August 31st, 2025

Mizen Head, West Cork

During our trip to Ireland (where my daughter and I contracted COVID-19), we visited Mizen Head , "Ireland's most Southwesterly point". We loved it there, with its spectacular geology and scenery, wild craggy outcrops slicing into the battering Atlantic Ocean, even spotting seals from above.

Bare, craggy outcrops reaching into the Atlantic Ocean like claws or gigantic whales — Outcrops like claws or resting Sea Monsters at Mizen Head

A complex set of rock layers with a glimpse of a bay enclosed by more sheer cliffs — Mizen Head Crags from the bridge

A rusted gate with the letters CIL integrated into the metalwork. CIL stands for the Commission of Irish Lights — Commission of Irish Lights gate

Red rust on a still red-painted post base looking out to sea — Red rust on a red base, looking whistfully and defiantly out to see

Strong corrosion on a chain stay surrounded by grass, moss and lichen — How strong now, I wonder

Red rust tails from iron pipes and vents coating a whitewashed wall — That's why they call it red rust, I guess

A dilapidated outhouse without most of its roof, covered in rust stains, surrounded by a grassy hill, blue skies and great crags in the background — From utilitarian to romantic?

The view of a calm, grey sea from an old, slightly misted and mildewed, white-paned window — "... in a minute!"

The Latitude and Longitude of Mizen Head printed as a mural on an outhouse. — The most Southwesterly point of Ireland

I didn't get the chance to stay for it all, but the old 1970s documentary on the lives of Irish lighthouse keepers, called The Land is the Danger , was wonderfully slow, reflective, wistful, yet realistic. They have it up on their website, if you want to have a look:

https://mizenhead.ie/guide/mizen_archives/the-land-is-the-danger/

I was also transfixed by the music at the end of the video, which, after some research, I found to be Variation Nr. 1 - L'Istesso Tempo from Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart. Look it up!

Finally, if you're not sure where Mizen Head is, here's a hint:

The displays in the Signal Station are well worth visiting and spending time with, from old radio equipment to how the light- and... what? Radioguards? lived. I know we all get used to most situations, but I could imagine spending far too much time gazing out of this window:

For me, though, the whole was made more romantic still by the Signal Station, a collection of buildings and towers forming a radio station and originally a lighthouse (which is now situated on Fastnet Rock). It was originally a research station for Marconi, but also formed part of the CIL, the Commission of Irish Lights: The gate was rusting - a normal situation for a coastal site, which turned out to be a bit of a dream for an old metals engineer like me, who battled for so long to prevent corrosion in the automotive industry.