№ 24Walk · County Antrim, Northern Ireland

The Gobbins

An Edwardian cliff path of tunnels and iron bridges bolted to the Antrim coast — lost for decades, now rebuilt.

Seen through the round mouth of a tubular bridge, railed steps of the Gobbins path drop steeply along the cliff toward the waves. — Pl. IIThrough the iron tube

The approach path to the Gobbins winds along a stony shore beneath green slopes on the Islandmagee coast under a grey sky. — Pl. IIIThe long way to the cliffs

Photographs Colin Park (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Giorgio Galeotti (CC BY 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons

In 1902 the railway engineer Berkeley Deane Wise built a path along the black basalt cliffs of Islandmagee to sell train tickets: tubular bridges over the sea, staircases cut into the rock, tunnels through the headlands. Edwardian tourists came in boaters and long skirts to walk a route the Atlantic was actively contesting. The sea eventually won, and the Gobbins closed in 1954 to rust for two generations.

Reopened in 2016 with new bridges on the old fittings, it is once again the most dramatic walk in Northern Ireland: guided groups in helmets, waves detonating beneath the walkways, puffins and kittiwakes on the ledges in early summer. It still closes for storms often enough to prove the point.

Field notes

The knowledge

Getting there: The Gobbins Visitor Centre at Islandmagee, County Antrim, half an hour from Belfast; guided tours only — book ahead, wear real shoes, expect steps.
Best time: April to July, when the seabirds are in residence and the sea is merely boisterous.
Local tip: If tours are suspended — it happens — the clifftop path above gives a consolation view of the bridges.

Field position54.8080° N · 5.7050° W

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