Valentia Island

Valentia Island (''Oilean Dairbhre'' in Irish ), is one of Europe 's westernmost inhabited locations, lying in the southwest of County Kerry in the Republic Of Ireland . It is linked to the mainland by a bridge at Portmagee , as well as by a Ferry which sails from Reenard Point to Knightstown , the Island 's main settlement. The permanent population of the island is 650, and the island is approximately 11 km long by 3 km wide.

Valentia was the eastern terminal of the first Transatlantic Telegraph Cable , laid in 1857 and operated until 1966 .

On the northwest of the island stands modest Glanleam House amid its famous s in Europe) Chile and Japan. The gardens are memorialized in a selected golden-variegated '' Luma Apiculata '' "Glenleam Gold" that originated as a sport in the garden.

Attractions on the island also include a Grotto with a statue of the Virgin Mary , in a former slate quarry that provided slatews for the UK's Houses Of Parliament . There is also a fascinating Heritage Centre which tells the story of the Geology, Human, Natural and Industrial History of the island, with exhibits on the Cable Station, the Marine Radio Station and the RNLI Lifeboat . Valentia is still home to a Severn Class Lifeboat . Originally sited on the island, the Valentia Weather Station, one of twelve Coastal Weather Stations whose reports form part of the BBC Shipping Forecast , is now sited on the mainland on the outskirts of Cahersiveen .

In 1993, an undergraduate geology student discovered fossilised Tetrapod trackways, footprints in mud preserved in Devonian rocks on a rock platform on the very coast. About 385 Mya , a primitive Vertebrate passed along a muddy shoreline in the equatorial swampland that is now southeastern Ireland and left prints as if in wet concrete. The prints were preserved by silt overlying them, and were converted to rock over the ages. The Valentia Island trackways are among the oldest signs of vertebrate life on land.

Viscount Valentia is the Courtesy Title in the British Peerage of the Earl Of Mountnorris ; and references to Valentia appear in the Earl's former lands in Worcestershire , England .

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Valentia Island