[7] In the late 1500s and early 1600s the village was used as a base for piracy[8] - where not only the local justices (including the vice-admiral of Munster) but the broader population were involved.

[9] These activities were unaffected by official discouragement under King James VI and I, but the Dutch attack on Crookhaven in 1614 did significant damage[10] and English piracy in the region declined thereafter.

Some of these tests and experiments took place between the Fastnet lighthouse, Crookhaven, and Cape Clear Island - since they were so closely connected.

The area was useful for these purposes as a fixed telegraph line also connected Crookhaven and Cape Clear Island - located eight miles away.

The ponds were open until the late 1970s, then it became a food processing plant packaging garlic butter and mussels - but since fell derelict.

Jeremiah Coghlan, naval captain in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, "an officer almost unrivaled in heroic exploits".