Forlorn Point
The rocks at the Forlorn are about 620 million years old, formed even before the first dinosaurs ever walked Planet Earth! They belong to a geological period called the Avalonian period. They can be observed from Kilmore Quay to Rosslare strand and nowhere else in Ireland! The main rock you’ll see at the Forlorn is called Gneiss (pronounced “nice”), mostly grey with light-coloured bands. These bands are made out of minerals (feldspar and quartz). Cutting through the gneiss are dark vertical sheets of once-molten rocks called dykes. They formed much later (about 400 million years ago) and stand like low, rugged walls in the outcrop. If you walk towards the drainage cutting near the Memorial Garden, you can see layers of Schist, a more flaky looking rock, like the pages of an old book.
Under the Wexford County Development Plan (2022–2028), the area is classified both as a County Geological Site (CGS) and a Landscape Character Unit (LCU) – specifically a “Distinctive Landscape”. It ensures that the geological heritage of the Forlorn is preserved and considered in any planning or development applications.
Storm Ophelia Reveals Ancient Skeleton
In October 2017, Storm Ophelia unearthed an ancient skeleton in her path. The remains were initially believed to be from the Iron Age between 500BC and 400 AD. But experts later assessed them to be closer to the Renaissance.
Following the initial discovery, archaeologist Catherine Stafford-McLoughlin led excavations the following month, uncovering a second partial skeleton. Upon analysis, it appeared that the first remains belonged to a man in his 40s or 50s from the 16th or 17th century. The other remains at the site, which consisted of ribs, arm bones, and pelvic bones, were of a younger man (19 to 23 years old) dating from the 17th or 18th century. Archaeologist C. McLoughin believed they both pertained to shipwreck victims. It was common practice at the time to bury such individuals in cillíní (unconsecrated burial grounds), their passing regarded as a “bad death” (Tarlow, 2011, p.111). Local customs shifted in the 19th century, allowing drowning victims or shipwreck victims to be buried in unmarked plots around County Wexford graveyards.
The excavation also yielded artefacts unrelated to the burials that shed light on the headland’s broader history: lead bullets and two fragments of flint.
These discoveries at the Forlorn gave the site a statutory protection under the Monuments Act. Any shipwreck or archaeological artefacts that have been under water for over a century are automatically protected under Irish Law. The waters around the Saltees and the Forlorn are notoriously treacherous. The area is known as the “Graveyard of a thousand ships”, an underwater museum, home to over 60 recorded shipwrecks (including Lismore and the Malgenio). Since all 3 skeletons discovered at the Forlorn are archaeological findings, they are all protected under the same umbrella as underwater heritage.
Find Out More
To find out more about shipwrecks in the area, check out:
http://www.salteeislands.info/SHIPWRECKS%20page.htm
References
Wexford County Development Plan 2022–2028, Volume 7: Landscape Character Assessment – See page 10
Volume 7: Landscape Character Assessment | Wexford County Council Online Consultation Portal
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Historic Environment Viewer (Site WX051-010).
Power, J. 1975. A Lake that stretched to Bridgetown. Kilmore Parish Journal, No. 4 (1975/76), pages 24-25. Kilmore: Tomhaggard-Mulrankin Muintir na Tire Council
Hurley, J. 2008. Development Plan for the property at Ballyteige Burrow owned by the Kilmore Quay Community Development Association. Kilmore: SWC Promotions.
Stafford McLoughlin C. Archaeological Excavation at Forlorn Point, Ballyteigue Burrow, Kilmore Parish Journal, No 48 (2019-2020), p.71-74
