Beara Peninsula

[1] The peninsula contains a long and varied scenic coast, two mountain ranges and a number of passes, and forms part of the Wild Atlantic Way.

The peninsula was glaciated during the quaternary period; evidence from this era survives in the form of striae around Hungry hill, and erratics on the western road into Glengarriff.

[5] In the modern period, Beara was the traditional seat of power of the O'Sullivan Beare and one of the last points of native Irish clan resistance after the 1601 Battle of Kinsale.

Around 1796, the French navy threatened Bantry Bay, and the British Army responded by erecting defences on Bere Island, including martello and watch towers.

[1] A plaque placed by the Beara Historical Society offers the following to explain the origin of the name: The scholar Nollaig Ó Muraíle doubted this story, and instead suggested a connection to the Kerry dialect word béarach, béar[r]a which refers to "rocks on the seashore against which the sea breaks with great force".

[6] Tourist sites on the peninsula include the ruins of Dunboy Castle and Puxley Mansion, the Copper Mines Museum in Allihies,[7] Garnish Island by Glengarriff (maintained by the OPW) and Derreen Garden (privately owned but open to the public).

[11] A booklet, published by the Glengarriff Tourism and Development Association, describes the forest as "one of the best examples of oceanic sessile oak woodland in Ireland".