- Created: April 5, 2013 3:24 pm
- Updated: December 12, 2017 10:59 am
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Bray Head is located on the western end of Valentia Island, County Kerry. At its summit is Bray Tower, a two-storey abandoned signal tower built by English forces in 1815 during the Napoleonic wars and used as a signal station along with several other Martello towers located all along the Ireland coast. It was designed like a 16th century Irish tower house with a chimney and is surrounded by a stone wall. In 1907 Bray Tower was used by the Navy as signal station and again during WWII it was used for coastal watches.
The 90 minute walk to the tower from a new car park is scenic, historical and archaeological walk and well worth the €2 car park charge where you can soak in the views and have a picnic.
From the tower there are great views out west over the Skellig Islands, north looking out over the sheer cliffs to Dingle and south along the Skellig Coast, Portmagee and Puffin Island. If you’re lucky you may also be able to see some whales passing the headland in the water below. Just below and west of the tower are the remains of the word EIRE written using stones in large letters to allow pilots during war times to identify the Irish coastline.
Near the car park, is the historic site where the first Trans-Atlantic Cable landed in 1866 which connected North America to the rest of the world. At this time Valentia Island was the centre of the world for communications.
Half the way up to the tower on the south side of the road is a unique heritage site that many miss. Here there are remains of five dry stone buildings from early Christian times with 12 decorated stones, crosses and other geometric shapes engraved on them.
Bray Head is located on the western end of Valentia Island, County Kerry. At its summit is Bray Tower, a two-storey abandoned signal tower built by English forces in 1815 during the Napoleonic wars and used as a signal station along with several other Martello towers located all along the Ireland coast. It was designed like a 16th century Irish tower house with a chimney and is surrounded by a stone wall. In 1907 Bray Tower was used by the Navy as signal station and again during WWII it was used for coastal watches.
The 90 minute walk to the tower from a new car park is scenic, historical and archaeological walk and well worth the €2 car park charge where you can soak in the views and have a picnic.
From the tower there are great views out west over the Skellig Islands, north looking out over the sheer cliffs to Dingle and south along the Skellig Coast, Portmagee and Puffin Island. If you’re lucky you may also be able to see some whales passing the headland in the water below. Just below and west of the tower are the remains of the word EIRE written using stones in large letters to allow pilots during war times to identify the Irish coastline.
Near the car park, is the historic site where the first Trans-Atlantic Cable landed in 1866 which connected North America to the rest of the world. At this time Valentia Island was the centre of the world for communications.
Half the way up to the tower on the south side of the road is a unique heritage site that many miss. Here there are remains of five dry stone buildings from early Christian times with 12 decorated stones, crosses and other geometric shapes engraved on them.
