placenamesCurracloe
Currach Cló
Curracloe’s coast has served fishermen, bathers, foresters and filmmakers, with each leaving a different kind of record.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Currach Cló · Irish · main form · validated name
- Curracloe · English · main form
Place & story
Coastguard and sea-bathing
Samuel Lewis’s 1837 description records a coastguard station at Curracloe and fishing that employed local residents. Visitors already came for sea-bathing. He also noted a proposal for a canal linking Curracloe directly with Wexford Harbour, an idea presented as feasible rather than a completed work. His account places the locality within a coastal economy that combined working waters with early recreational use of the shore. [2]
The Raven becomes woodland
The Raven, beside Curracloe’s beach, began as a narrow sand spit sheltering Wexford Harbour. The Toole family of Curracloe House owned it during the nineteenth century. The reserve’s official history records its sale to the Minister for Agriculture in 1930, when George Colloton of Castlebridge held the title. Conifer planting followed, creating woodland for coastal protection and timber production. That managed forest became a distinctive part of the landscape adjoining the dunes. [3]
Recreating Normandy in 1997
Steven Spielberg used the Curracloe coast to recreate the Omaha Beach landings for Saving Private Ryan in 1997. An RTÉ report broadcast on 3 July showed Reserve Defence Force members dressed and equipped as Second World War American soldiers. Reporter Damien Tiernan spoke to Lieutenant Colonel Pierce McCorley and producer Ian Bryce about the production. This contemporary record captures the beach during its temporary transformation into a film set, before the film’s release the following year. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Wexford
- Barony
- Shelmaliere East
- Civil parish
- Saint Margaret's
- Coordinates
- 52.39258, -6.38394 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1165014 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Curracloe. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Saint Margaret or Raven parish: Topographical Dictionary of Ireland1837 · Samuel Lewis
- Raven Nature Reserve: history · National Parks and Wildlife Service, Wexford Wildfowl Reserve
- Saving Private Ryan at Curracloe Beach,3 July1997report · RTÉ Archives, Damien Tiernan
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.