Overview
In January 1816 the packet ship Sea Horse was driven ashore in a storm in Tramore Bay and 363 people drowned. The stone beacons on Brownstown Head, on the eastern arm of the bay, are the direct result. What was built as a maritime safety measure is now a quiet headland with two real draws: the walk out to the cliffs, and the birds. If you’re a birdwatcher, this is the reason to come, because Brownstown is rated Waterford’s most productive site for migrants and rarities. If you’re not, it’s a bracing hour on unguarded clifftops with the beacons and the bay for company.
The beacons and the Sea Horse
After the Sea Horse went down, the harbour commissioners were pushed by insurers, Lloyd’s of London among them, to mark the coast so sailors could tell the safe harbour entrance from the sandbanks and hidden rocks. The beacons were completed in 1823. Early accounts credited the civil engineer Alexander Nimmo, but later research by the Commissioners of Irish Lights attributes the design to George Halpin, Inspector of Works and Lighthouses for the Ballast Board.
The circular-plan towers are built from finely dressed stone and taper to limestone caps. They were whitewashed for visibility, tarred in the 1930s, then stripped back to bare stone after 1957. The original plans even called for a cast-iron sailor to stand atop each tower, cousin to the famous ‘Metal Man’ on Newtown Head across the bay, but the figures were never installed. One oddity worth knowing before you count them: guides don’t fully agree on the number here, and you’ll see the beacons described as two pillars in some accounts and three in others.
Birdwatching and wildlife
For anyone with binoculars, Brownstown Head is the headline. The mix of exposed sea-cliff, scrub and farmland pulls in a steady turnover of species, and the spring and autumn migration windows (March to May, August to October) are when the good stuff turns up. This is where the Iberian Chiffchaff made its first Irish record in 2010, and past logs include Scops Owl, Yellow Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler and Northern Parula. Go back far enough and the head’s reputation is older still: up to the mid-1970s it was known for Sociable Plover and Stone Curlew, and a Great Auk was taken here in 1834.
A modest lookout hut near the beacons gives shelter and a steady rest for binoculars, and a wartime lookout post from the Emergency stands nearby. It doubles as a seawatching point, with common dolphins and harbour porpoises regular offshore and the odd larger whale passing the harbour mouth. Early mornings and late afternoons give the best of it.
Coastal walks
The head is the start of two well-established shoreline routes. The longer is the 16 km walk east to Dunmore East, around five hours, past red sandstone cliffs, secluded coves and prehistoric promontory forts, taking in Creaden Head with its steps cut straight into the rock, Rathmoylan Cove and the sheltered inlet at Portally. The shorter Saleens and Brownstown Head loop covers about 11 km in three and a half hours, starting from Saleens Beach and climbing to the beacons. Both suit walkers who are comfortable on uneven, unfenced ground.
Getting there and practical information
- The drive: by road from Tramore the head is a fiddly run of about 14 km, not the short hop the map suggests, because you have to skirt the Tramore Backstrand. Keep right at Murphy’s Bar by the Clohernagh inlet, veer right after Corbally church, then follow the straight road south-west to the Head. Free parking is at the Saleens Beach car park; there’s a smaller lay-by nearer the beacons, but don’t block the field gate.
- Terrain and footwear: the track to the cliff top is unpaved, uneven and slippery after rain. Sturdy shoes are essential, and a pole is worth having in winter.
- Safety: the cliffs are exposed with no railings. Keep well back from the edge in high wind or wet, and keep children and dogs close.
- Facilities: none. No toilets, café or visitor centre, so bring water and snacks. Dogs are welcome on a lead.
- Getting there without a car: buses reach Tramore town; from there it’s a taxi out to Saleens. On the long trail to Dunmore East a seasonal shuttle runs between Saleens and Dunmore East so you don’t have to walk back.
Nearby
- Tramore: the seaside resort across the bay, with its long strand, amusements and pier.
- Dunmore East: a working fishing village at the far end of the coastal trail, with harbour cafés and the start of the Copper Coast routes.
- Waterford Harbour: the estuary off the headland, good for wildlife and boat trips.
If birds are the point, plan a spring or autumn morning: the migration windows are when the rarities show, the light is best early, and the lookout hut keeps the wind off while you wait.