Fair Head
Encyclopedia
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, in County Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...
. It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of Ballycastle
Ballycastle, County Antrim
Ballycastle is a small town in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Its population was 5,089 people in the 2001 Census. It is the seat and main settlement of Moyle District Council....
town, and is the closest part of the mainland to Rathlin Island
Rathlin Island
Rathlin Island is an island off the coast of County Antrim, and is the northernmost point of Northern Ireland. Rathlin is the only inhabited offshore island in Northern Ireland, with a rising population of now just over 100 people, and is the most northerly inhabited island off the Irish coast...
. It is a very highly-regarded rock-climbing location, and is believed to be the biggest expanse of climbable rock in either Ireland or Britain.
Setting
The headland of Fair Head rises 196m above the sea. Wild goats can be seen roaming among the rocks beneath the clifftops, where a walkway called The Grey Man's Path winds around the rugged coastline. From the road, a manmade Iron AgeIron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
island or crannóg
Crannog
A crannog is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters of Scotland and Ireland. Crannogs were used as dwellings over five millennia from the European Neolithic Period, to as late as the 17th/early 18th century although in Scotland,...
can be seen in the middle of a lake, Lough na Cranagh. The lakes are stocked with trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
and can be fished during the summer months. Much of the land at Fair Head is owned by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
, so ensuring that its natural beauty is preserved.
Many famous Irish artists have painted Fair Head including Maurice Canning Wilks
Maurice Canning Wilks
Maurice Canning Wilks was an Irish landscape painter. Born in Belfast in 1910 to a linen designer, he was educated in Belfast at the Malone Public School and attended evening classes at the Belfast College of Art. While attending college he was awarded the Dunville Scholarship allowing him to...
who painted a watercolour from a nearby beach.
Climbing
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
, but for a variety of reasons including its relatively remote location and the physical strength
Physical strength
Physical strength is the ability of a person or animal to exert force on physical objects using muscles. Increasing physical strength is the goal of strength training.-Overview:...
and unfamiliar climbing technique
Climbing technique
A climbing technique is any type or combination of body posture, movement, or hold used in climbing. In this article, several different climbing techniques are listed, and briefly described.-Bridging, or stemming:...
s often required there, does not attract the volume of climbers that one might expect at a crag of such quality. Its cliffs stretch for a distance of over 5 km around the headland, rising to a maximum height of over 100m. They are not sea-cliffs, but have been described as a mountain crag by the sea, since they tower above an extensive boulder
Boulder
In geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size of usually no less than 256 mm diameter. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive....
field and their isolation and size gives climbing there a big-wall mountaineering feel.
The cliffs are composed of dolerite, giving a mixture of steep cracked walls, corners, and, in many places, sets of columns reminiscent of organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
-pipes. The dolerite sits on top of a bed of chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
which is visible in places.
The cliffs abound in well-protected steep crack climbing, between one and four pitches
Pitch (vertical space)
-Climbing:In rock climbing and ice climbing, a pitch is a steep section of a route that requires a rope between two belays, as part of a climbing system...
long. Many of the cracks involve hand-jamming
Climbing technique
A climbing technique is any type or combination of body posture, movement, or hold used in climbing. In this article, several different climbing techniques are listed, and briefly described.-Bridging, or stemming:...
, so some climbers tape their hands to protect the skin from what they term "Fair Head rash". Other climbs involve off-width or full-width chimneying
Climbing technique
A climbing technique is any type or combination of body posture, movement, or hold used in climbing. In this article, several different climbing techniques are listed, and briefly described.-Bridging, or stemming:...
, which is not often encountered in other Irish crags. As with nearly all Irish crags, only traditional protection
Protection (climbing)
To make climbing as safe as possible, most climbers use protection, a term used to describe the equipment used to prevent injury to themselves and others.-Types of climbing:...
("clean climbing
Clean climbing
Clean climbing is a rock climbing term that describes techniques and equipment which climbers use in order to avoid damage to the rock. These techniques date at least in part from the 1920s and earlier in England, but the term itself may have emerged in about 1970 during the widespread and rapid...
") is used.
The current guidebook
Climbing guidebook
Climbing guidebooks are used by rock climbers to find the location of climbing routes at crags or on mountains. Guidebooks also offer condensed information about local restaurants, bars and camping areas; often include sections on geology and local climbing history; and may contain many pictures to...
, published in 2002, lists about 400 routes from under grade VS 4c up to E6 6b, but more recent climbing includes routes up to E8 6c.
History
The first climbs at Fair Head were done in the mid-1960s by some BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
-based climbers and members of the Dublin-based Spillikin Club. Most of these climbs followed loose and dirty chimneys and are rarely repeated nowadays, but the seed had been planted, and before the end of the sixties development of the crag had started in earnest. However, it was not long before the increasing political violence in the North started making its presence felt; the Fair Head area was generally unaffected, but development of the crag slowed to a trickle during the early 1970s. However the attractions of Fair Head eventually proved irresistible and development picked up again in the late seventies, led by the husband-and-wife team of Calvin Torrans and Clare Sheridan and a number of other Dublin climbers. This small band devoted themselves to developing Fair Head, founded the Dal Riada Climbing Club (named after the ancient kingdom which included this area), and acquired a climbing hut nearby to accommodate themselves and other visiting climbers. There is still unclimbed rock at Fair Head; opportunities, mainly in the higher grades, are waiting for those who have the talent and dedication.
Layout
The cliffs are divided into several main sectors. From east to west, these are:- The Small Crag. This 20m-high sector containing about seventy climbs stretches for 1 km above a heavily-forested hillside; the difficulty of access means that abseiling in is usually necessary. Together with the problems often caused by midgeMidgeA midge is a very small, two-winged flying insect. "Midge" may also refer to:-Real:* Midge Costanza , American politician* Mildred Gillars , aka "Midge", American broadcaster of Nazi propaganda during World War II...
s, this make the sector unpopular, in spite of the quality of climbing to be had there. - The Main Crag (including The Prow at its western end) is by far the most important sector. It curves around the headland for 3 km, and contains the longest and best-quality climbs, up to 100m in height. Access is gained mainly by two easy descent gullies near either end of the sector, the Grey Man's Path at the east, and the Ballycastle Gully at the west. The Ballycastle Gully tends to be the more popular descent route for casual visitors, as there is a concentration of easier climbs in the vicinity. Between the two gullies, the starts of climbs can be reached by picking one's way through the boulder-field or by doing a usually-vertical abseil of up to 100m.
- Farrangandoo. This popular small sector consists of columns with intervening cracks every 2m or so, and contains about 30 single-pitch climbs.
- Marconi's Cove is about 500m distant from the rest of the crag, and was not discovered until 1988, but contains about 25 good-quality single-pitch climbs.
Base camps are usually established near the tops of the descent routes; the walk-ins this far are pleasant and quite short, through the open grazing fields above the crag. However, access to some of the climbs themselves can be quite rough and time-consuming.
Visiting
The Dal Riada Climbing Club formerly had the use of a series of buildings which they operated as climbing huts which they used to accommodate themselves and other visiting climbers, but this ended in 2007 when the last one was repossessed by its owners, the National Trust http://www.fairheadclimbers.com/cgi-bin/m_b/YaBB.pl?board=news;action=display;num=1188394895. The most popular options now are either campingCamping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
at a nearby campsite
Campsite
A campsite or camping pitch is a place used for overnight stay in the outdoors. In British English a campsite is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using tents or camper vans or caravans; this British English use of the word is synonymous with the...
operated by a local farmer, or staying at a hostel
Hostel
Hostels provide budget oriented, sociable accommodation where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed, in a dormitory and share a bathroom, lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex, although private rooms may also be available...
in Ballycastle town, where there is a selection of bars and restaurants .