Ballycotton
| Ballycotton Irish: Baile Choitín | |
| County Cork | |
|---|---|
 Ballycotton lifeboat station | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | W992640 |
| Location: | 51°49’37"N, 8°0’11"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 497 (2016) |
| Local Government | |
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Ballycotton is a village on the coast of County Cork, about 25 miles east of the City of Cork. It is a fishing village that sits on a rocky ledge overlooking Ballycotton Bay and has a sandy beach that stretches for about fifteen miles east to Knockadoon Head.
The current village is actually a re-settlement of an older village which is now entirely underwater. Ballycotton experiences severe coastal erosion with yards of land crumbling into the sea every few years. It is now a site of international research interest on coastal erosion.[1][2]
About the village
Lifeboat
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat station was established in 1858, although medals had been awarded for rescues that took place in 1826 and 1829. The most famous rescue by the Ballycotton lifeboat took place in 1936. An RNLI Medal in Gold was awarded to Coxswain Patrick Sliney, with Silver Medals to Second Coxswain John Lane Walsh and Motor Mechanic Thomas Sliney, and Bronze Medals to Crew Members Michael Coffey Walsh, John Shea Sliney, William Sliney and Thomas Walsh for the service on 11 February when the Daunt Rock lightship broke away from her moorings. The seas were so mountainous that spray was flying over the lantern of the lighthouse 196 feet high. The Barnett} lifeboat, the RNLB Mary Stanford was away from the station for 79 hours and at sea for 49 hours; the crew had no food for 25 hours and they only had three hours sleep. The eight crew were rescued after the lifeboat went alongside the vessel more than a dozen times. This was one of the most exhausting and gallant services in the history of the RNLI.[3]
Lighthouse
- Main article: Ballycotton Lighthouse
Ballycotton Lighthouse stands on the steep sloped Ballycotton Island a mile from the village. It was built in 1851. In 1975 the light was converted to electricity and it was automated on 28 March 1992 at which time the lighthouse keepers were withdrawn.[4]
Events and sights
Ballycotton was used as a location for a film called Divine Rapture during the summer of 1995. Though starring Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp and Debra Winger, the film's production company went bankrupt after just two weeks and the film was never completed.[5]
First run in 1977, the annual Ballycotton Road Race attracted runners from around Ireland and abroad to its 10 Mile circuit of country backroads.[6] In October 2017 it was announced that the 2017 event was to be the last.[7]
Wildlife in the area includes seals and dolphins, and whales are sometimes visible from the cliffs in December and January. The nearby beach at Ballynamona is on a wildlife sanctuary and herons, oystercatchers and sandhoppers.[citation needed] It is also possible to spot Peregrine Falcons near the rocky inlets at dawn and dusk.[citation needed]
Ballycotton cross
In 1875 a local antiquarian, Philip T. Gardner, donated the Ballycotton cross (also known as the Ballycottin cross) to the British Museum. It is a 9th-century jewelled Celtic cross with a centre glass jewel with an inscription of the 'Bismillah' in Arabic Kufic script;[8] the word may be interpreted as As God wills, In the name of Allah or We have repented to God. It is held in the British Museum's brooch collection,[9] and the provenance is: "said to have been found in or near Ballycottin Bog". As an early indicator of possible trade links between Ireland and early Islam, the cross has been cited in academic papers.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ballycotton) |
- Ballycotton Development Company Tourism, sports and local, activities development organisation.
References
- ↑ "Dáil Éireann - Volume 461 - Adjournment Debate - County Cork Coastal Erosion". Debates record. Oireachtas. 20 February 1996. http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0461/D.0461.199602200213.html.
- ↑ "Sea Level Changes And Ireland". ENFO.ie. http://www.enfo.ie/leaflets/bs27.htm.
- ↑ "RNLI - Ballycotton lighthouse history". RNLI.org.uk. http://www.rnli.org.uk/rnli_near_you/ireland/stations/BallycottonCork/history.
- ↑ "Ballycotton History". Ballycotton Development Company. http://www.ballycotton.ie/history.htm.
- ↑ "Brando, Depp, the missing millions and Divine Rapture, the lost movie". The Guardian. 26 November 2009. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/nov/26/brando-depp-divine-rapture.
- ↑ "Ballycotton 10 - Annual 10 mile road race". Ballycottonrunning.com. http://www.ballycottonrunning.com.
- ↑ "Organisers confirm the famed Ballycotton '10' race has come to an end after four decades". The42.ie. 5 October 2017. http://www.the42.ie/ballycotton-10-3632157-Oct2017/.
- ↑ Gilliat-Ray, Sophie (2010). Muslims in Britain: An introduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 6. ISBN 978-0-521-83006-5. http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/30065/excerpt/9780521830065_excerpt.pdf.
- ↑ "Collection online - brooch / amulet - 1875,1211.1". British Museum. https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=88065&partId=1&searchText=Ballycottin+Cross&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&numpages=10¤tPage=1%20http://www.britishmuseum.org%5D.