Downpatrick Head
Dún Pádraig · Co. Mayo
Few sights on the Wild Atlantic Way stop people in their tracks like Dún Briste — "the broken fort" — the layered sea stack standing just off Downpatrick Head on the north Mayo coast. The stack, roughly 45 metres tall, was cut off from the mainland during a great storm in 1393, reputedly stranding the families who lived on it until they were rescued by ships' ropes.
What you'll find on the headland
The grassy headland is associated with St Patrick, who by tradition founded a church here; a ruined church site and a modern statue of the saint mark the spot, and the head remains a place of pilgrimage on the last Sunday of July, known as Garland Sunday.
Close to the cliff edge is Poll na Seantainne, a huge blowhole connected to the sea by a subterranean channel — it is fenced, and for good reason, as it funnels dramatic bursts of spray in heavy swells. Look out too for the restored EIRE 64 sign in white stones, part of the wartime coastal marking system, best appreciated from above.
The stratified faces of Dún Briste are a textbook of geology, each coloured band a layer of 350-million-year-old sedimentary rock, and the ledges swarm with nesting seabirds in early summer.
Getting there and tips
Downpatrick Head is signposted about 5 km north of Ballycastle village on the R314, roughly 40 minutes from Ballina. From the car park it is a ten-minute walk across sheep-grazed grass to the head. Stay well back from the unfenced cliff edges, especially in wind, and combine your visit with the Céide Fields visitor centre ten minutes further west.
Where it is
54.3345°N, 9.3546°W
Nearby stops
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