Dún Briste Sea Stack – Downpatrick Head

Severed clean off from the mainland & now lying 80 meters from the shore is this giant rock sea stack known as ‘Dun Briste’. The stack got separated from the mainland in 1393 as result of high seas during a terrible storm. As unbelievable as this may sound, there was actually a little stone cottage on this once cliff edge during the night it was seperated in the big storm! The family living there had to be rescued off this newly formed sea stack using long ship ropes connecting back to the mainland.

The foundation stones of this home can still be faintly seen on top of this stack today from an aerial view. Just imagine how that poor family felt after going to bed on the mainland & when they opened their door the following morning only to realise, they were now stranded on an island high above the sea Only in Ireland!

The sea stack itself is beautiful to behold because it has taken 350 million years for these layers upon layers of multi-coloured rock strata to build upon each other to create this amazing formation. Dun Briste stack is roughly 63 meters long by 45 meters high.