The Old Head Lighthouse

The Old Head Lighthouse

Le phare de Old Head - ©Tourism Ireland photgraphed by John Miskelly

Visiter The Old Head Lighthouse.

The Old Head Lighthouse is a 17th-century Irish lighthouse based on the Old Head peninsula in Kinsale. This magnificent lighthouse overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, offering a sumptuous panorama of the surrounding cliffs!

Visit the Old Head Lighthouse

A lighthouse lost in a postcard landscape!

Old Head Lighthouse - © makasana photo

Old Head Lighthouse – © makasana photo

The Old Head lighthouse is easy to recognize: it’s the only easily distinguishable point that stands out from the rest of the peninsula. With its white and black rings, it was automated in the late 1990s, and is still in operation today.

The lighthouse also boasts a number of outbuildings below, once used as living quarters by the lighthouse keepers. Nowadays, these are no longer in use, but can be visited by the general public (only during the summer months). A guide will introduce you to the history of the lighthouse and its patron, Robert Reading, who had it built in the 17th century.

One of the Old Head Lighthouse’s most interesting anecdotes is that it was the closest point to the RMS Lusitania liner as it sank in 1915.


The Old Head Lighthouse
Practical information

Adresse Adresse :
at the southern tip of Old Head, Kinsale, (County Cork) - Republic of Ireland

Coordonnées GPSGPS :
51.604665, -8.533875
TarifsRates :
  • 7€ per person
Horaires d'ouvertureOpening hours :
  • daily from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm


The Old Head Lighthouse on a map



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