View source for Mizen Head

{{short description|Point in southwest Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use Irish English|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox landform
| name = Mizen Head
| native_name = {{Native name|ga|Carn Uí Néid|paren=omit}}
| photo = Mizen Head.JPG
| photo_caption = Mizen Head, the most southwesterly point of Ireland 
| map = island of Ireland
| map_caption = Location in Ireland
| label_position = none
| coordinates = {{coord|51|27|1|N|9|49|10|W|type:mountain_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[County Cork]], Ireland
| grid_ref_Ireland = D180438
| elevation_m = 101.63
| elevation_ref = <ref>{{cite web |title= Mizen Head Elevation (101.63 M) |website= Distancesto.com |date= 2017 |url= https://www.distancesto.com/elevation/ie/mizen-head/history/168601.html |quote= elevation 101.63 m}}</ref>
| type = [[Dolerite]] [[sill (geology)|sill]]
| topo = 
}}

'''Mizen Head''' ({{langx|ga|Carn Uí Néid}})<ref name=logainm>{{cite web | url = https://www.logainm.ie/en/1165635 | title = Carn Uí Néid/Mizen Head | work = [[Placenames Database of Ireland]] | access-date = 27 January 2024}}</ref> is traditionally regarded as the [[Extreme points of Ireland|most southerly point]] of mainland [[Ireland]] although [[Brow Head]] is the actual southernmost point. It is at the end of the [[Mizen Peninsula]] in the district of [[Carbery (barony)|Carbery]] in [[County Cork]].

==Geography==
Mizen Head is one of the [[Extreme points of Ireland|extreme points of the island of Ireland]] and is a major tourist attraction, noted for its dramatic cliff scenery. One of the main transatlantic shipping routes passes close by to the south, and Mizen Head was, for many seafarers, the first (or last) sight of Europe. 

The tip of the peninsula is almost an island, cut off by a deep chasm, now spanned by a bridge; this gives access to an old [[signal station]], a [[weather station]], and a [[lighthouse]]. The signal station, once permanently staffed, is now a museum housing displays relating to the site's strategic significance for transatlantic shipping and communications, including the pioneering efforts of [[Guglielmo Marconi]]. The "99 steps" which formed part of the original access route have been supplemented by a series of paths and viewing platforms, and a full range of visitor facilities is available at the entrance to the site. The villages of [[Ballydehob]], [[Crookhaven]], [[Goleen]], and [[Schull]] are located on the peninsula to the east.

Nearby [[Brow Head]], also on the Mizen Peninsula and a short distance to the east, is several metres further south than Mizen Head. Nevertheless, geography books have long measured the length of Ireland, diagonally northeast-to-southwest, as "from [[Fair Head]] to Mizen Head"<ref>Robert Johnson. ''The Competitive Geography'' (1877). p. 170.</ref> or north-to-south "from [[Malin Head]] to Mizen Head".<ref>William Hughes and John Williams. ''A Class-book of Modern Geography'' (1885). p. 78.</ref>

==History==
[[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]'' (2nd century AD) referred to the point as the "southern headland" ({{langx|grc|Νότιον ἄκρον|Notion akron}}).<ref>{{Cite Ptolemy|2.2.5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite DGRG|title=Notium}}</ref>

The headland's Irish name, ''Carn Uí Néid'', means "[[cairn]] of [[Néit|Néid]]'s grandson". This refers to [[Balor]], a leader of the [[Fomorians]] in [[Irish mythology]]. In a tale dating from at least the 12th century, the god [[Lugh]] defeats Balor in combat and chases him to Mizen Head. There, Lugh beheads Balor and sets the severed head on a large rock, which then shatters.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ó hÓgáin |first=Dáithí |author-link=Dáithí Ó hÓgáin |title=Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition |publisher=[[Prentice Hall]] |year=1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUgUAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Balor%22 |pages=43–45|isbn=9780132759595 }}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:MizenHead IMG 2699 (2).jpg |View of the coast
Image:Feb1987. Mizen Head Bridge aka Droichead Cheann Mizen, County Cork, Ireland 01.jpg|Mizen Head Bridge in 1987
Image:Feb1987. Mizen Head Bridge aka Droichead Cheann Mizen, County Cork, Ireland 09.jpg|Foggy weather in 1987
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Carbery's Hundred Isles]]
* [[Malin to Mizen]]
* [[Mount Gabriel]]
* [[Wild Atlantic Way]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*Mizen Journal, Archaeology Paddy O'Leary, No 11, 2003 ISSN 1649-203X
*''Archaeological Inventory of [[County Cork]]'', Vol 1 [[West Cork]], Office of Public Works, 1992 {{ISBN|0-7076-0175-4}}
*''BHAS Journal'' vol 2 p.106-119, [[Townlands]] Donal Fitzgerald ISSN 0791-6612
*Northside of the Mizen, General reading, Patrick McCarthy & Richard Hawkes

==External links==
*[http://www.westcorktravel.com/Drives/MizenHead/MizenHead.htm Mizen Head Pictures and Travel Guide]

{{Peninsulas of Ireland}}
{{County Cork}}
{{Irish lighthouses}}
[[Category:Headlands of County Cork]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in County Cork]]