A visit to the Loop Head Peninsula, Co. Clare in 2016

A slideshow of photos I took during my first visit to the Loop Head Peninsula in County Clare on Monday 22nd August 2016.

Loop Head Peninsula is a Peninsula in the south west of County Clare and along the Atlantic Coast. At the west of the peninsula is Loop Head (Irish: Ceann Léime) headland which is at the north of the mouth of the River Shannon. Loop Head is marked by a prominent lighthouse. The opposite headland on the south side of the Shannon is Kerry Head.

The Loop Head peninsula, has the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Shannon Estuary on the other, with barely a mile of land saving it from island status.

In 2010, the Loop Head peninsula was awarded a European Destinations of Excellence Award, which is an EU accolade for emerging tourism destinations which are developing in a responsible and sustainable manner. In 2013, Loop Head was named the “Best Place to Holiday in Ireland” by The Irish Times, and was shortlisted in the Best Destination category at the World Responsible Tourism awards. The Loop Head Peninsula is the only Irish destination listed in the 2014 Global Sustainable Top 100 Destinations and in 2015 took the Gold medal at the Irish Responsible Tourism Awards.

The villages of Cross, Kilbaha, Carrigaholt and Doonaha are on the Loop Head Peninsula. The Wild Atlantic Way passes along the Loop Head Peninsula.

Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Cross was built in 1959.
Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in Kilbaha was built in 1858 and was renovated in 1982-1983. Prior to the construction of this church, mass was celebrated in a wooded ark chapel in the beach when the local landlord refused to give a site for a church. Fr. Meehan came up with the idea of the ark when he was Parish Priest. Inside this church the little ask is preserved in a side chapel. Kilbaha and Cross are in Killballyowen Parish in the Diocese of Killaloe.

Loop Head Lighthouse
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 is 23 nautical miles and its ‘character’ is a white light flashing four times in 20 seconds. The operation was converted to electricity in 1871, and automated in 1991.
In recent years the lighthouse has opened to the public as a tourist attraction in which visitors can climb the stairs up to the top of the Lighthouse.

The Loop Head Peninsula is home to the Bridges of Ross sea arches of which two of them fell into the sea with on of them remaining.