Qualla: Slea Head https://qualla.com/slea-head en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/2/8/slea-head-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Slea Head https://qualla.com/slea-head Slea Head: Introduction https://qualla.com/slea-head/ Photo credit XeresNelro, CC BY-SA 4.0. The land does not so much end at Slea Head as crumble into the Atlantic, a slow geological collapse 400 million years in the making. The cliffs here are made of pebbly sandstones and conglomerates from the Devonian period, the era when fish first crawled onto land — these rocks were ancient before the dinosaurs evolved. The headland sits on the southwest tip of the Dingle Peninsula, in the part of County Kerry where the road signs are in Irish first and English second, and the place names still belong to the people who named them. Slea Head, Ceann Sléibhe in Irish, looks west across an unbroken horizon of water. The next land is North America.

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Image: XeresNelro | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/2/8/slea-head-wp/gc28-slea-head-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Slea Head: Old Red Sandstone https://qualla.com/slea-head/ Photo credit Ben Rudiak-Gould, Public domain. Geologists call the rocks here Old Red Sandstone, and the formation that makes up Slea Head and the southern slopes of Mount Eagle behind it is named for the headland itself: the Slea Head Formation. The rock dates to the Devonian period, roughly 419 to 359 million years ago, whe...

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Image: Ben Rudiak-Gould | Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/2/8/slea-head-wp/gc28-slea-head-old-red-sandstone.mp3 0:06 2 full Slea Head: The Westernmost Edge https://qualla.com/slea-head/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. Slea Head is famous as a viewpoint, but it is not quite the westernmost point of the country. That distinction belongs to Dunmore Head, the promontory just to the northwest, which juts a little further into the Atlantic. From Slea Head you can see Dunmore Head to your right, and ...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/2/8/slea-head-wp/gc28-slea-head-the-westernmost-edge.mp3 0:06 3 full Slea Head: The Wreck Visible from Above https://qualla.com/slea-head/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 2.0 de. Just below Slea Head, in the rocks near Coumeenoole Beach, the rusted bow of the MV Ranga still sits where it was driven aground in March 1982. The Spanish container ship lost engine power in an Atlantic storm on her maiden voyage and broke apart on the cliffs. All fifteen crew w...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/2/8/slea-head-wp/gc28-slea-head-the-wreck-visible-from-above.mp3 0:06 4 full Slea Head: The Slea Head Drive https://qualla.com/slea-head/ Photo credit High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 de. The R559 road that loops around the western end of the Dingle Peninsula is called the Slea Head Drive, and it is one of the great scenic routes of Western Europe. It passes Ventry Beach, a long curve of sand where in 1588 several Armada ships sheltered briefly before being scatte...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/2/8/slea-head-wp/gc28-slea-head-the-slea-head-drive.mp3 0:06 5 full