Rossbeigh, or Rossbehy (), is a sandspit with beaches on either side, located approximately 1.6 km from the village of Glenbeigh, in

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is on the

Ring of Kerry The Ring of Kerry () is a circular tourist route in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. Clockwise from Killarney it follows the N71 to Kenmare, then the N70 around the Iveragh Peninsula to Killorglin – passing through Sneem, Watervi ...

, on the

Dingle Bay Dingle Bay (''Bá an Daingin'' in Irish language, Irish) is a bay located in County Kerry, western Ireland. The outer parts of the Dingle Peninsula and Dingle Bay mark one of the westernmost points of mainland Ireland. The harbour town of Ding ...

side of the

Iveragh Peninsula The Iveragh Peninsula () is located in County Kerry in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the largest peninsula in southwestern Ireland. A mountain range, the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, lies in the centre of the peninsula. Carrauntoohil, its hig ...

. Rossbeigh contains a large volume of

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

and

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

vegetation. It is considered an important habitat for flora and fauna, including wildfowl (salmon and clam are locally farmed).O'Shea (2015), p. 4 The beach is on the

Wild Atlantic Way The Wild Atlantic Way () is a Scenic route, tourism trail on the west coast, and on parts of the north and south coasts, of Ireland. The 2,500 km (1,553 mile) driving route passes through nine Counties of Ireland, counties and three Provinces ...

tourist route.

Geography

Rossbeigh, along with the further inshore Cromane strand in the Castlemaine Harbour, and

Inch Strand Inch () is a small coastal settlement and townland on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. Inch Strand, in Inch townland, is on a long sand spit and dune system which reaches into Dingle Bay. The R561 regional road passes through the a ...

off the

Dingle Peninsula The Dingle Peninsula (; anglicised as Corkaguiny or Corcaguiny, the name of the corresponding barony) is the northernmost of the major peninsulas in County Kerry. It ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of m ...

(an equally long spit with an equally complex and unstable sand dune systems), is one of three sandspits acting as natural barriers against the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

for

, which is relatively narrow and subject to strong wave forces and deposition of sediment.

Erosion

During the early 2000s, slow but prolonged erosion caused by changes in

tidal range Tidal range is the difference in height between high tide and low tide. Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and Sun, by Earth's rotation and by centrifugal force caused by Earth's prog ...

, wave height and length, and a reduction in sediment deposits, lead to the receding of some of the

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

s. Rossbeigh was breached during a winter 2008 storm when a 1200 ft sand dune was collapse by the sea, splitting the breaking the former two-mile sandspit into two, effectively making the outer part of the spit a tidal island. The Rossbeigh Strand Tower, which had been a landmark to Castlemaine Harbour for over 100 years, collapsed in February 2011. The tower has since been moved to the nearby village of Glenbeigh and restored. As the split acts as a divide from Dingle bay, the collapse was described in 2020 as putting "homes across the bay at risk as climate change threatened even more frequent extreme events."Hoar, Padraig.
Special Report: Hope after all for Rossbeigh sand dunes destroyed by 2008 storms
. ''

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Republic of Ireland, Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork (city), Cork, though it is ...

'', 28 July 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2021 However, Jimmy Murphy, of the School of Engineering at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

was optimistic that dunes would begin to build back up. In 2020 he said: "people think when you get erosion that the sand disappears, but the sand has to go somewhere. It is deposited — about 10m tonnes — further out, and we feel it will make its way back. There is a huge amount of sand sitting out there, and...we think...that it will eventually make its way back in here and you will get your dunes reforming".

Gallery

File:Sand dunes at Rossbehy - geograph.org.uk - 774137.jpg, Sand dunes leading to the "back beach" roadway File:Rossbehy dunes - geograph.org.uk - 774151.jpg, Large beach sand dune File:Sunbeam (1860) shipwreck on Rossbeigh Beach, Co Kerry, Ireland 05.jpg, Wreck of the 19th century

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

''Sunbeam'' in 1983Wreck of 19thC schooner Sunbeam laid bare on Kerry beach
.

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, 10 January 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2021 File:Remains of a boat - geograph.org.uk - 774051.jpg, The wreck in 2008 File:Rossbeigh Strand Aerial Shot.jpg, Aerial view of Rossbeigh beach's head File:Rossbeigh Strand aka Beach aka Trá Ros Beithe.jpg, The beach, summer 1987

References

Notes

Sources

* O'Shea, Patrick. "Monitoring and modelling the morphodynamic evolution of a breached barrier beach system".

, 2015

External links

{{commons category, Rossbeigh
Rossbeigh.com - information on beach
(archived 2023) Geography of County Kerry