Downpatrick Head

Downpatrick Head is a grass-topped promontory north of Ballycastle where the cliff edge simply stops and a flat-topped sea stack stands on its own offshore. The stack, Dun Briste, was part of the headland until a storm cut it away in the fourteenth century, and the layered rock of its sides matches the cliff you are standing on. Behind it the ground is pitted with blowholes; the largest, Poll na Seantoine, is a deep shaft covered by a viewing grille where you can watch swell move underneath your feet. Ruins of a small church and a holy well sit on the grass, and the headland is open, free and often empty.

What you actually see

• Dun Briste - the flat-topped sea stack with layered cliffs on all sides.
• Poll na Seantoine - the fenced blowhole shaft with the sea moving below.
• The cliff rim - unfenced grass edges above vertical rock.
• The church ruins - a small ruined chapel and holy well on the headland.

When to go

Any month works, but a day with swell makes the blowholes worth the walk and a calm clear day makes the stack easier to photograph. Late afternoon light falls on the seaward face. The headland is fully exposed with no shelter of any kind, so pick your weather and expect wind whatever the forecast said inland.

Honest expectations

There is nothing here but grass, a stack and the sea, and half an hour covers it. Most of the cliff edge has no fence, the ground is uneven and cattle graze on it. Access is by a narrow lane with a small car park that one coach can block. In fog you will see the fence and very little else.

Nearby

Ballycastle village is a few minutes inland; the Ceide Fields are west along the coast.