31 locations in 17 counties, used by 11 films and series from The Quiet Man to The Banshees of Inisherin. For each one we say only what the linked source says was filmed there.
| Title | Year | Place | County | What was filmed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Quiet Man | 1952 | Cong and Ashford Castle | Mayo | John Ford’s film is set in the fictional village of Inisfree. Many scenes were shot in and around Cong, on the grounds of Ashford Castle. Filming began on 7 June 1951; the outdoor scenes were all shot in Counties Mayo and Galway, the interiors at Republic Studios in Hollywood. A building used as the pub in the film (a shop at the time) opened as a pub in 2008. |
| The Quiet Man | 1952 | Ballyglunin station, Thoor Ballylee and Lettergesh | Galway | Ballyglunin railway station near Tuam was filmed as “Castletown” station. Thoor Ballylee, once the home of W. B. Yeats, and places in Connemara, among them Lettergesh beach for the horse race, were also used. |
| Moby Dick | 1956 | Youghal | Cork | John Huston shot many exterior scenes set in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in Youghal, picked from a shortlist that included Wicklow, Arklow and Kinsale. The harbour stood in for New Bedford’s; facades were put up over buildings, and the town’s lighthouse appears as the Pequod puts to sea. Filming was in the summer of 1954. Linehan’s pub was renamed Moby Dick’s soon after, and the town made Huston a freeman. |
| Ryan’s Daughter | 1970 | Dingle Peninsula | Kerry | David Lean’s film was largely shot on the Dingle Peninsula in the spring and summer of 1969. Because of poor weather, many beach scenes were shot instead at Arniston in South Africa. |
| Barry Lyndon | 1975 | Powerscourt House | Wicklow | Stanley Kubrick shot several interior scenes at Powerscourt House. The house burned in an accidental fire in November 1974, months after filming, so the film is a record of the lost interiors, the Saloon above all. The crew had arrived in Dublin in May 1973; Ireland played “itself, England, and Prussia”. |
| Barry Lyndon | 1975 | Kells Priory | Kilkenny | Used for the English Redcoat encampment. |
| Barry Lyndon | 1975 | Huntington Castle | Carlow | An exterior location. |
| Barry Lyndon | 1975 | Dublin Castle | Dublin | Used as the Chevalier’s home. |
| Barry Lyndon | 1975 | Waterford Castle and Little Island | Waterford | Some exterior shots were filmed here. |
| Barry Lyndon | 1975 | Moorstown Castle | Tipperary | Named among the film’s locations. |
| Barry Lyndon | 1975 | Castletown House, Celbridge | Kildare | Several scenes were filmed here. |
| Braveheart | 1995 | Trim Castle | Meath | Most of the shoot moved from Britain to Ireland after lobbying by the Irish government and its offer of 1,600 Irish Army Reserve members as extras. Trim Castle was dressed as the walled city of York, and scenes set in London were shot there too. Principal photography ran from 6 June to 28 October 1994, with work at Ardmore Studios as well. |
| Braveheart | 1995 | The Curragh | Kildare | The Curragh plains were used to film the battle scenes. |
| Father Ted (TV) | 1995 | Kilnaboy, Corofin, Ennis, Kilfenora, Ennistymon and the Aillwee caves | Clare | The series (1995–1998) was set on the fictional Craggy Island. Interiors were recorded in London before a studio audience; location work was mostly in County Clare. The Parochial House is McCormack’s at Glenquin, on the Boston road from Kilnaboy. The “Very Dark Caves” were the Aillwee caves in the Burren. |
| Father Ted (TV) | 1995 | Inis Oírr (Inisheer) | Galway | The opening sequence, including shots of the Plassy shipwreck, was filmed over Inisheer, the smallest of the Aran Islands. |
| Father Ted (TV) | 1995 | Greystones | Wicklow | The cinema in “The Passion of St Tibulus” was the Ormonde Cinema, Greystones. |
| Father Ted (TV) | 1995 | Portrane and Dún Laoghaire | Dublin | “The Field” at Portrane was Funland in “Good Luck, Father Ted”; some exteriors for “And God Created Woman” were filmed in Dún Laoghaire. |
| Saving Private Ryan | 1998 | Ballinesker Beach, Curracloe | Wexford | Steven Spielberg’s Omaha Beach landing was shot on a 1 km stretch of Curracloe Beach known as Ballinesker, chosen for its sand, cliffs and nearby amenities after three months of scouting. The Curracloe article dates the start of filming to 27 June 1997, lasting two months; the village was connected to three-phase electricity for the shoot. |
| Game of Thrones (TV) | 2011 | Paint Hall (Titanic Studios), Belfast | Antrim | The primary base from the first season (filming from July 2010). The producers had thought of shooting the whole series in Scotland but chose Northern Ireland. Season seven began filming at Titanic Studios on 31 August 2016. |
| Game of Thrones (TV) | 2011 | Castle Ward | Down | Used for Winterfell; nearby Saintfield Estates was the Winterfell godswood. |
| Game of Thrones (TV) | 2011 | Tollymore Forest and Sandy Brae, Mourne Mountains | Down | Tollymore Forest for outdoor scenes; Sandy Brae in the Mournes stood in for Vaes Dothrak. |
| Game of Thrones (TV) | 2011 | The Dark Hedges, near Armoy | Antrim | The beech avenue on Bregagh Road between Armoy and Stranocum was used for the “King’s Road”. |
| Game of Thrones (TV) | 2011 | Ballintoy harbour | Antrim | The village was used for Lordsport on the Isle of Pyke in the second season. |
| Game of Thrones (TV) | 2011 | Cushendun caves | Antrim | The caves near Cushendun were used as a backdrop in the series. |
| Game of Thrones (TV) | 2011 | Magheramorne quarry, Cairncastle and Shane’s Castle | Antrim | First-season locations: Magheramorne quarry for Castle Black, Cairncastle for the execution site, Shane’s Castle for the tourney grounds. |
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens | 2015 | Skellig Michael | Kerry | The island was used for the planet Ahch-To. Filming took place over three days from 28 July 2014. It returned in The Last Jedi (2017), and aerial footage was used in The Rise of Skywalker (2019). |
| Star Wars: The Last Jedi | 2017 | Ceann Sibéal | Kerry | Ireland filming took place in May 2016; the article names Ceann Sibéal, a mountain headland in County Kerry, as one of the additional locations. |
| Star Wars: The Last Jedi | 2017 | Malin Head | Donegal | Scenes were filmed at Malin Head, the most northerly point of mainland Ireland. |
| Star Wars: The Last Jedi | 2017 | Loop Head | Clare | The Loop Head article says part of the film was shot there. The film’s own article does not name Loop Head. |
| The Banshees of Inisherin | 2022 | Inis Mór (Inishmore) | Galway | Martin McDonagh’s film, set on a fictional island in 1923, began principal photography on Inis Mór in August 2021. |
| The Banshees of Inisherin | 2022 | Achill Island | Mayo | The shoot moved to Achill later in August 2021: Cloughmore (JJ Devine’s pub), Corrymore Lake (Mrs McCormick’s cottage), Keem Bay (Colm’s house), Purteen Harbour (O’Riordan’s shop) and St Thomas’s Church, Dugort. Filming wrapped on 23 October 2021. |
Skellig Michael, off County Kerry, was the planet Ahch-To in The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017). The Last Jedi also filmed at Malin Head in Donegal and Ceann Sibéal in Kerry, and the Loop Head article says part of it was shot at Loop Head, County Clare.
In and around Cong, County Mayo, and the grounds of Ashford Castle, with other scenes in County Galway, including Ballyglunin station near Tuam. Filming began on 7 June 1951; the film came out in 1952.
Mostly in County Clare. The Parochial House is McCormack’s at Glenquin, near Kilnaboy; the interiors were recorded in a London studio.
Ballinesker, a stretch of Curracloe Beach in County Wexford, stood in for Omaha Beach in 1997.
Among them the Paint Hall in Belfast, Castle Ward (Winterfell), the Dark Hedges (the King’s Road), Ballintoy harbour (Lordsport), the Cushendun caves, Tollymore Forest, Magheramorne quarry (Castle Black) and Shane’s Castle.
Drawn from these Wikipedia articles, read in October 2026: The Quiet Man, Cong, County Mayo, Moby Dick (1956 film), Youghal, Ryan's Daughter, Barry Lyndon, Braveheart, Trim Castle, Trim, County Meath, Curragh, Father Ted, Saving Private Ryan, Curracloe, Game of Thrones, Castle Ward, Dark Hedges, Ballintoy, Cushendun, Skellig Michael, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Malin Head, Loop Head, The Banshees of Inisherin, Inishmore, Achill Island. The year is the film’s release year, or the first broadcast year for a series (Father Ted 1995–1998, Game of Thrones 2011–2019), not always the year of the shoot. Loop Head appears in its own article as a Last Jedi location but not in the film’s article. Ryan’s Daughter shot many beach scenes in South Africa because of the weather. This is not a full list: many more productions have used Irish locations.
Islands · Castles · Beaches · Lighthouses