The Cliffs of Moher

There once was an old fort called Moher which stood on Hag’s Head. It was the southernmost point of a range of cliffs that border on the Atlantic Ocean in the Buren Region of County Clare. The fort has now given its name to cliffs on which it once stood. The fort itself was destroyed in 1808 and the materials from the fort were used for a telegraph tower. This tower was built as a lookout tower during the Napoleonic wars.

The Cliffs of Moher is the second most visited tourist site in Ireland after the Guiness museum in Dublin. For several years now, they have had over a million visitors a year. The scenery is astounding and inspiring. The visitor’s center was built to not interfere with the ecological imprint of the area. It was built into the hillside leading up to the cliffs and uses renewable sources of energy such as geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels, and grey water recycling systems. The cliffs have won at least one major award.

The visitor’s center has a number of displays set up as well as a number of vendors of souvenirs. I had no intention of purchasing anything there but caved in because it was late April and the winds were too cold for me to handle. I know have a toque and a pair of gloves from there. Visitors can also visit the cliffs at sea level as there are a number of boat cruises to do this.

As I did the research on the Cliffs, I found that after some reading, I recognized one of the pieces of scenery that were pictured. I believe that it was the shot that was taken while the filming of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It wasn’t the only movie that had scenes shot there. The movies include Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Princess Bride, Ryan’s Daughter, and the Mackintosh Man. There were also some scenes done for the television show “Father Ted”. There were also two music videos taped there, one by Maroon 5 and the other by Westlife.

One of websites listed the top five interesting facts about the Cliffs of Moher.

#1. How old are the Cliffs of Moher? The answer given is 320 million years old. It goes on to state that the rocks are sandstone, siltston, and shale.

#2. How high are the Cliffs of Moher? The answer given is “702 feet (214 meters) high and span across eight miles or 12.8 kilometers along the Wild Atlantic Way. The highest point is at Knockarden, near O’Brien’s Tower, which was built by Cornelius O’Brien in 1835.” (http://www.cliffs-of-moher-cruises.com/news/top-5-interesting-facts-about-the-cliffs-of-moher/). The article goes on to say that they are not the highest cliffs in Ireland but they are the steepest.

#3. The Cliffs of Moher are in the movies as I mentioned earlier.

#4. What birds nest at the Cliffs of Moher? The answer is that there are twenty-nine varieties of birds. These include: the Puffins, the Razorbills, the Guillemots, the Fulmars, the Kittiwakes, the Herring Gulls, the Great Black-backed Gulls, the Shags, the Choughs, common breeding birds, the Skylarks, and the Wheatear/Twites.

#5. How many visitors do the Cliffs of Moher each year? The answer says that “in 2014, more than 1 million visitors came to these spectacular cliffs, which meant for the first time ever, the Cliffs of Moher overtook Dublin Zoo as Ireland’s second-most popular tourist attraction (the Guinness Storehouse is #1).” It goes on to say that in 2015, the number increased by over 15%.

There is no doubt about it. The Cliffs of Moher are now part of the tourist scene of Ireland and will be there to stay for some time. They are beautiful, cold in the off-season, but worth the trip even if you go just to say that you went. I do want to go back as I was a little under the weather when I was there and couldn’t do all that I wanted to do. Someday I will return.