Overview
Sheep’s Head Lighthouse is small – the tower is just 7 m tall – but it sits 83 m up on the cliff at the very tip of the Sheep’s Head Peninsula in County Cork, where Bantry Bay opens into the Atlantic. It throws three white flashes every 15 seconds, with a narrow red sector warning shipping off the South Bullig rocks; the white light carries 18 nautical miles, the red 15. What it is not is a place you can go inside. The building is closed and automated. The reason to come is the walk out to it and the views along the way.
If you only do one thing here, it’s the loop – and be honest with yourself about it first, because it is graded strenuous, not a stroll.
History and construction
The lighthouse was built in 1968 to guide tankers into the new Gulf Oil terminal on Whiddy Island, and building it was the hard part. There was no road to the headland, so every last component – 19 electricity poles, the lantern, the lot – was airlifted from Kilcrohane, 9 km away, in roughly 250 helicopter trips. The contractors were J. Dennehy and James Bradfield, and the light was first exhibited on 14 October 1968.
For years the light was watched over by the keepers at Mizen Head over UHF radio. When Mizen was automated in 1993, Sheep’s Head was linked instead by telephone and UHF to Irish Lights’ Remote Control and Monitoring System at Dún Laoghaire, and it has run without a keeper since.
Walking the Lighthouse Loop
The way to reach the lighthouse is the Sheep’s Head Lighthouse Loop, 3.7 km with about 190 m of climb, waymarked with blue arrows on yellow posts. Discover Ireland puts it at two hours and grades it strenuous, and that is fair: the surface is tracks and paths, steep and rocky in places, along genuine cliff edges. It starts and ends at the Tooreen Point car park at the end of the road, where there are toilets and a seasonal café.
From the car park the path climbs inland first, passing the small freshwater Lough Akeen – a good breather – before turning coastal and dropping down a set of steep steps to the lighthouse itself. Along the way you pass an Éire stone marker, one of the numbered signs laid in the Second World War to tell airmen they were over neutral Ireland, and the stone-outlined helicopter pad that made the tower possible. The cliff-top lookouts open onto Bantry Bay, Dunmanus Bay, the Beara Peninsula and Mizen Head.
Sturdy footwear is essential and the loop is no place for a pushchair or wheelchair. Dogs are not allowed on it.
Wildlife
Sheep’s Head is a Special Protection Area for peregrine falcons and red-billed choughs, both of which work the cliff faces – the choughs are the ones with the curved red bills and the yelping call. The coastal heathland underfoot holds rare plants including pale dog violet and spotted rock-rose. Seals sometimes haul out on the rocks below, and in summer there’s a chance of dolphins offshore; bring binoculars and move quietly, as there’s little cover up here.
Practical information
- Parking and access – Free parking at Tooreen Point (also spelt Toreen or Toureen) at the road’s end; some walkers also park near Bernie’s Cupán Tae café nearby. The lighthouse is reachable on foot only, and there is no public transport to the trailhead.
- The walk – 3.7 km loop, about 2 hours, strenuous, roughly 190 m of ascent, steep and rocky with cliff exposure. No toilets or refreshments on the trail itself, though the Tooreen car park has both seasonally.
- Getting there – From Bantry, follow signs for the Sheep’s Head Peninsula out to Tooreen Point at the tip; allow time, as the last stretch is a slow single road. Cafés, pubs and shops are back in Ahakista and Kilcrohane.
- Extending the day – The loop links into the long-distance Sheep’s Head Way, and pairs well with the villages of Durrus and Ahakista or a run over to the Mizen Head signal station.