Rossglass – Nature and People – Together or Apart?

Rossglass has an extended beach, a mixture of sand and various rocks of different sizes. St John’s Lighthouse is in the distance.

The site is also the first in Northern Ireland to have a bye-law to protect shore-nesting birds and seal pups from disturbance during their breeding season.

This sounds like a good idea – right? However, the local residents are divided between those who want to restrict access to the beach to protect wildlife, and those who want to maintain current rights of way. This includes the right to park on the beach. This reminds me of the growing sensitivities – on both sides – to access to the Bull Island in Dublin. Though I drive a car myself, I would prefer that cars stay away from beaches.

The beach itself is like an exhibition of different seaside surfaces. The first is the gorgeous sandy plain stretching to the horizon.

Then there is a grey sand with swirls and also a seaweed called Cystoseira Baccata.

There are also some enclosed and open rock pools.

Closer to the shore there are larger rocks – a great place for a bird to land to get a better view over the sandy plains.

There is a wide array of shingle.

The beach even provides an air of tundra wildness

Rossglass Beach – larger rocks

Across the road is Our Lady Star of the Sea church which dates back to before 1745 and is the oldest church in the parish of Bright (Killough). The present church was erected about 1780. The site of the chapel was conferred on the parish by the Kildare family, at that time owners of the estate.