| Valentia Island Dairbhre
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| — Town — | |
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Valentia Island
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Munster |
| County | County Kerry |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC+1) |
| Irish Grid Reference | V380764 |
Valentia Island (Irish: Dairbhre) is one of Ireland's westernmost points, lying off the Iveragh Peninsula in the southwest of County Kerry, Ireland. It is linked to the mainland by the Maurice O'Neill Memorial bridge at Portmagee, as well as by a ferry which sails from Reenard Point to Knightstown, the island's main settlement. The permanent population of the island is 650, and the island is approximately 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) long by almost 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) wide.
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Valentia was the eastern terminus[2] of the first commercially viable transatlantic telegraph cable. The first attempt in 1857[3] to land a cable from Ballycarbery Strand on the mainland just east of Valentia Island ended in disappointment. After subsequent failures of cables landed at Knightstown in 1858 and Foilhommerum Bay in 1865,[4] the vast endeavor finally resulted in commercially viable transatlantic telegraph communications from Foilhommerum Bay to Heart's Content, Newfoundland in 1866. Transatlantic telegraph cables operated from Valentia Island for one hundred years, ending with Western Union International terminating its cable operations in 1966.
Prior to the transatlantic telegraph, American longitude measurements had a 2,800-foot (850 m) uncertainty with respect to European longitudes. Because of the importance of accurate longitudes to safe navigation, the U.S. Coast Survey mounted a longitude expedition in 1866 to link longitudes in the United States accurately to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Benjamin Gould and his partner A. T. Mosman reached Valentia on 2 October 1866. They built a temporary longitude observatory beside the Foilhommerum Cable Station to support synchronized longitude observations with Heart's Content, Newfoundland. After many rainy and cloudy days, the first transatlantic longitude signals were exchanged between Foilhommerum and Hearts's Content on October 24, 1866.
In 1993, an undergraduate geology student discovered fossilised tetrapod trackways (), footprints in mud preserved in Devonian rocks on the north coast of the island. About 385 million years ago, a primitive vertebrate passed along a muddy shoreline in the equatorial swampland that is now southwestern Ireland and left prints as if in wet concrete. The prints were preserved by silt overlying them, and were converted to rock over the ages. The Valentia Island trackways are among the oldest signs of vertebrate life on land and have been studied extensively by the palaeontologist Dr Stössel.
The combined features and history of the island make it an attractive tourist destination, easily accessible from the popular Ring of Kerry route.
| Dolmen Rock, western slope of Mt Geokaun | Balleyhearney House, Balleyhearney East. 'Famine Era' hospital adjacent to the Knights' Wood. | Rare Snow Day Main Road Valentia Island looking toward Knightstown, Valentia Harbour and Cahirciveen |
| Portion of the view from the summit of Mt Geokaun ("yo-kawn"). Valentia Harbour and Cahirciveen are in the background | Portion of the view from the summit of Mt Geokaun ("yo-kawn"). Valentia Harbour and Letter are in the background | View from Culloo Rock. Dingle Peninsula, Dingle Bay and the north shore of Valentia Island (including Folger Cliffs) are in the background. |
| Vertical view from Culloo Rock |
The Valentia Island Weather Station is located 51° 56' 23"N, 10° 14'40"W and is 11 metres (36 ft) above the mean sea level. Valentia Observatory is part of Met Éireann, the Irish Meteorological Service. The observatory was set up in August 1868. Valentia island is, on average, the wettest weather station in Ireland. The monthly averages for Sunshine and Rainfall are based on 2010 statistics which are around average apart from July, which received only 40% of its normal sunshine hours and 219% of its normal rainfall.
| Climate data for Valentia Island, County Kerry | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 13.6 (56.5) |
15.1 (59.2) |
20.3 (68.5) |
24.0 (75.2) |
26.9 (80.4) |
25.7 (78.3) |
29.7 (85.5) |
28.4 (83.1) |
25.9 (78.6) |
22.5 (72.5) |
19.8 (67.6) |
15.3 (59.5) |
29.7 (85.5) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 9.3 (48.7) |
9.3 (48.7) |
10.5 (50.9) |
12.2 (54.0) |
14.3 (57.7) |
16.4 (61.5) |
17.9 (64.2) |
18.0 (64.4) |
16.6 (61.9) |
14.3 (57.7) |
11.4 (52.5) |
10.1 (50.2) |
13.4 (56.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 6.75 (44.15) |
6.2 (43.2) |
7.55 (45.59) |
8.85 (47.93) |
10.9 (51.6) |
13.25 (55.85) |
14.8 (58.6) |
14.8 (58.6) |
13.45 (56.21) |
11.45 (52.61) |
8.7 (47.7) |
7.55 (45.59) |
10.4 (50.7) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 4.2 (39.6) |
3.9 (39.0) |
4.6 (40.3) |
5.5 (41.9) |
7.5 (45.5) |
10.1 (50.2) |
11.7 (53.1) |
11.6 (52.9) |
10.3 (50.5) |
8.6 (47.5) |
6.0 (42.8) |
5.0 (41.0) |
7.4 (45.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −5.9 (21.4) |
−7.3 (18.9) |
−5.1 (22.8) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
0.5 (32.9) |
2.8 (37.0) |
5.3 (41.5) |
3.3 (37.9) |
2.8 (37.0) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
−4 (25) |
−5.3 (22.5) |
−7.3 (18.9) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 162 (6.38) |
65.2 (2.567) |
126 (4.96) |
102 (4.02) |
53.9 (2.122) |
84 (3.31) |
160.5 (6.319) |
36.6 (1.441) |
122.4 (4.819) |
134 (5.28) |
175 (6.89) |
108 (4.25) |
1,329.6 (52.346) |
| % humidity | 84 | 83 | 83 | 79 | 78 | 81 | 84 | 85 | 85 | 86 | 84 | 85 | 83 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 20 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 187 |
| Avg. snowy days | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 5.6 |
| Sunshine hours | 102.7 | 117.9 | 158.8 | 217.5 | 230.5 | 207.3 | 85.0 | 186.9 | 106.1 | 119.2 | 80.4 | 89.9 | 1,702.2 |
| Source no. 1: [1] | |||||||||||||
| Source no. 2: [2] | |||||||||||||
Valentia is a popular fishing location, and Valentia waters hold the Irish records for conger eel, red sea bream, Ray's bream and lesser spotted dogfish.
Browne, E.T., The fauna and flora of Valencia Harbour on the west coast of Ireland. Proc. R.Ir. Acad., ser.3,5, 667-854
