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Population centre

Clear Island

Cléire

Clear Island, or Cléire, combines an Atlantic maritime history with a long tradition of observing migrating birds.

Watercolour and fine ink illustration of Old lighthouse and signal tower, Cape Clear Island, County Cork.
Old lighthouse and signal tower on Cape Clear Island, as photographed in September 2011.
Recorded locationClear Island51.43799° N · 9.49326° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ie

The name

A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.

Recorded forms

  • Cléire · Irish · main form · validated name
  • Clear Island · English · main form

Place & story

The light before Fastnet

A lighthouse on the island’s southern cliffs operated from 1818 to 1854. Irish Lights records that frequent mist and the loss of the Stephen Whitney near Crookhaven in 1847 helped prompt a replacement. Fastnet Rock was chosen, and its first light began operating on 1 January 1854, when the Cape Clear light was discontinued. Fastnet lies offshore, rather than on Clear Island. [2]

The old lighthouse tower

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage identifies the surviving granite tower as a George Halpin design. Its circular structure has three stages, with a cornice carried on stone corbels. Although no longer a working lighthouse, it remains a landmark on the southern cliffs. [3]

Watching the seasonal passage

BirdWatch Ireland has studied migration on Cape Clear since 1959. Its observatory stands beside North Harbour. The island intercepts seabird movements and the spring and autumn passage of songbirds; occasional arrivals from North America and Siberia add to its value as an observation station. [4]

Geographic information

Place type
Population centre
County
Cork
Civil parish
Clear Island
Within
Keenleen
Coordinates
51.43799, -9.49326
Logainm ID
12977 ↗

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Clear Island. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. Fastnet Lighthouse: historical account · Commissioners of Irish Lights
  3. Cape Clear Lighthouse, record 20915308 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
  4. Cape Clear Bird Observatory · BirdWatch Ireland
  5. Old lighthouse and signal tower, Cape Clear Island, County Cork illustration: based on a Old Lighthouse and Signal Tower, Cape Clear Island by Becky Williamson. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-08-24. How this page was prepared.