Harbour of Foynes

It is situated ten miles to the eastward of Tarbert. This place affords excellent shelter from all winds, being protected from the south and west by high lands adjoining the river banks, and from the north and north-east by Foynes Island. The harbour consists of the channel that separates Foynes Island and the mainland.

Foynes Harbour has large oil storage installations, a pier for ocean-going ships, and is still used by shipping commercially. Vessels of up to 22,000 tonnes can be accommodated in its deep-water anchorage.

The West Pier

It was erected as a part of a famine relief scheme in 1847. This was a joint undertaking by the Spring Rice Family and the Commissioners of Public Works each of whom shared the cost of its construction, £ 10,000.

The Waterford and Limerick Railway

They reached Foynes in 1858. The main street was moved from the edge of the Shannon to accommodate the railway line.

During the American Civil War Foynes and Limerick prospered. William Dargan, a shareholder in the Waterford and Limerick Railway, operated a steamship, Kelpie, between Kilrush and Tarbert in the hope of benefiting when Foynes would eventually become the American packet station.
The Kelpie ran blockade imposed by the Federal Navy and was eventually sunk at the height of the war.

The Foynes Seaplane Terminus

It was fast set up to make this a base for seaplanes, or flying boats. Direction finding equipment was located on Foynes Island. On 25th February 1937 a flying boat arrived from Southampton to carry out test flights.

In July 1937 a number of experimental transatlantic flights took place. The Taoiseach witnessed the departure of the first west bound transatlantic flight from Foynes on 5th July 1937 and the arrival of the first east-bound flight on 6th July 1937.

Foynes became Ireland's first commercial trans-Atlantic air base and was used as an air terminus throughout the duration of World Was II. The port handled up to ten flights a week.

Scheduled flying boat services to Foynes were phased out towards the end of 1945 and Shannon Airport began to replace Foynes as Ireland's International Airport.