Tag: Whitepark Bay

Whitepark Bay in Winter

On By Carol HenshawIn Beaches, IrelandLeave a comment

 Whitepark Bay has a 3 mile long beach sitting on the North Antrim coast. It is a  site of special scientific interest (SSI) and has been under the care of the National Trust since 1938. We have visited it on many occasions when we have been in Northern Ireland visiting James’s parents but this was our first winter visit. The car park was unusually quiet.

A path and some steps lead down to the beach.

Walking down we saw lots of rabbit holes and several rabbits. Sheep and cattle can be grazed on the grass behind the dunes in the bay but there were none there on our visit. A notice on the gate said that the Northern Colletes, a coastal solitary bee; can be found here. At this time of year the only flower I saw was a primrose in bud so a bee sighting would be unlikely. It can be possible to see seal pups at this time of year but we did not see any.

The ruined white building is the old youth hostel, the current one sits higher up near the carpark.

The other ruins are the remains of an old ‘hedge school’. This 18th Century ‘school for young gentlemen’ is said to have included on its roll call Lord Castlereagh, for his early education years. 

Portbradden sits on one side of the bay and the harbour contains an ancient salmon fishing station. The village is said to have had the smallest church in Ireland.  The building in question was constructed in the 1950s as a cow byre but used as St Gobbans Church. It measured 11 feet 4 inches (3.45 m) long, 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 m) wide. The owner Rev Con Auld was an academic and held services in it but the church was demolished it in 2017 by the new owner after he had retired and sold it. 

At the other end of the bay is Ballintoy Harbour which we visited last August. The tide was ebbing and there is a notice warning that it is unsafe for swimming due to dangerous rip tides.

There was a solitary paddle boarder in the water.

The cliffs on both West and East sides of the bay are composed of Upper Cretaceous chalk. The chalk itself is a form of limestone composed almost entirely of Calcium Carbonate. It was  formed Late during the Cretaceous period, a time when much of the continents were under water including Ireland. There are several rocks on the beach among the pebbles.

The cliffs at White Park Bay are rich in fragments of the belemnite a relation of the ammonite.  I have found a few stones with belemnite fossils over the years and they sit on my mantelpiece at home. My beach combing did not reveal any shells or sea glass.

Back on the Causeway Coast

On By Carol HenshawIn Beaches2 Comments

The Causeway Coast stretches 30 miles from the mouth of the River Foyle in the West to the Glendun River in the East.  We last visited Magilligan Point in the west in December 2019:

Exploring Magilligan Point

but on this occasion in warm March weather, a shorter journey took us to Portstewart promenade. We began our walk at the harbour.

The shore is very rocky here. As it was so warm, we sat down and had an ice cream from Morellis who have been selling it since 1911. The beach here is very small

but further west of the town are the Portstewart Strand and Downhill beaches. Back at the harbour end you can walk down to the Herring Pond which has views over to Portrush.

We arrived in Portrush hoping to have a browse in the secondhand bookshop. The ‘open’ sign was on the door and the lights were on but the door was locked. We had a wander around town and down to the harbour.

Further along the coast is Magheracross viewpoint which looks towards Dunluce Castle and on a clear day the Skerries, a small group of islands.

There were some hang gliders above us.

We had lunch at Shell Beach, Portballintrae which has views over to Runkerry Beach. I found a fair bit of sea glass here.

Whitepark Bay is a SSI and sheep and cattle graze behind the dunes.

There are the remains of a ‘hedge school’ for young gentlemen. The beach has a lot of stones and you can find ammonite and belemite fossils here sometimes.

Our final stop was Ballycastle. It is one of only two places in Northern Ireland that was associated with coal mining and it also had a glassworks which ceased production in 1791. You can take the ferry here to Rathlin Island which we did previously.

Third island of the summer: Rathlin

The Glenshesk River estuary is in the bay and there are views towards Fairhead.

Finding quiet spots on the Antrim coast

On By Carol HenshawIn Books, bookshops and libraries, Flowers. plants & trees, Ireland, walks1 Comment


Our main reason for going to Northern Ireland at peak holiday time was to visit relatives before we head off on our trip down under. As usual we took an overnight ferry from Birkenhead to Belfast. A rainbow in the sky promised some improvement in the weather.

We spent the first couple of days visiting family members but then started to get itchy feet so set off down the coast passing the hordes of people visiting the Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick-a Rede Rope Bridge. Our first stop was at the Portanaeevey viewpoint which gives views over to Rathlin Island and the mUll of Kintyre.


Our first destination was Carfunnock Country Park which is north of Larne. It was formed from two country estates and has several facilities for children and young people as well as a campsite. I was most interested to see the garden. This was formerly the kitchen garden of Cairncastle Lodge which was gifted to the local council in 1957 with the estate. By the 1980s it was in decline but grants enabled its restoration in the 1990s. It is now called The Time Garden and has numerous sundials giving GMT, BST and local time.


Heading north again along the coast our next stop was the garden at Glenarm Castle. This was a more traditional walled garden with pleached lime trees, beech hedges and many beds of flowers, fruit and herbs.

There were several sculptures among the plants.

There is a fudge factory in the grounds and the castle, still owned by the local aristocrats is occasionally open to the public. On our last day we popped in to the Bookcase, a second-hand bookshop in Portrush. He has a good selection of Irish books as well as general fiction, non-fiction and children’s books.

We dodged the showers on one of our favourite beaches at Whitepark Bay. There were a few dog walkers but it was pretty quiet.

The cliffs here are chalk in contract to the basalt columns of the Giant’s Causeway. You can often find fossils on the beach, most commonly belemnites (we have several on our mantelpiece) and occasionally, ammonites.
On the path down to the beach you pass a building and some ruins of an old ‘hedge school’. This was for young gentlemen and dates from the 18th century.

The beach is now under the care of the National Trust. There is a Youth Hostel here. Occasionally sheep and cows graze on the grass next to the beach under an agreement. Keeping the grass low, encourages wild flowers. There were some cows when we arrived but they quickly departed when a heavy shower arrived. If the tide is not high you can walk along the beach to Ballintoy harbour. It was soon time to head home again and after another night on the ferry we arrived in Birkenhead dock just as the sun was rising over Liverpool.