Rosses Point

Rosses Point
An Ros
Village
Rosses Point beach
Rosses Point
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 54°18′33″N 8°33′58″W / 54.3092°N 8.5661°W / 54.3092; -8.5661Coordinates: 54°18′33″N 8°33′58″W / 54.3092°N 8.5661°W / 54.3092; -8.5661
Country Ireland
Province Connacht
County County Sligo
Population (2016)[1]
 • Total 883
Time zone UTC+0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
Irish Grid Reference G631401

Rosses Point (Irish: Ros Cheide, meaning "promontary of the hill/assembly (trans. Cheide uncertain)"[2] or Irish: An Ros[3]) is a village in County Sligo, Ireland and also the name of the surrounding peninsula.

Rosses Point is at the entrance to Sligo Harbour from Sligo Bay with Oyster island being the long thin landmass notable when entering the village from Sligo town and Inishmulclohy (or Coney Island) being the second and larger island that is encountered.

History and Places of Interest

Lighthouses

Metal Man Lighthouse

The Metal Man lighthouse, a 3.7 metre (12 ft) high guardian statue placed offshore at the point by local seafarers in 1821 is maintained by the Commissioners of Irish Lights.[4][5]

Oyster Island Lighthouse

The freestanding 12m Oyster Island Lighthouse is prominently visible at the end west end of Oyster Island from the R291 road into Rosses Point.[6][7]

Lower Rosses Lighthouse

The Lower Rosses Light is a 8m high square structure on wooden staves to guide boats down the Needles Channel to Drumcliff bay. Originally build in 1908 it is now solar powered. It can be seen at the northern end of the Rosses Point peninsula.[8][9]

Waiting on Shore Monument

Waiting On Shore monument

The "Waiting on Shore" monument, appropriately situated near the RNLI lifeboat station, depicts a woman holding her arms out to sea. A plate at the base includes the following:

Lost at sea, lost at sea
Or in the evening tide
We loved you, we miss you
May God with you abide.

Spanish Shipwrecks

In 1985 at Streedagh Strand, north of Rosses Point, marine archeologists uncovered the wrecks of three ships of the Spanish Armada, La Lavia, La Juliana, and Santa Maria de Vison, which a storm drove onto this coast in September 1588.[10][11]

Elsinore House[12]

The poet William Butler Yeats and his brother, the artist Jack Butler Yeats, spent their summer holidays at Elsinore House, in Rosses Point.

Elsinore house was the seat of the Middleton Family where the Yeats brothers spent many a summer with their cousins. The house was built by the smuggler John Black or Black Jack. It is said to be still haunted by the ghosts of smugglers tapping on the windows at night. The house has fallen into disrepair and, even though restoration plans have been proposed, it remains derelict.[13][14]

Pier and Lifeboat Station

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution Sligo Bay Lifeboat Station is built next to the pier which harbours a number of fishing vessels.

Rosses Point Heritage Association Heritage Website Archive

This website put together by Kevin Devaney from 1996 and faithfully hosted articles from Rosses Point and Coney Island but went offline after 10 years. The website has been recovered under the stewardship of the Rosses Point Shanty Festival.[15]

Amenities

Yachting

Rosses Point is home to the Sligo Yacht Club They hold children's and adult sailing courses in the summer months.

Golfing

The renowned County Sligo Golf Club hosts the annual West of Ireland Championship.

Beach

Rosses Point is renowned for its safe Blue Flag strands which are ideal for safe swimming.

Sea Angling and Boat Charters

Ewing's Sea Angling and Boat Charters also operate from here and offer a variety of services including deep sea angling, reef fishing, shark fishing (August–October), island services to Coney Island and Inishmurray, and ecotourism cruises.

Events

Rosses Point Shanty Festival

The Rosses Point Shanty Festival is held annually on a weekend around mid June with profits to the RNLI. As well as songs and music there are duck, boating and swim, races, poetry recitals and a cake dance.[16]

Transport

Rosses Point is about 8km from Sligo Town on the R291 road. Bus Éireann route S2 provides an hourly bus service during the day.

The Urban Cycle Sligo travel scheme route 006 links Rosses Point to Scotsmans Walk in Sligo Town with dedicated cycle lanes in the R291 road.[17]

Other Notable Facts

  • Plastic Bullet, a punk rock band from Milan (Italy) have dedicated a song to Rosses Point.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Census 2016 Sapmap Area: Settlements Rosses Point". Central Statistics Office (Ireland). Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  2. ↑ http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001B.html
  3. ↑ "An Ros/Rosses Point". Placenames Database of Ireland. Government of Ireland - Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Dublin City University. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "Metal Man (Co Sligo)". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  5. ↑ Murphy, Willie. "The Metal Man". Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  6. ↑ "Oyster Island Lighthouse, Rosses Point, County Sligo". Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  7. ↑ "Oyster Island Lighthouse". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  8. ↑ "Lower Rosses". Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  9. ↑ "Lower Rosses Point". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  10. ↑ "The Spanish Armada in Sligo". Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  11. ↑ "La Lavia, La Juliana and the Santa Maria de Vison: three Spanish Armada transports lost off Streedagh Strand, Co Sligo: an interim report". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 28: 265–276. doi:10.1111/j.1095-9270.1999.tb00836.x. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  12. ↑ "Elsinore House, Rosses Point". An Taisce. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  13. ↑ "Condition of Yeats's holiday home a 'scandal'". The Irish Times. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  14. ↑ "Stories behind the book: haunted houses and pirate smugglers in Sligo". Royal Dublin Society. 28 January 2010. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  15. ↑ "Rosses Point and Coney Island". Rosses Point Shanty Festival. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  16. ↑ "Rosses Point Shanty Festival". Rosses Point Shanty Festival. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  17. ↑ "Route 006: Rosses Point to Sligo Town". Urban Cycle Sligo. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.