Ballycastle

The ruins of St. Patrick's Church and Poll na Seantuinne - a puffing hole with subterrain and a channel to the sea - can be seen at Downpatrick Head, near Ballycastle. Thirty local people were drowned in Poll na Seantuinne in late September 1798, as they escaped British soldiers in the 'mopping up operation' during 'the Year of the French'.

Dun Briste, off Downpatrick Head, is a broken sea rock 63 metres by 23 metres, 45 metres high and 228 metres from the shore. It is a fragment of the cliff broken off by some natural cataclysm.

Belderg, sixteen kilometres NW of Ballycastle, is famous for the important archaeological excavations carried out there by its native son, Dr Seamus Caulfield and others. The Stags of Broad Haven are four rocks, 91 metres high, offshore from Glenamoy. The coast from Porturlin to Bunwee Head is among the most beautiful in Ireland.

Extract from: "MAYO - Aspects of its Heritage", by Bernard O'Hara. Published by kind permission of author.