The Cliffs of Moher
| Cliffs of Moher | |
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Native name Irish: Aillte an Mhothair |
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Looking north towards O'Brien's Tower
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| Nearest city | Lahinch, County Clare, Ireland |
| Coordinates | 52°58′18.302″N 9°25′34.802″W / 52.97175056°N 9.42633389°WCoordinates: 52°58′18.302″N 9°25′34.802″W / 52.97175056°N 9.42633389°W |
| Elevation | 155m |
| Owner | Clare County Council, private farmers |
| Website | www |
The Cliffs of Moher (Irish: Aillte an Mhothair) are located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland. They rise 120 metres (390 ft) above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head, and, eight kilometres to the north, reach their maximum height of 214 metres (702 ft) just north of O'Brien's Tower, which is a round stone tower near the midpoint of the cliffs that was built in 1835 by Sir Cornelius O'Brien. From the cliffs, and from atop the tower, visitors can see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, the Maumturks and Twelve Pins mountain ranges to the north in County Galway, and Loop Head to the south. The cliffs rank amongst the most visited tourist sites in Ireland and receive approximately one million visitors a year. The closest settlements are Liscannor (6 km south) and Doolin (7 km north).
The cliffs take their name from an old promontory fort called Mothar or Moher, which once stood on Hag's Head, the southernmost point of the cliffs, now the site of Moher Tower. The writer Thomas Johnson Westropp referred to it in 1905 as Moher Uí Ruis or Moher Uí Ruidhin. The fort still stood in 1780 and is mentioned in an account from John Lloyd's A Short Tour Of Clare (1780). It was demolished in 1808 to provide material for a lookout/telegraph tower that was intended to provide warning in case of a French invasion during the Napoleonic wars.
The cliffs are one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ireland and topped the list of attractions in 2006 by drawing almost one million visitors. Since 2011, they have formed a part of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark, one of a family of geotourism destinations throughout Europe that are members of the European Geoparks Network.
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Wikipedia