Kinsale

Kinsale (Cionn tSáile, "head of the brine") is a small harbour in County Cork, Southwest Ireland. It's 25 km south of Cork city, at the mouth of the River Bandon, and in 2016 had a population of 5281. It's a tourist resort, popular for angling and sailing, and has a concentration of gourmet restaurants.

Understand
Kinsale is a small sheltered harbour in the estuary of the river Bandon. It's popular with amateur sailors and sea-anglers, but is too small for ocean-going ships. But in bygone centuries with small craft, it was well-positioned for trade with France and Spain - and for dodging the attention of English warships patrolling the western Channel.

By 1600 the English controlled most of Ireland but the O'Neills of Ulster remained the last Irish opposition. They called for support from the Catholic continent and Spain weighed in. Several naval expeditions were beset by storms but in 1601 they managed to land troops at Kinsale - the wrong end of the country to help the O'Neills. They became bottled up there so the Irish marched south to join them and break the English siege. They were routed in the battle of 24 Dec 1601; the Spanish remained besieged for three months then surrendered, and were allowed to sail home. Irish rule was broken.

Another continental caller in 1689 was King James II & VII, ousted from the English throne but strongly supported in Ireland. He landed at Kinsale with French troops and marched north, to be beaten at the Battle of the Boyne. He scarpered down to Wexford then to Kinsale where he fled to France, leaving his Irish supporters to fight and die for a lost cause. So in terms of regnal number, that made him James II of England and Wales, VII of Scotland, and Séamus an Chaca of Ireland — "James the Shit".

In 1703 a band of privateers left Kinsale to attack Spanish shipping, and among them was Alexander Selkirk. After a year of storms and battles in the Pacific his ship was in a bad way, and he declared he'd rather be put ashore than continue in it. The captain left him on what we now call Robinson Crusoe Island, and sailed on to have the ship sink under him. Selkirk spent five years as a castaway, and altogether had a more lurid life than the mercantile hero of Daniel Defoe's novel.

The English built up their navy facilities here but Kinsale harbour was too small for late-18th century vessels, let alone the metal steamers of the Victorian age, thanks to the sandbar at its entrance and the rocks known as "The Sovereign's Bollocks". So it was never a major port of emigration, and didn't attract industry and development; the navy base moved to Cork. This means that Kinsale's higgledy-piggledy narrow old streets have been preserved, lined by colourful houses.

The Tourist Information Office is by the main town car park and bus stop on Pier Rd. It's open Tu-Sa 9AM-5PM.

Get in
See Cork for long distance options by rail, sea and air. Bus Éireann 226 runs hourly daily from Cork railway station, Parnell Place bus station and Cork airport, taking an hour to Kinsale. (Bus 226A only goes as far as the airport.) A standard single is €10, it's cheaper with a Leap card.

Local Link Bus 253 runs from Clonakilty via Timoleague and Ballinspittle to Kinsale. There are 5 M-Sa and 3 on Sunday.

By car from Cork take N27 towards the airport then R600 to Kinsale. From Bandon, take N71 towards Inishannon, then R605 to Kinsale.

at the foot of Market Square is also the turnaround stop for the buses.

Get around
Walking should get you everywhere.

Local taxi companies are Kinsale Cabs +353 21 470 6853, and Cab 3000 +353 21 477 3000.

See

 * Town centre has colourful narrow streets.

Further out

 * The Sovereign Islands are a pair of sea-stacks seen from the headland south of Charles Fort. They're a nature reserve and boats may not land, not that they could.
 * Old Head of Kinsale is a spade-shaped headland 15 km southwest of town. The Signal Tower (daily 10AM-5PM), built in Napoleonic times, is a small museum with memorabilia of the Lusitania. In the tower's grounds is a very moving memorial to the 1198 victims of the sinking of the ship, 12 miles off the head, in 1915. On the "blade" of the headland are a ruined 13th-century de Courcey castle and a lighthouse. The head, beyond the ruins of the castle tower, is privately owned and occupied by the Old Head Golf Links. Since the current owner bought the head in the early 1990s, and despite public protest and failed court cases, there has been no public access to it.
 * Garretstown and Garrylucas are beaches west of the head. They're exposed, so they get surf, but may be too rough for family bathing.
 * The Wild Atlantic Way starts at the Old Head. Follow it west on R604; at Ballinspittle the "castle" is just a grassy mound. Keep west on R600 to Timoleague. The headland and coast beyond are described under Clonakilty; only another 2400 km to go to reach the other end in Donegal.

Eat
There's enough cheap and cheerful places, but for a small town Kinsale has a surprising number of excellent gourmet places.

Drink
Blacks of Kinsale distil gin, whiskey and rum, and brew a range of ales. The distillery doesn't offer tours, but you can sample their product at pubs around town.

Connect
As of March 2023, Kinsale has 4G from Eir and Three, and 5G from Vodafone. The signal is patchy on the approach roads through the countryside.

Go next

 * Cork city needs several days to explore, and another 8 km northwest is the famous castle at Blarney.
 * Cobh and Crosshaven near Cork are small ports like Kinsale, but they'll feel very busy and urban by comparison.