11% jump in national heritage site visits
Figures provided by the Office of Public Works, which has responsibility for the maintenance of such sites, shows they recorded almost 500,000 additional tourists during 2015. A total of 4,921,965 visits were recorded at the 72 sites. Income at the OPW sites from entrance fees, publications and heritage card sales also rose 19% to more than €9.4m.
More than a quarter of all OPW heritage sites are free to visit including Áras an Uachtaráin, Farmleigh Estate, and Skellig Michael.
An increase in the number of foreign tourists here last year combined with a resurgence in domestic holidays are seen as the main factors for the growth in visitors to sites including Dublin Castle, Newgrange, and the Rock of Cashel.
The National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin remain the most popular OPW heritage site in Ireland with more than 553,000 visitors in 2015 — an extra 11,400 over the previous year. There were more than 28,000 extra visitors to the Rock of Cashel last year bringing its total to more than 300,000.
The biggest relative increase in visitors was to Mellifont Abbey in Co Louth — Ireland’s first Cistercian monastery which was founded in 1142 — where numbers more than doubled last year to almost 12,500 during its three-month season.
Around a quarter of the OPW sites recorded a drop in visitors last year including the Battle of the Boyne site near Oldbridge, Co Meath, where numbers decreased by 18% to just over 58,000.
Other well-known heritage sites experiencing a slight decline in visitor numbers last year included Glendalough’s visitor centre and Dún Aonghusa, the clifftop stone fort on the Aran Islands, and Reginald’s Tower in Waterford.
Kilmainham Gaol, which is expected to be one of the major visitor attractions this year because of its association with the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, recorded a 1% drop in visitor numbers in 2015 — down over 2,000 to just under 327,000, although access was curtailed due to works in various locations.
The numbers visiting the remote Skellig Michael off Kerry’s coast, also fell 18% to 12,560, although the reduction is probably explained by the controversial decision to restrict access last year to the island to allow it to be used as a location for the latest Star Wars movie.
The least visited OPW site in the country is the 6th-century monastic settlement of Scattery Island near Kilrush, Co Clare, where just 1,750 visitors were recorded last year — an annual decline of 30%.
Almost 160,000 people were recorded visiting the famous Hill of Tara in Meath in the first year that the OPW used passive counters to measure visitor numbers at the site.
Several heritage sites had no visitors last year as they were closed for maintenance and engineering work including Barryscourt Castle near Carrigtwohill, Co Cork; Ormond Castle in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary; and St Mary’s Abbey off Dublin’s Capel St.
The OPW offers free entrance to all of its heritage sites on the first Wednesday of each month.
However, some open in summer only.
Top 10 sites
1. National Botanic Gardens — 553,348 (+2%)
2. Farmleigh Estate — 410,076 (+2%)
3. Kilmainham Gaol — 326,635 (-1%)
4. Rock of Cashel — 300,749 (+10%)
5. Castletown House and Parklands — 297,691 (+4%)
6. Kilkenny Castle — 282,588 (+9%)
7. Dublin Castle — 231,178 (+6%)
8. Hill of Tara — 159,686 (n/a)
9. Clonmacnoise — 157,660 (+5%)
10. Newgrange — 150,125 (+8%)
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