Castletownbere is a small but vibrant town nestled at the heart of the beautiful Beara Peninsula. The town sits between the Caha and Slieve Miskish mountains and overlooks the spectacular Berehaven Harbour.
Castletownbere (Irish:
Baile Chaisleáin Bhéarra) is a small town in County Cork. It is located on the Beara Peninsula by Berehaven Harbour. It is also known as
Castletown Berehaven. The name of the town comes from the no longer extant MacCarty Castle,
and not Dunboy Castle which was home to the O'Sullivan clan. The area is the setting for Daphne du Maurier's 1943 novel
Hungry Hill named for the mountain of the same name which is the highest peak in the Caha Mountains.
Castletownbere is situated on the Wild Atlantic Way, a 2,500 km tourism trail along the west coast of Ireland. "Where land and sea collide, untamed beauty abounds."
Another stunning attraction right on our door step is The Beara Way. A walking route around the beara pensula that takes in many historical and archeological sites.
Fishing is the chief economic activity in the town but only started up in a major way in the 1950s. Ships from the Soviet Union and the former Soviet Union came to Berehaven to purchase and process fish well into the 1990s. Castletownbere is currently one of the 5 main fishing ports on the island of Ireland. It is the largest whitefish port in the country
and the 2nd-safest natural harbour in the world.
It is also home to the Irish Fisheries training School.
History
Dunboy Castle two miles west of the town - was the seat of the O'Sullivan Beare who, together with other Gaelic lords and with Spanish aid, had gone into rebellion against the English Crown. During the Seige of Dunboy the castle was reduced by the forces of Elizabeth I in 1602. He then retreated with his followers to Leitrim. O'Sullivan Beare's stance was commemorated in 2002. A plaque in Irish and English exists on the ruins of his fortress saying it honoured those who had most nobly lain down their lives for their faith at that hallowed place.
In 1796 Theobald Wolfe Tone and his confederates sailed into Berehaven Harbour in French men o' war. They anchored off Ahabeg - a townland five miles east of Castletownbere - but the gales were so violent that they could not land. Wolfe Tone fulminated that he was so close to Ireland that he could almost have spat onto the shore - he reflected, "England has not had such an escape since the Armada" - perhaps an allusion to the fact that adverse winds frustrated England's enemies on both occasions. For his efforts in preparing the local defences against the French, Richard White, a local landlord, was created Earl of Bantry and Viscount Berehaven in 1816.
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Irish Republican Army Commemoration in Castletownbere square:
In Memory of the Men and Women of the Berehaven Battalion
who fought for the Irish Republic from 1916 to 1923. |
The United States Navy established a naval air station on 29 April 1918 to operate seaplanes during World War I.
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| Gas pumps along the sidewalk. |
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| A whimsical display of plantings in front of a house. |
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Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Statue of St. Anthony created a great memory!
Saint
Anthony, perfect imitator of Jesus, who received from God the special
power of restoring lost things, grant that I may find (mention your
petition) which has been lost. As least restore to me peace and
tranquility of mind, the loss of which has afflicted me even more than
my material loss.
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A great dinner at Breen's Lobster Bar
with Jo, Dave, Randy, Melanie, and Carol
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