Valentia Island

History

Valentia was the eastern terminus of the first commercially viable transatlantic telegraph cable. The first attempt in 1857 to land a cable from Ballycarbery Strand on the mainland just east of Valentia Island ended in disappointment. After subsequent failures of cables landed at Knightstown in 1858 and Foilhommerum Bay in 1865, the vast endeavor finally resulted in commercially viable transatlantic telegraph communications from Foilhommerum Bay to Heart's Content, Newfoundland in 1866. Transatlantic telegraph cables operated from Valentia Island for one hundred years, ending with Western Union International terminating its cable operations in 1966.

Before the transatlantic telegraph, American longitude measurements had a 850-metre (2,800 ft) uncertainty with respect to European longitudes. Because of the importance of accurate longitudes to safe navigation, the United States Coast Survey mounted a longitude expedition in 1866 to link longitudes in the United States accurately to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Benjamin Gould and his partner A. T. Mosman reached Valentia on 2 October 1866. They built a temporary longitude observatory beside the Foilhommerum Cable Station to support synchronised longitude observations with Heart's Content, Newfoundland. After many rainy and cloudy days, the first transatlantic longitude signals were exchanged between Foilhommerum and Heart's Content on 24 October 1866. The transatlantic cable is currently on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

On 21 May 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh made his first landfall in Europe over Dingle Bay and Valentia Island on his solo flight from New York to Paris. On the 1927 Mercator chart used by the famous pilot, it was labelled Valencia.

In 1992, a Swiss geology student, Iwan Stössel, discovered fossilised tetrapod trackways, footprints preserved in Devonian rocks, on the north coast of the island at Dohilla (51°55′51″N 10°20′38″W / 51.930868°N 10.343849°W). About 385 million years ago, a primitive vertebrate passed near a river margin in the sub-equatorial river basin that is now southwestern Ireland and left prints in the damp sand. The prints were preserved by silt and sand overlying them, and were converted to rock over geological time. The Valentia Island trackways are among the oldest signs of vertebrate life on land.

On 14 March 2021, Valentia Island was the site of the first walrus sighting in Ireland.

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 180 metres (600 ft) 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 memorialised 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 reopened 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's Valentia Lifeboat Station.
• The Telegraph Field (or Longitude Field) is the site of the first permanent communications link between Europe and North America Transatlantic telegraph cables operated from Valentia Island from 1866.
• Just off the east end of Valencia island is Beginish Island which still has reminders of a small farming community. Two houses there have been dated to the 12th century.
• In the north-eastern part of the island, on Cromwell's Point, the active Cromwell Point Lighthouse — also referred to as Valentia Lighthouse — is situated.

Climate

Valentia Island has an oceanic climate (Cfb). Sitting on the eastern edge of the Atlantic Ocean, Valentia Island is, on average, the wettest weather station in Ireland. Despite its being on the same latitude as St. Anthony in Newfoundland on the opposite side of the Atlantic, it enjoys much milder winters thanks to the moderating effect of prevailing west or southwest winds, and the effects of the warming North Atlantic Current. Snow and frost are rare, and because of this the island can support many sub-tropical varieties of plants.

Transport

The R565 road is the main road onto the island. There are two connections to the Irish mainland, the fixed Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge to Portmagee, and a seasonal vehicle ferry service from Knightstown.

Sport

Valentia Young Islanders GAA is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club.

Valentia is a popular fishing location, and Valentia waters hold the Irish records for conger eel, red sea bream, Ray's bream and lesser spotted dogfish.

Notable people

• Helen Blackburn who was a leading women's rights campaigner in England was born here in 1842.
• Valentia was considered home to Mug Ruith, a powerful blind druid in Irish mythology.
• The O'Sullivans, headed by the O'Sullivan Beare, owned much of Valentia until the 17th century.
• The naturalist Maude Jane Delap lived and worked in Knightstown, carrying out research into the marine life surrounding Valentia and identifying many new species.
• Valentia is the home of former Gaelic footballer Mick O'Connell, and the birthplace of John J "Sceilg" O'Kelly, leader of Sinn Féin from 1926.
• Gaelic footballer Ger O'Driscoll was born on Valentia Island.
• The American solo rock climber Michael Reardon died on 13 July 2007 at the Fogher Cliffs of Valentia Island when he was swept out to sea following a climb.
• Gerald Spring Rice, 6th Baron Monteagle of Brandon was brought up on the island, as were many other members of the Spring Rice family.