Kilmore Quay Lifeboat Station
| All-Weather Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Afloat |
| Address | Lifeboat House, Kilmore Quay, County Wexford, Ireland |
| Telephone | 053 912 9690 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
Kilmore Quay Lifeboat Station serves the south-west corner of County Wexford from a rural fishing village looking out to the Saltee Islands. An all-weather lifeboat has launched from Kilmore Quay since 1847, and over that long history its crews have been honoured with ten medals for gallantry, and have known their own tragedy. The station today operates a Tamar-class all-weather lifeboat, guarding a coast of dangerous sandbanks, reefs and strong tides.
The first lifeboat was stationed at the Kilmore coastguard station in July 1847, crewed by the local coastguard and kept in their boathouse, but it fell into disrepair and was withdrawn in 1857. The station re-opened in 1884 with a standard self-righting pulling-and-sailing lifeboat, serving the wreck-strewn waters around the Saltees and St Patrick’s Bridge. The station was known simply as ‘Kilmore’ until 1986.
Its first motor lifeboat arrived in the 20th century, and in 1992 the boathouse was rebuilt to house a new Mersey-class lifeboat, the harbour itself being rebuilt after damage from Hurricane Lily in 1991. The station moved into its present building in 2004. The Tamar-class lifeboat 16-18 Killarney, one of the modern “Fast Afloat Boat” class with a fully watertight wheelhouse and shock-absorbing seats, provides fast all-weather cover across this exposed corner of the Irish coast.
The station is closely woven into the wider Wexford lifeboat story, working alongside neighbouring Rosslare Harbour and Dunmore East crews on the area’s most demanding services.
