The Cooley Peninsula (, older ''Cúalṅge'') is a hilly

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

in the north of

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

on the east coast of Ireland; the peninsula includes the small town of Carlingford, the port of Greenore and the village of Omeath.

Geography

The peninsula contains the Cooley Mountains, the highest of which, Slieve Foy, is also the highest peak in County Louth at . To the north is Carlingford Lough and the border with

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

; to the south is

Dundalk Bay Dundalk Bay () is a large (33 km2), exposed estuary on the east coast of Ireland. The inner bay is shallow, sandy and intertidal, though it slopes into a deeper area 2 km from the transitional water boundary.R173 regional road. The peninsula is geologically diverse, with 440-million-year-old

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

sandstones in the northwest and southwest, 340-million-year-old limestones in the east, and 60-million-year-old volcanic rocks forming the Cooley Mountains.

Antiquity

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were ...

, Cooley (

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

Cúalnge
') was the home of the bull Donn Cuailnge, and the site of the ''

Táin Bó Cúailnge (Modern ; "the driving-off of the cows of Cooley"), commonly known as ''The Táin'' or less commonly as ''The Cattle Raid of Cooley'', is an epic from Irish mythology. It is often called "the Irish ''Iliad''", although like most other earl ...

'', "Cattle Raid of Cooley". Ancient monuments in Cooley include the Proleek Dolmen, whose capstone weighs an estimated 35 tons (31.75 tonnes), and a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

gallery grave, both near Ballymascanlan.

Business

The peninsula is primarily agricultural territory, but is also home to a number of hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, the first new distillery in Ireland in decades, the

Cooley Distillery Cooley Distillery is an Irish whiskey distillery on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, Republic of Ireland, Ireland established in 1987 and owned by Suntory Global Spirits, a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings of Osaka, Japan. The distillery ...

opened by John Teeling on the site of a former potato alcohol factory, several warehouse and logistics facilities, a garden centre, two cafes and other businesses. There is a ferry service to

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

at Greenore.

Sport

The local

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

and ladies' Gaelic football club is Cooley Kickhams, based south of Carlingford.

People

The Cooley Peninsula is the home of former Leinster and Irish rugby players, Rob Kearney and David Kearney. U.S. President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

has ancestors from the area. He shares a great-grandfather with the Kearney brothers. RTE sports commentator Jimmy Magee (1935–2017) was raised on the Cooley Peninsula.

References

External links

Awarded "EDEN - European Destinations of Excellence" non traditional tourist destination 2008
Peninsulas of County Louth Places in Táin Bó Cúailnge {{Louth-geo-stub