Maritime History

The museum is in possession of a bewildering array of artifacts relating to the town's maritime history and dating from the earliest of times. In the ground floor rooms, there is an interesting collection of shipwright, barrel,sail and ropemakers' work, demonstrating the importance of Kinsale's ship-building industry. Many of the pieces were recovered from the harbour. At one point, Kinsale had three shipyards, and their capability was such ,that in 1612 three of the largest ships in the world were produced there. The famous Dutch East India Company operated out of Kinsale, having it's headquarters in nearby Innishannon.

Outside the building there are amongst other well preserved pieces, a davitt (crane) from the 'RMS Lusitania', an anchor from the Spanish Armada's failed attempt to aide the Irish at the Battle of Kinsale(1601) and also a broken anchor from the 1763 sinking of the ship 'La Trompeuse'.