Hook Head (Rinn Duáin)

Home to one of the oldest working lighthouses in the world.

The black-and-white tower at Hook Head has guided ships for some 800 years, built by the Normans in the early 13th century on the site of an earlier monastic beacon. The rocky headland is rich in fossils and sea life.

At a glance

• One of the world's oldest working lighthouses
• Norman tower, early 13th century
• Fossil-rich headland

In County Wexford

Hook Head is in County Wexford, Loch Garman in Irish, which means “Garman's lake”.

More in Wexford

• Vinegar Hill (Cnoc Fhíodh na gCaor): The hill above Enniscorthy where the great battle of the 1798 Rebellion was fought.
• The Saltee Islands (Na Sailtí): Two small islands off the Wexford coast, one of Ireland's great bird sanctuaries.
• Enniscorthy (Inis Córthaidh): A Slaney-side town beneath a Norman castle, central to 1798.

Other places of this kind

• The Cliffs of Moher (Aillte an Mhothair): Sea cliffs located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region.
• Newgrange (Sí an Bhrú): A prehistoric monument in County Meath, older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.
• The Giant's Causeway (Clochán an Aifir): Around 40,000 interlocking basalt columns on the Antrim coast, a UNESCO site wrapped in the legend of Finn McCool.
• Glendalough (Gleann Dá Loch): A beautiful glacial valley of two lakes, home to one of Ireland's most important early monastic settlements.
• The Rock of Cashel (Carraig Phádraig): A dramatic outcrop crowned with medieval buildings, once the seat of the kings of Munster.
• Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis): A great early monastery on the banks of the Shannon, once a renowned centre of learning.

The Irish name

The Irish form of Hook Head is Rinn Duáin. You can hear it spoken, and take apart names like it, in the Placename Explorer. The authoritative record for any Irish place-name is logainm.ie.