Bantry
The country town of Bantry ( Irish : Beanntraí ) is located in the southwest of Ireland in County Cork on Bantry Bay. It has 2722 inhabitants (as of 2016).
The city is an important economic center for the region. In addition to tourism, fishing is the second mainstay. Mussels in particular play an important role. There is a mussel festival every year in May.
The center of Bantry is Wolfe Tone Square. It is reminiscent of Theobald Wolfe Tone , who, as a member of a French invasion fleet, tried to land in Bantry Bay in December 1796 in order to end British rule in Ireland. However, only around a third of the original fleet managed to get to the bay. There, adverse weather conditions prevented the troops from landing, so that the company was a failure. A frigate that was sunk in a storm lies on the bottom of the bay to this day.
The main attraction of the town is Bantry House . The neo-classical building has belonged to the White family, the former Earls of Bantry , since 1750 and has been open to the public since 1946. In the former stables there is an exhibition about the failed French landing company.
On the offshore Whiddy Island are the remains of a large oil terminal owned by Gulf Oil . On January 8, 1979, the tanker Betelgeuse exploded there . 50 people were killed in the accident. The oil port was subsequently closed and around 250 workers lost their jobs. Although the storage tanks were not damaged, the impact on the environment was significant. Today the tanks are back in operation as intermediate oil storage (as of 2007). There are currently between 20 and 100 people working on Whiddy Island.
The stone pillar of Kilnaruane (also known as St Brendan's Stone) is in an early church fence in Town Country Kilnaruane, southwest of Bantry.
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Coordinates: 51 ° 41 ′ N , 9 ° 27 ′ W