Of the sixty-eight Ogham stones found on the Dingle Peninsula, about fifteen are thought to have been cut from the boulders on Minard beach – elongated brown sandstone blocks that early carvers hauled off to inscribe between the 4th and 7th centuries. That is the kind of place Minard is: a rough storm beach with more history in it than most golden strands. It lies on the south side of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, near Annascaul, under the broken tower of Minard Castle.
If you have half an hour on this coast, Minard earns it – but come for the castle, the strange boulder bank and the Ogham story, not for a swim.
The beach
Instead of sand, Minard is piled with massive rounded stones, some weighing several tonnes, tumbled smooth by Atlantic storms. They are Old Red Sandstone, about 380 million years old: fossilised desert dunes from the Devonian, and you can still pick out cross-bedding and old ripple marks in them. The bank is not just scenery either – it works as a natural sea wall, taking the force of storms that would otherwise flood the fields behind. At low tide a strip of sand appears at the western end, so check a tide table if you want it.
Minard Castle
The tower house above the beach was a Fitzgerald stronghold, built in the 16th century and the largest castle on the peninsula. Its ruin dates from 1650, when Cromwellian forces packed gunpowder under all four of its vaults and blew it up. The blast brought down the upper storeys and crushed the defenders sheltering inside, and cannon fire breached the east wall. Three storeys still stand, tottering; archaeologists believe there was once a fourth. The interior is unstable and closed, so look from the beach, not from within.
The castle stood in for ‘the Tower’ in David Lean’s 1970 film Ryan’s Daughter, shot along this coast.
History on foot
Minard lies on both the Kerry Camino and the Dingle Way, so walkers pass through. Just above the beach are an Iron Age ring fort (Cathair na nAcrai) and St John’s Holy Well (Tobar Eoin), still visited on its pattern day, 29 August. There is a fine local thread here as well: the old Minard coastguard station is where a 15-year-old Tom Crean signed up for the British Navy before he became one of the great Antarctic explorers. His South Pole Inn is a short drive away in Annascaul.
Practical information
- Open – 24 hours, all year, free.
- Parking – a small car park behind the beach holds about fifteen cars and fills on hot days. The approach is a single-track country road that campervans and large vans will struggle with. There are no toilets or facilities of any kind.
- Access – a cut through the dunes at the western end near the castle, over uneven ground and a stone bridge; not suitable for wheelchairs or buggies.
- Swimming – no lifeguards, and it is a boulder beach. The safest water is the sand strip at low tide, and even then the Atlantic is cold and can turn quickly.
Getting there
Minard is east of Dingle town, not out on Slea Head. From Dingle head east toward Annascaul and follow the signs down to the coast. From Tralee or Killarney it is about 45 to 50 minutes via the N86 and local peninsula roads. Public transport is minimal – the nearest buses are in Dingle – but cyclists often take Minard in as part of the Wild Atlantic Way.
Nearby
- Inch Beach – a Blue Flag strand a short drive east, wide and shallow, good for a walk or a paddle.
- Annascaul – the South Pole Inn and the Tom Crean connection.
- Dingle – the peninsula’s main town for food and shops, and the start of the Slea Head Drive proper.
Check the tide before you leave: at low water the sand strip is worth the walk, and at high water it is boulders all the way.