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The Moville Walk
From 'Country Roads' By Sam Mitchell
Inish Times July 2002
An interesting walk of great variety and contrasts. The first part
of the circuit takes you onto the hillsides above Moville, with
delightful views over Lough Foyle; then down to the shore path alongside
the Lough for the return to Moville.
Moville Main Street (1) Passing the Methodist Church and
then the front of the impressive Church of St. Pius X, which was
built in 1958. The view to the right is across the broad expanse
of Lough Foyle to Binevenagh and beyond., Ahead of you the tall,
slim spire of St. Columb's (Church of Ireland, built in 1858) comes
into view. Take the road to the left (2), just before you
reach this church. Cross to the footpath on the right-hand side
and walk up the road past St. Joseph's School on the right. The
road rises uphill through the pleasant houses and gardens on the
outskirts of Moville, which is still expanding - The view to the
left is over Bredagh Glen to the hills rising beyond Crockavishane.
You now pass a semidetached house with the date AD 1909, and come
to a road junction. Keep straight on, however, following the footpath
which is now on the left-hand side. You soon come to the limits
of the housing, the footpath comes to an end and the road narrows,
climbing quite steeply uphill between high hawthorn hedges. However,
a view soon opens up, over your left shoulder, to Lough Foyle and
Carrickarory Pier south of Moville, where the Foyle pilot boat is
moored. The road continues to climb, and now between colourful displays
of brambles, fuchsia, dog rose, hawkweed and other wild flowers;
also some large sycamore and ash trees. Keep straight on past the
end of a small tarmac road on the right and then past the front
of a modern whitepainted bungalow, until you come to the next road
junction (3), where turn right.
This relatively flat road running north-eastwards, parallels the
Lough Foyle coastline below and commands magnificent views over
the lough for much of its length. To the left is an interesting
farmscape rising toward the summit of Crockaulin, with its transmission
mast on top. The road winds along, closely following the 70m contour,
and the view opens up to Magillign Point and the whole of the north
coast as far as Benbane Head; Knocklayd, inland of Ballycastle,
is also visible on the far horizon. Looking to the south, the full
sweep of the north Derry Uplands links up with the Sperrin Mountains
where Sawel and Dart both appear beyond the lower hills to the east
of Loughermore.
The surrounding landscape is nicely wooded and the roadside banks
are bright with wild flowers; bird's foot trefoil, tufted Vetch,
meadowsweet and foxgloves. A small sheltered field on the right
has crops of peas, potatoes and even sweet corn. The road then passes
an industrial building, the Silver Strand Ropeworks, which produces
rope and twine for the local farming and fishing activities. Shortly
after this, the walk turns sharply to the left onto a straight stretch
of road, which climbs gradually uphill towards a white-walled cottage
with three palm trees in front. Here the road swings again sharply
to the right, still rising with a gentle gradient. There is now
a very good view directly across to Binevenagh and the Magilligan
foreland. You then come to a T-junction (4) at Coolnasillagh,
where turn right.
The road now winds downhill, initially between high fuchsia hedges,
in the direction of Lough Foyle. Binevenagh and the irregular, curved
line of the North Derry Uplands, form the background to the view.
A number of abrupt changes in road direction give variety to the
view ahead. Some modern houses with attractive gardens add to the
local scene, while the fanning landscape of fields and main Moville
to Greencastle road (5), where turn left.
Follow the footpath on the left-hand side of the road, at first
on a short stretch of service road and then on the main road itself.
On the hillside above the road straight ahead appears a large white
towered church - St. Mary's Ballybrack, built 1885. You pass some
modern bungalows on the left with beautifully kept gardens. Across
Lough Foyle, the Mussenden Temple and remains of Downhill House
are clearly in view. You soon come to some right-turn arrows on
the road (6) which direct you to turn right down a narrow
road (Lafferty's Lane), which drops down to the coastal path alongside
Lough Foyle. This road is well hemmed in by trees and shrubs, and
gives access to a number of private houses.
When you reach the coastal path (7), you do have the option
of turning left to extend the walk in the direction of Greencastle.
To complete this walk, however, turn right towards Moville. The
path winds along the coast, gently rising and falling, passing many
small sandy coves enclosed by rocky promontories and with pleasant
variations in direction and vistas. The view across the broad reach
of the lough is magnificent, taking in the curving area of the North
Derry Uplands, punctuated by the upthrust of Donald's Hill and Benbradagh,
merging into the distant line of the High Sperrins, with the distinctive
rounded summits of Sawel and Dart showing beyond the eastern slopes
of Loughermore. The lough itself is busy this summer afternoon with
a variety of yachts and other pleasure craft; several fishing boats
scurry down-lough on the out-going tide; and a large bulk carrier
thrusts its way south towards Lishally There is also a great variety
of birdlife: cormorants skim the surface of the lough, oystercatchers
patrol the beaches, grey-back crows forage along the tide line,
and a large flock of rooks caw loudly from the dense cover of tall
trees inland. Indeed, there is also much of interest on the island
side of the path, as you pass the grounds of three large houses
of character along the way. Near the first, Carnagarve, you will
notice high wire fencing and should see a large herd of deer grazing
the extensive pasture on the Moville side of the house. Next is
Gortgowan, a large, white two storey house, located on a relatively
flat terrace of land - probably a raised beach, with the steep.
totally wooded face of the old cliff line rising behind it. As the
path winds along, the colourful seafront houses of Moville come
into view; also, to the front right above the path, on a high terrace
backed by dense woodland, is the third large house Ravenscliff.
You then pass a small bathing place, and a steep rock cliff rises
alongside the path on its landward side. There are steps leading
to the top of this cliff, but keep to the lower path. Turning a
corner, the cliffs then fall away and the open expanse of Bath Green
appears before you; also Moville itself and the distinctive blue
painted structure of St. Eugene's Society Temperance Hall (built
1887) at the end of Montgomery Terrace. This part of the walk has
some well sheltered seats with lovely outlooks across Lough Foyle.
Issuing from the wall beside the path is a free-flowing spring of
fresh water: Colmcille's Well. In summer, Bath Green and its paths
are alive with holiday makers and the sea with watersports: yachting,
canoeing, windsurfing and jet -skiing. Keeping to the seaward side
of the path, you pass the premises of Moville Boat Club. Here were
located the sea-baths which gave Bath Green its name. Set into a
large rock, on the grassy area just in front of the car park, is
an informative plaque about the green.
Moville: The Irish name for Moville (magh bhile, the plain
of the ancient tree) would suggest a pagan site of worship in a
sanctuary of trees; later, in the 6th century it became the site
of a Christian monastery. At the site today are the remains of an
ancient church, which served as a parish church before the Reformation.
The first church here is alleged to have been built by St. Patrick,
but the nearby 'Skull House' (a small stone roofed oratory or tomb-shrine)
is popularly associated with St. Finnian, abbot of the monastery.
The site also contains a plain monolithic High Cross. The present
town of Moville was developed by Samuel Montgomery, a prosperous
Londonderry wine merchant. He had acquired 1,000 acres of land at
Moville, and lived at New Park House, which he built in 1771.
The Irish estate remained within the Montgomery family, and was
inherited by the father of Bernard Law Montgomery (Field Marshall
The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein), who spent his youth at New
Park. The old pier at Moville was built just before 1825 and, before
the last war, it was a port -of-call for transatlantic liners. From
the early 1860s right through to 1939 transatlantic steamers of
the Anchor Line used to moor in the deep water of Lough Foyle off
Moville while waiting for passengers (mainly emigrants bound for
Canada and USA) from Derry and Donegal. Passengers were carried,
free of charge, from Derry's quay to Moville on liner-tender paddle
steamers, for example, PS
Albatross operated a ferry service between Derry and Moville
during the years 1878 to 1906. PS Seamore was acquired by the Anchor
Line (which had offices in Foyle Street, Derry) in 1928 and it acted
as the company's tug-tender until 1939 when the transatlantic passenger
service liners calling in at Moville ceased. Moville today is mainly
important as a seaside resort and market town.
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