historic in Cork, Ireland

Lusitania Museum & Old Head Signal Tower

Ireland's only restored Napoleonic signal tower, and the nearest point of land to where the Lusitania sank.

Worth the wander

This 1804 Napoleonic-era signal tower on the Old Head of Kinsale is now a museum telling the story of RMS Lusitania, torpedoed in 1915 just 12 miles offshore; the lighthouse itself sits further out on a private golf course, but a public lane from Garrylucas Beach loops around the edge of the headland.

Quick answers

Cost: €5 per adult (museum admission)
Time and distance: 45 min - 1 hr museum visit; 6 km walking loop from Garrylucas car park around the headland
Parking: Free parking at the museum; free car park at Garrylucas Beach for the headland walk

Find your way

Ballymackean, Old Head, Co. Cork, P17 T683