The most northerly tip of County Clare is Blackhead, lying northwest of Gleninagh Mountain and forms the turning point where the southern shore of Galway Bay changes from east west to northeast southwest. It commands a magnificent view of the whole of Galway Bay from its western barrier of the Aran Islands to Oranmore Bay east of Galway City, with a back drop of the Connemara hills and mountains.

"Not a tree whereon to hang a man; no water in which to drown him; no soil in which to bury him." A description of the Burren from Ludlow's Memoirs 1651, a general in charge of the Cromwellian forces in County Clare.