Lusitania was torpedoed roughly eighteen kilometres off this headland in May 1915 and sank in eighteen minutes with the loss of around twelve hundred lives; a signal tower on the head now houses a museum and there is a memorial garden. The complication for visitors is access. A private golf course occupies the headland and the public road stops at its gates, so the lighthouse and most of the head cannot be walked to - a situation that has been through the courts repeatedly since the 1990s and remains a live local grievance. What is open is a viewing area at the neck, the memorial garden and the signal tower, with the head itself seen from a distance.

The landscape

• The banded lighthouse - visible from the public viewpoint, not reachable.
• The signal tower and museum - the Lusitania memorial and exhibition.
• The castle remains - the de Courcy walls across the neck.
• The headland - three kilometres of rock into the Celtic Sea.

When to go

April to October. The signal tower museum and memorial garden keep seasonal hours. The viewpoint is exposed and windy in any weather.

Practical notes

You cannot walk to the lighthouse - the headland is a private golf course and access has been contested in court for decades. The public part is a viewpoint and the memorial site. Cliffs at the neck are unfenced.

Nearby

Kinsale and Charles Fort are north; Garretstown and the West Cork coast run west.

Key facts