Kinsale Harbour

Nestling on the River Bandon, Kinsale emerged as a settlement in the sixth century and began trading with English and continental ports. Its secure harbour provided a safe anchorage and prospered during the seventeenth century’s ‘golden age of sail’, victualling ships bound for the West Indies and the American colonies. Extensive facilities for ship building, sail and rope making developed. Military forts and a naval base were established to protect against the threat of foreign invasion and curb pirates and smugglers. Fishing was significant, especially in the late nineteenth century, when fleets of Irish and British boats arrived for the spring mackerel and autumn herring. Fishermen, buyers and Scotch girls, brought in to cure the catches, thronged the bustling waterfront.

After a forty-year boom, the industry declined and the town experienced an extended period of stagnation. In the 1950s the harbour was promoted as a yachting and angling centre which sparked off today’s tourism phenomenon. Apart from seafaring under lofty masts and billowing sails, an insight is provided into life ashore in the taverns and coffee houses and aboard ships and in ‘lewd’ houses.

This comprehensive overview of Kinsale’s seafaring tradition will be enjoyed by all who appreciate a whiff of salty spray and the adventure attached to ships voyaging to distant lands.

This comprehensive overview of Kinsale's seafaring tradition will be enjoyed by all who appreciate a whiff of salty sea spray, and the sense of adventure bound to ships voyaging to distant lands.