Valentia Island - Places of Interest

Places of Interest

The combined features and history of the island make it an attractive tourist destination, easily accessible from the popular Ring of Kerry route.

  • Geokaun Mountain and Fogher Cliffs : the highest mountain on Valentia Island and the sea cliffs of 600 feet (180 m) on its northern face.
  • On the northeast of the island stands Glanleam House amid sub-tropical gardens. Protected by windbreaks from Atlantic gales and never touched by frost, these gardens provide the mildest microclimate in Ireland. Starting in the 1830s, Sir Peter George Fitzgerald, the 19th Knight of Kerry (1808–1880), planted these gardens and stocked them with a unique collection of rare and tender plants from the southern hemisphere, normally grown under glass in Ireland. The gardens are laid out in a naturalistic style as a series of walks. There are plants from South America, Australia, New Zealand (the tallest tree ferns in Europe), Chile, and Japan. The gardens are memorialized in a selected golden-variegated Luma apiculata "Glanleam Gold" that originated as a sport in the garden. The gardens are open to the public.
  • The slate quarry which reopended in 1998 provided slates for the British Houses of Parliament.
  • The island also hosts a heritage centre which tells the story of the geology, human, natural and industrial history of the island, with exhibits on the Cable Station, the Marine Radio Station and the RNLI lifeboat.
  • The Telegraph Field (or Longitude Field) is the site of the first permanent communications link between Europe and the United States. Transatlantic telegraph cables operated from Valentia Island from 1866.

  • Dolmen Rock, western slope of Mt Geokaun

  • Balleyhearney House, Balleyhearney East. 'Famine Era' hospital adjacent to the Knights' Wood.

  • Rare Snow Day Main Road Valentia Island looking toward Knightstown, Valentia Harbour and Cahirciveen

  • Portion of the view from the summit of Mt Geokaun ("yo-kawn"). Valentia Harbour and Cahirciveen are in the background

  • Portion of the view from the summit of Mt Geokaun ("yo-kawn"). Valentia Harbour and Letter are in the background

  • View from Culloo Rock. Dingle Peninsula, Dingle Bay and the north shore of Valentia Island (including Folger Cliffs) are in the background.

  • Vertical view from Culloo Rock

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