Crosshaven

Sister cities

• Pleumeur-Bodou

History

Crosshaven was originally a Viking settlement, part of what was known as the 'Ostman's Tancred', after Cork city became a fortified English stronghold. According to local legend, Sir Francis Drake hid a small squadron from a larger Spanish fleet upstream from Crosshaven on the River Owenabue at Tubberavoid, now called Drake's Pool. There is no evidence for this story, which is first recorded in 1750 by Charles Smith, who places it in 1589 after the Spanish Armada; Julian Corbett in 1890 said it could only have happened in during the 1573–75 campaign of the 1st Earl of Essex. The local secondary school, Coláiste Mhuire, was founded by an aunt of James Joyce, Nearby coastal artillery and military forts, Fort Templebreedy and Camden Fort Meagher, were British outposts until the Treaty Ports installations were relinquished in 1938. Camden is located on the headland of Rams Head and is occasionally open to the public.

Most-observed species

• Black-headed Gull

  Chroicocephalus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,701
• Herring Gull

  Larus argentatus Pontoppidan, 1763 · Aves
  2,470
• Great Cormorant/European Shag

  Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,093
• Gray/Purple Heron

  Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,053
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,979
• Rook

  Corvus frugilegus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,954
• Western Jackdaw

  Coloeus monedula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,933
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,891