Helvick or Helvick Head (, ) is a headland on the southern end of Dungarvan Harbour, Ireland; it is the eastern tip of the Ring Peninsula.
Formed of Old Red Sandstone, it is the easternmost protrusion of a ridge that begins near Cork City.
Name Helvick is one of a very few Irish place names derived from Old Norse. The second part, -vík, means "bay" (cf. Smerwick). The meaning of the first part is unclear, but it may mean "healthy", "white", "holy", or "safe"; compare with Hellvik, Norway.
Wildlife
Helvick Head is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).Helvick Head SAC | National Parks & Wildlife Service The cliffs are a nesting site for seabirds including choughs and shag. Other bird species include razorbill, Northern fulmar, peregrine falcon, black-legged kittiwake, black guillemot, and common murre (guillemot).
Plants include gorse, bell heather, ling, devil's-bit scabious, heath bedstraw, bog violet, burnet rose, thrift, kidney vetch, sea mayweed and wild carrot.
Lifeboat station
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution opened a lifeboat station at Dungarvan in 1859. It was moved to Crow's Point at Helvick in 1899. The station was closed in 1969 but a new inshore lifeboat station was established in 1997. The lifeboat was housed in temporary accommodation until the permanent facilities were ready in 1999.
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