Things to do in County Londonderry

The Old Bushmills Distillery in the village of Bushmills in County Antrim is the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world, a claim supported by a grant of distilling rights issued in 1608 by King James I that makes the Bushmills operation the earliest formally documented whiskey distillery in recorded history. The distillery produces a range of single malt and blended Irish whiskies that are sold internationally, and the visitor experience it offers is one of the finest distillery tours in Ireland, combining the historic credentials of the site with a thorough and accessible explanation of the whiskey-making process. The distillery stands on the bank of the St Columb's Rill, a small stream whose waters contribute to the character of Bushmills whiskey, in the centre of the village that takes its name from the mill on the bush river nearby. The current buildings date primarily from the nineteenth century, the original distillery having been destroyed by fire and rebuilt on several occasions, but the overall impression of a working Victorian distillery with its brick warehouses, malting floors and copper pot stills has been carefully maintained. The distinctive smell of fermenting mash and the distinctive sweetness of maturing spirit in the bonded warehouses are among the sensory experiences that make distillery visits so compelling. The tour covers the full whiskey-making process from malting the barley through to the triple distillation in copper pot stills that gives Irish whiskey its characteristic smoothness, the maturation in bourbon and sherry casks and the blending that produces the finished product. The tasting at the end of the tour provides an opportunity to compare different expressions of the Bushmills range in the appropriate context. The distillery's location near the Giant's Causeway, one of Ireland's most visited natural sites, makes it a natural stopping point on a Causeway Coast itinerary, and the village of Bushmills itself has several good restaurants and the Bushmills Inn hotel.

Altinaghree Castle is a derelict castle situated on private farmland outside Donemana, south of Londonderry in County Tyrone. The castle is also known as Altnacree Castle, Liscloon House, and is known locally as Ogilby's Castle. It was once a large elegant building with magnificent banquet room, but is now in ruins. The building is constructed from cut stone. Facilities The castle is on private land and is not open to the public, but can be seen and photographed from the main Dunamanagh - Claudy Road (B49). The castle is believed to have been built by William Ogilby around 1860. James Douglas Ogilby, who later became a famous ichthyologist in Australia was the son of William Ogilby. James fell in love with a factory seamstress, Mary Jane Jamieson, and was denied permission to marry her. He ended up eloping and marrying her in 1884. He moved to Australia where he was appointed to the Australian Museum in 1885. The castle was abandoned by the end of the century and fell into disrepair.

Portballintrae is a small and attractive coastal village on the north Antrim coast of Northern Ireland, a sheltered bay of considerable charm near Bushmills that provides a quieter and more residential alternative to the busier tourist destinations of the Giant's Causeway coast immediately to the east. The village sits on a rounded bay of golden sand backed by low cliffs, its stone cottages and the small pier giving it the character of an unspoiled seaside community that has developed organically rather than for the tourist trade. The village's position on the north Antrim coast places it within easy reach of the major attractions of this section of coastline. The Giant's Causeway, one of the natural wonders of the world, is less than two miles to the east along the cliff path, and the walk between Portballintrae and the Causeway along the coastal path is one of the finest short coastal walks in Northern Ireland, passing above the columnar basalt cliffs and providing views along the entire north Antrim coast toward Rathlin Island and the Scottish mainland beyond. The Bushmills Distillery, the oldest licensed whisky distillery in the world, is a short distance inland from Portballintrae and provides one of the most visited and most rewarding industrial heritage experiences in Ireland. The combination of the distillery visit, the Giant's Causeway and the coastal walking makes this small corner of north Antrim one of the most concentrated areas of visitor interest in Northern Ireland. The beach at Portballintrae provides safe bathing and the sheltered bay is popular with families who find the combination of the small village character and the beach facilities more relaxed than the major tourist centres nearby.

Dunluce Castle balances of the edge of a rocky outcrop on headland overlooking the North Channel. Access to the castle is via a bridge which connects it to the mainland near Portrush. The medieval castle is now in a totally ruined state but still has partial remains of its round corner towers and outer wall. Facilities The castle is part of a site which includes a Visitor Centre, shop, ruins of the town; burnt down by fire in 1641 and gardens. Guided tours are offered between Easter and September between 10am and 6pm and October to Easter until 4pm daily. Dunluce Castle was built in the 1200's by the 2nd Earl of Ulster, Richard de Burgh, on the site of an earlier fort dating back to the Vikings. In 1513 the castle was occupied by the MacQuillian family also known as Lord's of the Route and later it passed to the MacDonnell clan. It was Somerled MacDonnell who improved the castle in a Scottish style in 1584 and when a ship from the Spanish Armada was wrecked on the rocks below the castle four years later, the MacDonnell's sold the cargo and installed the cannon in the castle's gatehouse. The castle remained with the Mac Donnell's until the end of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when it was left abandoned and fell into ruins. The Arts The castle has been used as the setting for the villains' lair in the film 'The Medallion' with Jackie Chan in 2001. The castle appeared in the artwork of the inner gatefold of the 1973 Led Zeppelin album Houses of the Holy. Legends Legend has it that out of all the kitchen staff only one boy survived an incident when a large part of the castle's kitchen collapsed into the sea.

Murlough Bay is one of the most remote and most beautiful bays on the Antrim coast, a sheltered crescent of beach and grassland enclosed between the Fair Head basalt headland and the lower ground of the Torr coast in a setting of complete isolation accessible only by a steep and winding road descending from the clifftop above. The combination of the dramatic headland of Fair Head rising 180 metres from the sea to the north, the views across the North Channel to the Mull of Kintyre barely twenty kilometres away and the quiet of this remarkably undisturbed bay makes Murlough one of the most rewarding and least visited destinations on the Causeway Coast. The bay has strong associations with the Irish cultural revival through the graves of Roger Casement and several members of the MacQuillan family of Bun-a-Margy in the ruined chapel above the beach. Roger Casement, the humanitarian activist and Irish nationalist who was hanged for treason in 1916 following his attempt to land German arms for the Easter Rising, was repatriated and buried in the ruined Carey Church above the bay in 1965, fulfilling his wish to be buried in this corner of Antrim that he loved. The grave has become a place of quiet pilgrimage. The woodland and scrub behind the beach provide habitat for a range of birds and the rocky shore below supports the marine life of the North Channel in the clear cold water typical of this exposed coastline. The walking from the bay north along the cliff toward Fair Head provides increasingly dramatic views of the great basalt columns of the headland and the sea below, one of the finest short cliff walks on the entire Antrim coast.

Mountjoy Castle has a commanding elevated position overlooking Lough Neagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, built by Lord Mountjoy, the Lord Deputy of Ireland who brought the Nine Years' War to a conclusion with his decisive campaign against Hugh O'Neill in 1601-02. The castle was constructed as a strategic fortification to control the western approach to Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in Ireland and Britain, and to consolidate English military control over this part of central Ulster following the defeat of the great Gaelic Ulster chieftains. The brick and stone construction of the four-square castle with circular angle towers is unusual in an Irish context and reflects English military building practice of the early seventeenth century. The castle is now a substantial ruin overlooking the lough and is accessible to visitors.

Glenariff Forest Park in County Antrim is the largest and most spectacular of the Antrim Glens, a deeply incised river valley descending from the Antrim Plateau to the sea at Waterfoot on the Antrim coast, its combination of wooded gorge, waterfalls, river scenery and coastal views making it the most rewarding of the nine glens for which this section of the Antrim coast is celebrated. The forest park covers approximately 1,000 hectares and provides a network of waymarked walking routes of varying difficulty from the gentle riverside waterfall trail to longer forest and glen rim walks with panoramic coastal views. The waterfall trail is the most popular walk in the park, following the Glenariff River through a gorge of considerable drama past a series of waterfalls, including the impressive Ess-na-Crub and Ess-na-Larach falls, in a landscape of mossy rock, ferns, oak, ash and willow that creates an atmosphere of green, dripping intimacy quite unlike the open moorland plateau above. The combination of the rushing water, the enclosed gorge and the quality of the woodland makes this one of the most atmospheric short walks in Northern Ireland. The poet Thackeray, who visited the glen in 1842, described it as Switzerland in miniature, an enthusiastic Victorian comparison that captures the quality of scale and drama relative to the surrounding landscape if not the geological character. The glen has been a tourist destination since the nineteenth century when the combination of the Antrim coast road and the steamer services from Glasgow made the area accessible to visitors from mainland Britain. The forest park facilities include a visitor centre, café and well-maintained paths and picnic areas that make it an excellent family destination in the Antrim Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Dungiven Castle in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, is a nineteenth-century Gothic house incorporating the ruins of an Augustinian priory founded in the twelfth century by the O'Cahan family, who are commemorated by one of the finest medieval tomb monuments in Ireland within the priory ruins. The site has a long ecclesiastical history as the location of Dungiven Priory, founded in the twelfth century by the O'Cahan family who were lords of this part of Derry. The early seventeenth-century bastion fortification added to the priory site reflects the plantation era's military requirements. The priory ruin with its decorated O'Cahan tomb is the most significant heritage element of the site and can be visited freely. The surrounding Sperrins landscape provides outstanding walking and cycling country in one of the most scenic upland areas of Northern Ireland.

Salterstown Castle near Ballyronan in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, is a ruined early seventeenth-century plantation castle on the shores of Lough Neagh, one of the lesser-known plantation sites associated with the Salters Company of London, one of the twelve London Companies that took part in the Plantation of Ulster and from which the nearby settlement of Salterstown takes its name. The castle represents the plantation settlements established by the London Companies along the western shores of Lough Neagh as part of the systematic colonisation of County Londonderry. Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in Ireland and Britain, is visible from the castle site and provides one of the most important wildlife habitats in Northern Ireland, supporting large populations of eels, wintering wildfowl and breeding waterbirds.

Mussenden Temple is one of the most dramatic and photographed buildings in Ireland, a small circular classical temple perched right at the very edge of a 120-foot cliff along the north coast of Northern Ireland near Castlerock in County Londonderry. Nothing quite prepares you for the first sight of it: an elegant domed rotunda of precise classical proportions balanced improbably at the cliff edge above the Atlantic, its soft honey stone contrasting with the dark ocean below and the vast expanse of Downhill Strand sweeping to the east. The temple was built in 1785 by Frederick Augustus Hervey, the Bishop of Derry and fourth Earl of Bristol, a figure of considerable personal eccentricity and cultural sophistication who had travelled extensively in Italy and developed a passionate appreciation for classical architecture. Hervey commissioned the temple as a summer library, intended to house his substantial book collection in a building where he and his guests could read with the Atlantic as a backdrop. The design, executed by the Cork architect Michael Shanahan, was modelled on the Temple of Vesta in Rome, and the circular colonnade and domed roof are inspired interpretations of the classical original in local Downhill stone. The temple was named in honour of Hervey's cousin, Frideswide Mussenden, a young woman of whom the bishop was reportedly extraordinarily fond. She died before the temple was completed, and what began as a library gift became a memorial. The Latin inscription carved around the base of the frieze, taken from Lucretius, expresses the pleasure of watching storms from a safe vantage point, an apt choice for a building on a crumbling Atlantic cliff. The Downhill Demesne that surrounds the temple contains the substantial ruins of Downhill House, Hervey's palatial main residence, which was gutted by fire in 1851 and further stripped after the Second World War when it was used to billet Royal Air Force personnel. The contrast between the intact perfection of the small temple and the romantic ruin of the great house creates a landscape of considerable atmospheric power. The National Trust manages the property and has carried out cliff stabilisation work to protect the temple, which coastal erosion has brought ever closer to the cliff edge. The surrounding demesne grounds are freely accessible throughout the year from dawn to dusk, with car park charges applying. The clifftop walk around the estate is superb, with views west across Downhill Beach toward Magilligan Point and Donegal, and east toward the headlands of the Causeway Coast. The Bishop's Gate Garden and Walled Garden add botanical interest to a visit of considerable historical and scenic richness.

This fortress stands on the Kinbane Castle.summit of a bold promontory that rises to a great height above the sea. Dunaneeny means " the fort of the assembly or fair." The area on which the castle stood is a smoothlevel, measuring from east to west 60 yards, and from north to south 35 yards. It was surrounded by the sea on all sides except the south, where it was protected by a moat extending from east to west 80 yards, cut chiefly through the solid rock. The highest part of the wall now remaining is only 12 1/2 feet, and every vestige of the castle which stood within the fortified area has disappeared. Tradition says it was built by the O'Carrols, an old family who resided here many centuries ago. Later, the chieftains of the MacDonnells made this one of their principal strongholds, and from it they could watch their galleys gliding into Port Brittas almost at its base. The castle is notable for being the birthplace of the second Sorley Boy MacDonnell, who was born here in 1505. It was from here, at the head of his kerns and gallowglasses, he led them from victory to victory, till he became master of the whole of the Route. It was here, too, he died, and from here he was carried to his resting-place, the procession making its way through Ballycastle to the Abbey of Bun-na-mairgie, where they laid their gallant chief in a soldier's grave.The ruins of this ancient church and friary are only a few minutes' walk from Ballycastle. The friary is said to have been built by the MacQuillins, and to have been enlarged by the MacDonnells. Formerly a river ran close to the abbey, but its course was diverted in 1738 by Mr. Boyd, in order that it might help to deepen the inner dock.. The church and friary were built of Ballycastle sandstone, filled in with small stones. From the fourteenth or fifteenth century it was occupied by Franciscan friars of the third order. The church suffered considerable damage on 4th January, 1584, when the English of the Pale, under Sir John Perrott, marched to Bun-na-mairgie, where, leaving his cavalry in charge of Sir William Stanley in and around the church, he placed his infantry in the Fort of Ballycastle. Sorley Boy was on his way home with several galleys full of Scots, but his followers, anticipating his arrival, attacked the English troops at Bun-na-mairgie at one o'clock in the morning, and set fire to the roof of the church, which was thatched. The church was full of horses. A severe battle ensued, in which Sir William Stanley was wounded, and Sir John Perrott was forced to withdraw his troops, but took with him St. Columba's cross from the church, which he sent to Sir Francis Walshingham, describing it as Sorley Boy's cross, with a request it should be given to Lady Walshingham. The church was subsequently restored and the friary again reoccupied. The churchyard of Bun-na-mairgie was the burial-place of the MacDonnells. The place, says Rev. George Hill, heaves with the MacDonnell dust. There were those who fell when James MacDonnell slaughtered the MacQuillins in Glenshesc at the battle of Aura. There were those who fell when Shane O'Neill overthrew Sorley MacDonnell and his brother James in 1665 at Glenshesc or Glentow. There were, too, those who fell around Bun-na-mairgie in 1584 when Sorley Boy and his followers repulsed Sir John Perrott and his followers. It is said that during this period heaps of bodies were carried there and left unburied for weeks until an opportunity came.

Ballycastle is a small market town and seaside resort on the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland, its beach and harbour providing the principal visitor focus in a town that serves as the main gateway for the Rathlin Island ferry and as the central settlement of the Causeway Coast and Glens area. The beach at Ballycastle stretches for approximately one kilometre along the bay below the town, a mix of sand and shingle that is sheltered from the prevailing Atlantic swell by the headlands on either side and overlooks the distinctive flat-topped outline of Rathlin Island two kilometres offshore. The town and beach have a character that is distinctly different from the more heavily developed resorts of the Antrim coast further south. Ballycastle retains the feel of a working Irish market town with a functioning harbour, a weekly market and a local economy that extends beyond tourism alone. The Ould Lammas Fair, held annually in late August since at least the seventeenth century, is one of the oldest fairs in Ireland and draws visitors from across Northern Ireland and beyond, combining a traditional horse and cattle fair with amusements, traders and the distinctive dulse and yellowman confectionery for which Ballycastle is particularly known. The harbour below the town is the departure point for the Rathlin Island ferry, which makes the twenty-minute crossing to one of Northern Ireland's most rewarding day trip destinations several times daily in summer. Rathlin is a small, shaped island with a permanent farming and fishing community, dramatic seabird cliffs at its western end, and the cave beneath the lighthouse where Robert the Bruce is traditionally said to have sheltered and drawn inspiration from the famous spider. The puffin colony at the West Light is one of the largest and most accessible in Ireland. The surrounding Causeway Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty provides extensive walking and coastal scenery, with the Fair Head cliffs immediately east of Ballycastle offering some of the most dramatic headland scenery on the north Antrim coast.

The Dark Hedges near Stranocum in County Antrim is one of the most photographed natural features in Ireland, a beech avenue of approximately 150 years old whose intertwining canopy and atmospheric quality have made it one of the iconic images of the Northern Irish countryside and, since its appearance as the King's Road in the television series Game of Thrones, one of the most visited locations in Northern Ireland. The trees were planted in the eighteenth century by the Stuart family of Gracehill House as an impressive entrance avenue to their property and the century and a half of growth has produced the extraordinary interlocking canopy that creates the tunnel effect in both summer and winter. The Game of Thrones connection, though now the primary driver of the tourism that has made the Dark Hedges a National Tourism destination, is secondary to the genuine natural quality of the avenue itself. The beech trees, planted in pairs on either side of the road, have grown toward each other across the carriageway as mature beeches inevitably do and the resulting canopy creates a natural tunnel of considerable atmospheric power regardless of any television association. The trees are now protected and managed by the local authority and the volume of visitor traffic has required the introduction of managed access arrangements to protect both the trees and the narrow country lane that runs beneath them. The most atmospheric photographs of the Dark Hedges are made in early morning or evening light when mist is present, conditions that occur with some regularity in the north Antrim countryside.

Rathlin Island is the only inhabited offshore island in Northern Ireland, a L-shaped basalt island approximately eight kilometres long lying six miles off the Antrim coast near Ballycastle that supports a permanent population of around 150 people and is accessible by ferry from Ballycastle in approximately forty-five minutes. The island combines spectacular coastal scenery of basalt cliffs and sea stacks, one of the most important seabird colonies on the east coast of Ireland, a rich history of Viking raids, medieval ownership disputes and more recent agrarian history, and the distinction of being the location where Robert the Bruce took shelter in the famous cave before his return to Scotland to resume his struggle for Scottish independence. The RSPB West Lighthouse reserve at the western tip of the island is the principal wildlife attraction, its cliff faces supporting one of the most important seabird colonies in the British Isles. Puffins, razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes and fulmars breed in enormous numbers on the basalt stacks and cliff ledges during the spring and early summer, and the RSPB viewpoint at the lighthouse provides some of the most accessible close-range seabird watching available anywhere on the island coasts of Britain and Ireland. The puffins in particular, which nest in burrows in the turf above the cliff edge, can be observed at very close range. The cave in which Robert the Bruce is said to have sheltered between his defeats and his decisive victory at Bannockburn in 1314, observing the spider that repeatedly attempted to spin its web as an inspiration for his own persistence, is accessible on the island. The cave story is one of the most celebrated in Scottish tradition and Rathlin's claim to the location has the credibility of historical accounts that support his presence in the area.

Bushmills is a small village in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, famous throughout the world as the home of the Old Bushmills Distillery, the oldest licensed distillery in the world, whose whiskey has been produced on this site since at least 1608 and whose visitor experience provides one of the most popular and most rewarding distillery tours in Ireland. The village itself is a pleasant Antrim settlement of stone cottages and the River Bush that flows through the village has provided the water for whiskey production for over four centuries. The Old Bushmills Distillery, the centrepiece of the village's identity, produces the triple-distilled Irish whiskey that has made it one of the most recognised whiskey brands internationally, its distinctive smooth character a result of the triple distillation process and the quality of the local water filtered through basalt rock. The distillery tour, one of the most popular in Ireland, takes visitors through the production process from malting through distilling to maturation in the warehouse where the whiskey develops in oak casks over periods from three to twenty-one years. The village's position on the Causeway Coast provides access to the remarkable natural and heritage attractions of this section of the Antrim coast, including the Giant's Causeway three miles to the east, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and the dramatic coastal scenery of the Antrim cliffs. The Bushmills to Causeway tramway provides a heritage transport link to the Causeway visitor centre.