Helvick

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]

Helvick
Headland
View from Ballyvoile out to Helvick Head
Helvick
Coordinates: 52.053615°N 7.536734°W / 52.053615; -7.536734
Age	380 million years
Geology	Old Red Sandstone

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

Helvick is one of a very few Irish place names derived from Old Norse. The second part, -vík, means "bay" (cf. Smerwick); and -hel in Icelandic means death or danger. (See the Icelandic adjective helvískur which means dangerous). Helvik would be recognised by an Icelander as suggesting a dangerous harbour entrance, especially in view of the presence of the very dangerous Blackrock right in the entrance to Dungarvan Harbour and just over a mile from the headland of Helvick.

The meaning of the first part is unclear, but it may mean "healthy", "white", "holy", or "safe"; compare with Hellvik, Norway.^[5]

Wildlife

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

Main article: Helvick Head Lifeboat Station

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]