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// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Helvick a good swimmer? It's a heck of a vic.

Helvick
View from Ballyvoile out to Helvick Head
View from Ballyvoile out to Helvick Head
Helvick is located in Ireland
Helvick
Helvick
Location within Ireland
Coordinates: 52°03′13″N 7°32′12″W / 52.053615°N 7.536734°W / 52.053615; -7.536734
Age380 million years
GeologyOld Red Sandstone

Helvick or Helvick Head (Irish: Heilbhic, Ceann Heilbhic, Old Norse: Hellavík) is a headland on the southern end of Dungarvan Harbour, Ireland; it is the eastern tip of the Ring Peninsula.[1][2][3]

Formed of Old Red Sandstone, it is the easternmost protrusion of a ridge that begins near Cork City.[4]

Royal National Lifeboat Institution station

Name

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Helvick is one of a very few Irish place names derived from Old Norse. The second part, -vík, means "bay" (cf. Smerwick). The meaning of the first part is unclear, but it may mean "healthy", "white", "holy", or "safe"; compare with Hellvik, Norway.[5]

Wildlife

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Helvick Head is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).[6] The cliffs are a nesting site for seabirds including choughs and shag. Other bird species include razorbill, Northern fulmar, peregrine falcon, black-legged kittiwake, black guillemot, and common murre (guillemot).[7]

Plants include gorse, bell heather, ling, devil's-bit scabious, heath bedstraw, bog violet, burnet rose, thrift, kidney vetch, sea mayweed and wild carrot.[8][9]

Lifeboat station

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The Royal National Lifeboat Institution opened a lifeboat station at Dungarvan in 1859. It was moved to Crow's Point at Helvick in 1899. The station was closed in 1969 but a new inshore lifeboat station was established in 1997. The lifeboat was housed in temporary accommodation until the permanent facilities were ready in 1999.[10][11]

References

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  1. "Through the Gaeltacht and to the sea". The Irish Times. 15 June 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  2. "Helvick Head - Ireland Highlights".
  3. "eOceanic". eoceanic.com.
  4. "Old Red Sandstone". University College Cork.
  5. "Heilbhic/Helvick". Logainm.ie.
  6. Helvick Head SAC | National Parks & Wildlife Service
  7. "Helvick Head SAC" (PDF). National Parks & Wildlife Service. January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  8. "Helvick Head". www.askaboutireland.ie.
  9. "The Irish Naturalists' Journal". I.N.J. Committee. 8 February 1968 via Google Books.
  10. Leonard, Richie; Denton, Tony (2024). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Handbook 2024. Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. p. 111.
  11. "Helvick Head's station history". RNLI. Retrieved 8 December 2024.