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Music at the Maritime Concert being held at the Museum

We are proud to announce that Inishowen Maritime Museum will be holding “Music at the Maritime”, a series of music concerts being played by a number of different bands/groups. Tickets are being sold for €15 each on www.eventbrite.ie , just search for the the names and follow the instructions.

Here is the line up for the concert.

Sick & Indigent Song Club – 18th August

Niamh Parsons & Graham Dunne – 1st September

Jimmy Crowley & Eve Telford – 29th September

Donegal Camerata – 3rd November

 

Here is the eventbrite link for the first concert by Sick & Indigent Song Club, the links for the other concerts will be posted the closer we get to them. https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/music-at-the-maritime-the-sick-and-indigent-song-club-concert-tickets-678738594407?aff=ebdssbdestsearch 

 

For more information please email us at greencastlemaritime@outlook.com

 

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 by Greencastle Maritime

Inishowen Maritime Museum 2024 Calendar on sale now

Our 2024 Inishowen Maritime Museum Calendar is now on sale for €8, you can buy it here at the Museum or a number of local shops. If you live further afield no need to worry as you can order our brand new 2024 calendar and have it delivered across the world in time for the new year. All you must do is email us your address at greencastlemaritime@outlook.com and type Calendar in the subject header, we would then email you back with confirmation and a payment link. The price of the calendar is €8 plus the price what is cost to send, below is the cost of postage to each country.

Ireland/N.Ireland €3.95

Great Britain €6.00

Europe €6.50

Australia €10.00

USA €9.00

Canada €9.00

If your country has not been listed do not worry, just mention your country when first emailing us and we will get back to you with a price.

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 by Greencastle Maritime

Upcoming Cruise Liners visiting Greencastle

Arrival Date Ship Name Company Last Port of Call Next Port of Call
12/05/2023 Seabourn Ovation Seabourn Cruise Line Douglas Portree
25/05/2023 Sylvia Earle AE Expeditions Castletown Bearhaven Baile Mor, Iona
18/06/2023 Azamara Pursuit Azamara Cruises Belfast Killybegs
28/06/2023 Riviera Oceania Cruises Killybegs Belfast
24/07/2023 Silver Shadow Silversea Cruises Holyhead Oban
03/08/2023 Seven Seas Splendor Regent Seven Seas Cruises Stornoway Dun Laoghaire
04/08/2023 Renaissance Compagnie Française de Croisières Eskifjörður Le Havre
05/08/2023 Silver Shadow Silversea Cruises Belfast Killybegs
11/08/2023 Europa Hapag-Lloyd Cruises Killybegs Oban
27/08/2023 Crystal Serenity Crystal Cruises Douglas Reykjavik
28/08/2023 Renaissance Compagnie Française de Croisières Isle of Skye Douglas
31/08/2023 Explora 1 Explora Journeys Isle of Skye Liverpool
02/09/2023 Azamara Journey Azamara Cruises Belfast Killybegs
04/10/2023 World Explorer Operated under charter by Nicko Cruises (subsidiary) and Quark Expeditions (Travelopia-owned polar cruise company founded in 1991) No Info at this time No Info at this time
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 by Greencastle Maritime

World War II EIRE Signs at Inishowen Head Restored

The World War 2 EIRE sign at Inishowen Head has been restored as part of a historical signage project undertaken by the Inishowen Maritime Museum.
The project was part-funded by Donegal County Council’s “Small Tourism Works” grant scheme. Directional signs for the museum and 8 historical information signs were researched, designed and installed around Greencastle Harbour and Inishowen Head.
The restoration works to the Eire sign was carried out by the landowner, David McLaughlin and his family.
The Coast Watching Service was established in September 1939 and the Army started to man existing lookout posts on the South coast and to set up new Look Out Posts on headlands around the coast, about 10 miles apart.
Their purpose was to monitor air and shipping traffic around the coast and report any movements to a central military control, in Athlone. Eventually, 83 Look Out Posts (LOP’s) were established around the coast, some in existing buildings, others in bell tents or sod huts.The LOP’s were numbered sequentially around the coast. LOP No 1 was at Ballaghan Point, Co. Louth, and LOP No 82 was at Inishowen Head. For some reason, LOP No 83 was out of sequence, being at Feaklecaly, Dingle. The LOP’s in Inishowen were at Malin Head, No 80, Glengad, No 81, and Inishowen Head, No 82.
By 1940, all LOP’s were connected to the telephone system. The Inishowen LOP’s reported to Fort Dunree for onward transmission to Athlone. Later on, all LOP’s were replaced with standard pre-cast concrete buildings.
By 1943, more and more aeroplanes were being ferried to Britain from the USA and Canada and planes were making landfalls all over the West coast of Ireland. To alleviate the problem caused by planes overflying neutral Ireland, the government decided to have large white signs, EIRE, laid out close to each LOP to indicate to approaching planes that they were entering Irish neutral airspace.
Overflights increased from 700, in 1942, to over 21,000, in 1944. Crash landings and emergency landings in neutral Ireland were increasing and causing diplomatic problems.
At the request of the American government, the identity number of each LOP was added to each EIRE sign, effectively turning them into Air Navigation Marks. For example, Planes making a daylight landfall at a marked site, South of Donegal, could identify exactly where they were and turn to head North until they reached Donegal Bay and picked up the Aero-Radio beacon at Derrynacross, Co Fermanagh. They could then follow the beacon into the official “Donegal Corridor” and on into, or over, Northern Ireland.
There was an un-official agreement between Britain and Ireland allowing overflights of Inishowen, into, and out of, the airfields at Ballykelly, Limavady, Eglinton and Maydown. Air charts, marking the positions and ID numbers of the LOP’s, were first given to the ferry pilots flying in across the Atlantic and were later given to operational pilots liable to be operating near Ireland. They were not provided to the Germans. The Coast Watching Service was disbanded on 09 October 1945. Since then, some of the EIRE signs and their identification numbers have been kept visible by local voluntary groups. All 3 Inishowen signs are still clearly visible. Logbooks from the WW2 Look Out Posts are available to view on the Military Archives website, militaryarchives.ie .
Look out post 80
Look out post 81
Look out post 82
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