Inishowen Maritime Museum & Planetarium is located at the Old Coast Guard station over looking Greencastle Harbour on the banks of the beautiful Lough Foyle. It is situated beside the Lough Foyle ferry entrance; this passenger/car ferry service runs between Greencastle and Magilligan, Co. Derry
If you wish to contact us or have any queries on our new full-dome digital theatre please do not hesitate to call the museum on (00353) 074 9381363.
Note: During winter hours, planetarium shows are not presented at pre-set times. As long as a staff member is present to run the shows, they are available anytime on a walk-in basis. (min 6 persons for unscheduled shows during winter opening hours)
For information or bookings, call 074 938 1363.
From N.I. & U.K.: 00 353 74 938 1363
Family and group rates available. School groups especially welcome!
Open All Year Round
May – 1st September
Monday – Saturday
10.00am – 5:30pm
Sunday
12.00pm – 5pm
Last admission 4.00pm
1st September – May
Monday – Friday
10.30am – 4.00pm
Last admission 3.30pm
Other times by appointment
Sponsors and Friends of Inishowen Maritime Museum
Inishowen Maritime Museum, located at the Old Coastguard Station in Greencastle, has been at the heart of the community, preserving and showcasing Inishowen’s rich maritime heritage for the past 30 years. The museum has achieved great success over the years and has held many exhibitions and events to promote the importance of the Inishowen sea faring community. The museum is continuing its progress by being part of the Museums Standards Programme of Ireland with the Heritage Council and with its close partnership with Failte Ireland.
Since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic the museum has received no operational support from the council or from any other government body. The prolonged periods of closure forced upon us by the pandemic and the rising energy costs due to the war in Ukraine have meant that we have had to make serious cutbacks in order to keep our doors open. To this end, we are hoping to establish Sponsors and Friends of the museum to help ensure our future.
We are asking that you would consider being a sponsor or friend of the museum on an annual basis. Being a sponsor or friend will entitle you to free access to the museum, museum run events and additional benefits listed below.
| Sponsor – €500 Annual Fee | Friend – €100 Annual Fee |
| Free access to the museum and
museum run events all year |
Free access to the museum and
museum run events all year |
| Free entry for up to 10 guests per year | Free entry for up to 5 guests per year |
| Listing as sponsor on website and at museum | Listing as friend on website and at museum |
Your support is vital for the future of the museum. We are now a registered charity so tax benefits may accrue to donors.
If you are happy become a sponsor or friend, we would be grateful for your contribution. The easiest way to make the payment is by setting up a standing order to be paid recurring on the 1st of May via online banking direct to our account stating your name as the reference:
ACC – Inishowen Maritime Heritage CLG
IBAN – IE09BOFI 904771 89425514
BIC – BOFIIE2DXXX
The payment can also be made by calling to the museum and paying by card or cash.
We look forward to having you on board!
Regards,
The Board and Staff
Inishowen Maritime Museum is hosting a weekend event to celebrate the launch of an exhibition of a selection of artefacts from La Trinidad Valencera. The weekend will also celebrate the discovery of the wreck at Kinnagoe Bay just over 50 years ago. All are welcome to attend. Please note that booking is essential for fieldtrips.
L-R Charlie McConalogue Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine of Ireland, Rosemarie Moulden Manager, Seamus Carey Chairperson of Inishowen Maritime Museum, Seamus Bovaird committee member of Inishowen Maritime Museum, H.E. Mr. Ildefonso Castro Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain, Kate O’Callaghan Manager, Mrs. Esperanza Cancio de Castro
On Monday the 9th Inishowen Maritime Museum had the pleasure of hosting H.E. Mr. Ildefonso Castro, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain and his spouse, Mrs. Esperanza Cancio de Castro. They were given a tour of the museum with a special focus on the Spanish Armada exhibition la Trinidad Valencera which will have its official launch down here at the museum with the date to be announced soon. Before they departed, Mrs. Esperanza Cancio de Castro was gifted a Glendowen shawl created by Ann McGonigle of Glendowen Craft Studio as a reminder of her and H.E. Mr. Ildefonso Castro visit to the Inishowen Maritime Museum and Inishowen area.
May – August
Tuesday – Saturday
10.00am – 5pm
Sunday
12.00pm – 5pm
Last admission 4.00pm
Closed Mondays (except Bank Holidays)
Monday – Friday
10.30am – 4.00pm
Last admission 3.30pm
Other times by appointment
Andrew Ward Inishowen Development Partnership, Seamus Carey Museum committee member, Norwegian Ambassador to Ireland Mari Skåre, Seamus Bovaird Museum committee member, Ken Doherty Museum committee member, Karl Vekins Museum committee member
The Norwegian Ambassador to Ireland, Mari Skåre, visited the museum on 26 July 2021 to renew the connections made
by her predecessor, Else Berit Eikeland, with cultural interests in Inishowen and to formally launch a new Norwegian exhibition, “The Vikings “,
The previous ambassador had arranged the loan, from the Fram Museum, Oslo, of the exhibition, “Cold Recall – Roald Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole”.
This had been replaced by the new exhibition, but Covid precautions had prevented an official launch, earlier, so Ambassador Skåre did the honours on this visit.
The exhibition will be on display until Spring 2022, when it is hoped to replace it by an exhibition on the Spanish Armada.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the discovery of “La Trinidade Valencera” by Derry sub-Aqua Club, in Kinnago Bay but Covid has delayed this commemoration too.
Ambassador Skåre met with representatives of Inishowen’s four secondary schools, the Inishowen Traditional Music Project and with some traditional boatbuilders and sailors to re-start some of the Embassy projects.
She will be returning in the Autumn to progress the projects.
On Thursday last, the Norwegian ambassador, Else Berit Eikeland, visited McDonald Boats, in Greencastle, to officially launch a programme of exchange projects between 2 districts in Norway and several organisations in Inishowen.
The projects have been co-ordinated by the Inishowen Maritime Museum, in Greencastle.
The first project involves exchanges between Inishowen & Norwegian traditional boat building enthusiasts. The museum has been granted funding by the Fishing Local Areas Group (FLAG) to restore two traditional fishing boats, a drontheim and a half-decker, in McDonald Boats. During the restorations boatbuilders from Trondheim Maritime Museum & Boatbuilding Centre will visit Greencastle to take part in the restoration work. Next year, local boatbuilding enthusiasts will visit Trondheim to take part in a similar project there.
The other project involves educational programmes involving the 5 secondary schools in Inishowen and schools in the Bergen district of Norway. The projects will have maritime and environmental themes. Teachers from Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana, have been invited to Bergen, in March, to tease out the finer details with schools in the Bergen area.
It is also hoped to widen the programme to include a connection around traditional fiddling in the Norway, Western Isles of Scotland and Donegal. The Hardanger fiddle is both a musical instrument and a technique. Fiddling traditions and methods in Donegal are unique in Ireland and are closer to Islay than to Mayo. The methodology is thought to stem from Norwegian techniques that travelled to the Faroes and down the Scottish Islands to Donegal. A partner group in Inishowen has been identified and the Ambassador will be seeking a Norwegian counterpart to move forward with them.
In separate developments, the director of the “Coastal Heritage Week” programme in Norway has been liaising with Donegal Tourism and Inishowen maritime heritage groups to promote coastal tourism in Donegal, based on the successful Norwegian model.
The Norwegian district council is applying for EU trans-national funding for a project around the heritage & culture of the trade routes between Norway, the Faroes, the Western Isles and Donegal. This could link with a trans-Atlantic programme between Inishowen, Newfoundland and the Canadian maritime communities currently being developed.