Benone StrandFirm sand with no rocks or seaweed on it, running along under the Binevenagh cliffs with Donegal across the water. It has won the Blue Flag many times.
Estate
Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne
Castlerock, County Derry
The Earl Bishop built the domed temple on the cliff edge around 1783 as a library, modelled on the Temple of Vesta. The shell of his house at Downhill stands behind it.
- Where
- Castlerock, County Derry
- Official site
- nationaltrust.org.uk
- Map
- Directions · OpenStreetMap
- Before you go
- Opening times, prices and access change. Check with the place itself.
Nearby
The closest places on our lists, in any county.
Benone StrandFirm sand with no rocks or seaweed on it, running along under the Binevenagh cliffs with Donegal across the water. It has won the Blue Flag many times.
Portstewart StrandThe National Trust looks after this long strand west of Portstewart, backed by dunes that are 6,000 years old. The Causeway Coast Way to Ballycastle starts here.
BinevenaghThe cliffs of Binevenagh, formed from lava 60 million years ago, run above Benone Strand with Lough Foyle and Donegal in view. There is a small lake on the top.
Magilligan PointThe Martello tower here was built between 1812 and 1817 to guard the mouth of Lough Foyle against a French invasion, out at the tip of the dunes. Keep off the army ranges next to it.
Mountsandel FortPeople lived in Mountsandel Wood beside the Bann between 7900 and 7600 BC, one of the earliest known settlements in Ireland. The big ditched mound came much later.
Dunluce CastleThe MacQuillans built it on the cliff edge around 1500 and the MacDonnells took it in the 1550s. The remains of the town laid out beside it in 1608 have been dug out of the grass.More in Derry
Derry City WallsFort · DerryThe Honourable The Irish Society built the walls between 1613 and 1618 and they are still complete. You can walk the whole circuit on top, past seven gates and 24 restored cannon.
GuildhallVisitor centre · DerryThe council chamber has been in the Guildhall since 1890. Local guides take you round, past the stained glass windows and into the main hall with its organ.
Peace BridgeBridge · DerryA curving foot and cycle bridge over the Foyle, opened in 2011, that joins the old army barracks at Ebrington to the city centre across the river.
St Columb's CathedralCathedral · DerryBuilt inside the walls between 1628 and 1633, it was the first Protestant cathedral put up in Britain and Ireland after the Reformation. It keeps relics of the 1688 to 1689 siege.
Roe Valley Country ParkPark · LimavadyWoodland walks follow the River Roe on the edge of Limavady, past the remains of the old industry that once used the river for power.
Tower MuseumMuseum · DerryThe council's museum is in a stone tower just inside the city walls, and its open air viewing platform looks out over the city and the Foyle.
Seamus Heaney HomePlaceMuseum · BellaghyOpened in 2016 between the poet's two childhood homes at Mossbawn and The Wood, with an exhibition on his life and hundreds of books from his own shelves.
SpringhillHouse and gardens · MoneymoreA plantation era house built in the late 1600s outside Moneymore, home to ten generations of the Conyngham family. The National Trust keeps a costume collection in it.