placenamesOld Head
An Seancheann
The former national school and the headland’s restored signal tower preserve different chapters of local community history.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- An Seancheann · Irish · main form · validated name
- Old Head · English · main form
Place & story
Old Head national school
The former Old Head of Kinsale National School at Lispatrick Lower dates from about 1880. Its long, single-storey building has eight bays, rubble stone walls and brick surrounds to the openings. Separate entrances for boys and girls remain part of its design, while an inscription identifies the national schools. The architectural inventory recorded its conversion to a house. [2]
Restoring the signal tower
On the wider Old Head peninsula, local voluntary group Courceys Rural Development explored restoring the ruined signal tower in 2010. Restoration work began in autumn 2014, and the tower officially reopened on 7 May 2015 during the Lusitania centenary commemoration. Con Hayes’s 2019 statement to an Oireachtas committee records the community fundraising and the opening attended by relatives of Lusitania passengers and crew. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Cork
- Barony
- Courceys
- Civil parish
- Ringrone
- Within
- Lispatrick Lower
- Coordinates
- 51.63424, -8.54884
- Logainm ID
- 1166677 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Old Head. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Old Head of Kinsale National School — NIAH 20913703 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Opening statement on Lusitania Museum plans at the Old Head Signal Tower site, 18 September 2019 · Con Hayes, Lusitania Museum/Old Head Signal Tower Heritage CLG
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-07-20. How this page was prepared.