Valentia Island (Dairbhre in Irish), is one of Europe's westernmost inhabited locations, lying off the Iveragh Peninsula 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. Image File history File links Valentia_Island. ... Image File history File links Valentia_Island. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... Iveragh is a peninsula of County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland. ... Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Tralee Code: KY Area: 4,746 km² Population (2006) 139,616 Website: www. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 51. ... The ferryboat Dongan Hills, filled with commuters, about to dock at a New York City pier, ca. ... Knightstown (An Chois in Irish) is the largest settlement on Valentia Island, County Kerry, Ireland. ...

Telegraph Field, Valentia Island: Foilhommerum is the site of the first permanent communications link between Europe and America. In October 2002, a memorial to mark the laying of the transatlantic cable to Heart's Content, Newfoundland was unveiled atop Foilhommerum Cliff. Made of Valentia slate and designed by local sculptor Alan Hall, the memorial marks the importance of the site to telegraph communications with America from 1857 forward and to accurately linking longitude measurements in America to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in 1866.

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History

Valentia was the eastern terminal of the first transatlantic telegraph cable. The first attempt in 1857 ended in disappointment. Subsequent failures in 1858 and 1865 finally resulted in commercially viable transatlantic telegraph communications in 1866 that operated for one hundred years until Western Union International terminated cable operations in 1966. The first Transatlantic telegraph cable crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Foilhammerum, Valentia Island, in western Ireland to Hearts Content, in eastern Newfoundland. ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Prior to the transatlantic telegraph, American longitude measurements had a 2800 foot uncertainty with respect to European longitudes. Because of the importance of accurate longitudes to safe navigation, the U.S. Coast Survey mounted a longitude expedition in 1866 to accurately link longitudes in the United States to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Dr. Benjamin A. Gould, Jr. and his partner Mr. A. T. Mosman reached Valentia on October 2, 1866. They built a temporary longitude observatory immediately adjacent to the Foilhommerum Cable Station to facilitate synchronized longitude observations with Heart's Content, Newfoundland. After many rainy and cloudy days, the first transatlantic longitude signals were exchanged between Foilhommerum and Hearts's Content on October 24, 1866.

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 and have been studied extensively by the paleontologist Stössel. Groups See text. ... Artists illustration of a Devonian scene. ... In astronomy, geology, and paleontology, mya is an acronym for million years ago and is used as a unit of time to denote length of time before the present. ... Classes and Clades See below Male and female Superb Fairy-wren Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata (within the phylum Chordata), specifically, those chordates with backbones or spinal columns. ... Paleontology, palaeontology or palæontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. ...

Attractions

The combined features and history of the island make it an attractive tourist destination, easily accessible from the popular Ring of Kerry route. // Destinations Armagh - ecclesiastical capital of all Ireland. ... Ring of Kerry The Ring of Kerry is a tourist trail in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. ...

• On the northwest of the island stands modest Glanleam House amid its famous sub-tropical gardens; protected by shelterbelts from Atlantic gales and never touched by frost, these gardens provide the mildest microclimate in Ireland. Starting in the 1830s, Sir Peter George Fitzgerald, the 19th Knight of Kerry (1808 – 1880) [1], planted these gardens and stocked them with a unique collection of rare and tender plants from the southern hemisphere, normally grown under glass in the British Isles. The gardens are laid out in a naturalistic style as a series of walks. There are plants from South America, Australia, New Zealand (the tallest tree ferns in Europe) Chile and Japan. The gardens are memorialized in a selected golden-variegated Luma apiculata "Glanleam Gold" that originated as a sport in the garden. The gardens are open to the public.

• Attractions on the island also include a grotto with a statue of the Virgin Mary, in a recently reopened slate quarry that provided slates 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.

Subtropical (or semitropical) areas are those adjacent to the tropics, usually roughly defined as the ranges 23. ... A windbreak,or shelterbelt, is usually made up of one or more rows of trees planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to prevent soil erosion. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Knight of Kerry is one of three British hereditary knighthoods, all of which existed in Ireland since feudal times. ... Tree Fern refers to any fern that grows with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level. ... Species Four species, including: Luma apiculata Luma chequen Luma is a genus of four species of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, native to the Valdivian temperate rain forests of southwestern South America. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Our Lady redirects here. ... “Houses of Parliament” redirects here. ... RNLI Lifeboat at Calshot Spit The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a charity dedicated to saving lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. ... Severn class lifeboat in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England. ...

Marine & Weather information

Map of Sea Areas and Coastal Weather Stations referred to in the Shipping Forecast. Valentia is numbered 11.

Valentia is the site of two lighthouses maintained by the Commissioners of Irish Lights and 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. Due to the prevailing winds in Ireland being from the south-west, the area, which is mountainous, experiences 1430mm of rain each year, one of the highest rainfall levels in Ireland, more than twice the levels of Dublin on the east coast.[2] Climate information for Valentia can be found at the Met Eireann web site. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (960 × 1280 pixel, file size: 115 KB, MIME type: image/png) Coastal Weather Stations; Tiree Stornoway Lerwick Fife Ness Bridlington Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic Greenwich Light Vessel Automatic Jersey Channel Light Vessel Automatic Scilly Automatic Valentia Ronaldsway... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (960 × 1280 pixel, file size: 115 KB, MIME type: image/png) Coastal Weather Stations; Tiree Stornoway Lerwick Fife Ness Bridlington Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic Greenwich Light Vessel Automatic Jersey Channel Light Vessel Automatic Scilly Automatic Valentia Ronaldsway... The Peggys Point lighthouse in Nova Scotia, Canada An aid for navigation and pilotage at sea, a lighthouse is a tower building or framework sending out light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire. ... The Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL) is the body that serves as the lighthouse authority for all of the island of Ireland plus its adjacent seas and islands. ... The Severn class lifeboat is the largest lifeboat used by the RNLI and is an afloat boat (it is left afloat, cf. ... Reports from these additional coastal stations and automatic weather logging stations are included in the extended Shipping Forecasts on BBC Radio 4, roughly 0051 and 0539 local time each day. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion... The Shipping Forecast is a regular feature of BBC Radio 4 (part of the BBC) and is provided by the UK Meteorological Office (part of MoD) on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (part of DfT). ... Cahersiveen (Cathair Saidhbhín in Irish), or Caherciveen is a town in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ...

Sunset in Valentia Island

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People

• 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.

• Valentia is the home of former Gaelic footballer, Mick O'Connell and the birthplace of John J "Scéilig" O'Kelly, the Sinn Fein politician.

• It is also considered home to Mug Ruith, a powerful blind druid in Irish mythology.

Viscount Valentia is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. ... A courtesy title is a form of address in the British peerage system used for wives, children, and other close relatives of a peer. ... For other uses, see Peerage (disambiguation). ... The title of Viscount Valentia was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1622. ... Worcestershire (pronounced ; abbreviated Worcs) is a county located in the West Midlands region of central England. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... Gaelic football (Irish: Peil or Caid ), commonly referred to as football, Gaelic or GAA (gah), is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. ... Mick O’Connell (born 4 January 1937) is a former Irish sportsperson. ... John J. OKelly was an Irish politician. ... Sinn Féin (in the Irish language ourselves or we ourselves; not as sometimes incorrectly translated, ourselves alone) is an Irish political party. ... In Irish mythology, Mug Ruith (or Mogh Roith, slave of the wheel) was a powerful blind druid of Munster who lived on Valentia Island, County Kerry. ... Two druids, from an 1845 publication, based on a bas-relief found at Autun, France. ... The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology. ...

External links

• Valentia Island
• Travel Info
• The Tetrapod Trackways
• Linking European and American Longitude
• The Transatlantic Longitude as Determined by the Coast Survey Expedition of 1866

Coordinates: 51°54′N, 10°21′W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...