Attractions on Northern Ireland's North Coast
Mountsandel Wood
Location: Coleraine
MOUNTSANDEL ROAD, COLERAINE, BT52 1JN
T: 028 2955 6000
F: 028 2955 7162
E: customer.forestservice@dardni.gov.uk
Archaeologists, during the 1970s discovered Mountsandel and realised it to be one of the most important historical sites on the island of Ireland. Artefacts from between nine and a half and ten thousand years old where unearthed and the excavations uncovered evidence that the people who lived at Mountsandel at around 7000BC had a rich diet of salmon (sourced from the adjacent River Bann), pig, duck and pigeon.
More recently, the Norman leader John de Courcy had a fort at Mountsandel in the 12th century. Mountsandel Fort is located just south of the town of Coleraine overlooking the famous Salmon Leap on the River Bann at Castleroe. Mountsandel Fort dates back to the iron age and is beside the site of the first hunter-gatherer settlement in Ireland, dating to pre-7000 BC.
The forest walk at Mountsandel goes from the high point at the fort to the banks of the Bann, and passes close to the weir at the Cutts.
For more information on Mountsandel Fort and Wood click here.
Open from dawn until dusk every day. Admission free.
USEFUL LINKS
Educational resources - www.mountsandel.com
A List of Forests in the North Coast Area
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