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|  | Carved wooden map of Valentia |
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Valentia Island
under the lucky star of the west |
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| | The surrounding pastures
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It is a quiet and discreet jewel, a haven of peace, a rocky headland covered with pastures, dolmens and monastic remnants.
A territory of 25 km² appears in the horizon of Lindberg during its first transatlantic flight in 1927, before pointing its compass on Paris.
Valentia, where the Knight of Kerry resided, benefits of all the favors according to its geographical strategic position :
"the most western inhabited island of Europe".
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| | 1000 hectares
of peat
in the North-West |
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| | The port of Knightstown
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In the morning, whereas the sailors return to the pier, the ferry starts its daily two-way transit.
By car, the index up above the wheel is the greeting. Any person escaping the rule is not from here; one knows it.
Every body know themselves and go about one's business.
In his parcel, a farmer is busy digging some pieces of peat out of the 1000 hectares present on the island.
The wind of the Atlantic blows permanently while Knightstown awakes slowly.
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| | Valentia's bridge, built in1970
South entrance |
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On the roadside, some men in overalls are waiting for the car which will take them to the slate quarry in activity since 1816 and located at the north of the island.
A slate well known for its purity and solidity.
It is exported in the four corners of the earth and covers the roof of the Opera House in Paris, the House of Parliament in Westminster, or the San Salvador railway in Bahia.
Thanks to its economic contribution, it will protect the island of the Great Famine spread all over Ireland in 1848.
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| | The slate covers each house
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Departure of the cable to America along the ocean depths
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Relay of communications between America and the Old continent, the first transatlantic telegraph cable connects Valentia to Heart's Content, Newfoundland in Canada in 1857.
The longitude of the island is determined in 1862 using the instrument Altazamuth.
After a few years of failure, connection is finally established in 1866 and it is the Queen Victoria who honored the line sending a message to the president Buchanan :
"Glory to God in the highest, on earth
and good will to all men"
Then begins a series of personal, comercial and political messages between London and New York until 1966, closing date of the cable station.
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Due to the increasing and various activities, Valentia becomes cosmopolitan.
A welcoming land for workers of all nationalities who communicate in English.
A cultural and social home opened to the world where are living together, minors, radio operators, technicians of the telegraphic cable or of the weather observatory, farmers, fishermen…
However, the islanders will preserve their Irish traditions.
But hundreds of them will have to emigrate in America in 1883, moved by cargos to New York.
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| | Cromwell Point lighthouse,
1837 |
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| | Coffee dating from 1888 in the main street of Knightstown |
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Rooted to its glorious past, Valentia shows some houses dating from 1870, an old english style hotel, a red town clock on the headland and one of the three radio station in Ireland to watch for ships in distress, built in 1914.
Even some footprints of a Tetrapod old of 385 millions years were discovered in 1993, moulded in the slate.
In the north of the island, a stele recalls the place where St Brendan the navigator who would have discovered America in 523, baptized two dying pagan, an annual place of pilgrimage now.
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| | East entrance of the island by ferry
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| | A well integrated sign
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Thanks to the cable station, Valentia early benefits of electricity and running water before the irish back country.
The island has two entrances to join the 650 inhabitants who live there peacefully, the picturesque ferry on the east and the useful bridge on the west built in 1970.
Nowadays, Valentia a place of secluded vacation for who wish to spend a summer, fish at Culloo or take a boat to Skellig Michael, a World Heritage site.
But above all, to savor the fresh wind of the Atlantic, the eyes looking towards America.
Catherine Vadjic
Photos : Alfonso Mejia
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| | Town clock
port of Knightstown |
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| | A last ray of light
on the west of Europe |
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