Articlave, Ard an Chléibh, Co. Derry

Ard an Chléibh · Co. Derry

A plantation village on the A2, with a 681 AD hillfort behind it and a chipper out front.

Articlave is a small Causeway-Coast village strung along the A2 between Coleraine and Castlerock. A row of houses, the church at one end, a pub, a chip shop, the hill rising behind to a place called the Sconce. From the road you'd drive through it in a minute and not notice. That would be the wrong thing to do.

The village is a plantation village - one of the older ones in Ulster, in fact. The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers of London were granted around 6,000 acres west of the River Bann in 1613, and Articlave was their first settlement on the estate, founded the year before the grant was finalised. St Paul's, the Church of Ireland parish church, stands on ground the Clothworkers gave in 1691 after the older church at Downhill was destroyed in the Jacobite war of 1689. The Irish name - Ard an Chléibh, height of the basket - survives on the postmark from much further back.

The reasons to stop are mostly on the edges of the village rather than in it. The Sconce, on the hill behind, is one of the oldest named places in this part of Ireland. Hezlett House, two minutes east at the Liffock crossroads, is a thatched cruck-framed cottage from around 1691 that the National Trust keeps. The strand at Castlerock is fifteen minutes' walk. Most people who stay in Articlave are using it as a quieter bed than Portrush, with the coast in every direction. Treat it the same way.

Population

~920 (2011 census; NISRA 2021 small-area figure pending)

Walk score

End to end on the A2 in seven minutes

Founded

1612 - first settlement on the Clothworkers' Company estate

Coords

55.1483° N, 6.8030° W

01 / 08

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The plantation

First Clothworkers village, 1612.

The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers got 6,000 acres west of the Bann in 1613 and put their first settlement here a year earlier. St Paul's, the parish church, was given the ground in 1691 after the older church at Downhill was destroyed in 1689.

Stories & lore → 02 The Sconce

Dún Ceithirn, on the hill behind.

An oval Iron-Age hillfort on Sconce Road, above the village. Named for Ceithern - a descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages in the old genealogies. The Annals of Ulster record the burning of two kings there in 681 AD.

Walks & outings → 03 The position

Coleraine 7 km east, Castlerock 1.5 km north.

Articlave sits on the A2 a kilometre back from the sea. Castlerock station, the strand, Mussenden Temple, the Downhill ruin - all under ten minutes on foot or by car. The village is the bed; the coast is the day.

Getting there →

02 / 08

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Village Tavern

Local, drinks-only

Village bar

On St Paul's Road, beside the church. Family-run, drinks-only as of the most recent visits - the bar stopped serving food and the food side is now a van that parks up outside some evenings. Live music and the football. The pub the village ends up in.

03 / 08

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
Chequers Articlave	Fish & chip restaurant	£	1 Sconce Road, at the foot of the hill up to the Sconce. Family-run since 1987. Battered fish, proper chips, a sit-in dining room rather than a counter-and-leave chipper. Open seven days, midday to ten. The default Articlave dinner.
The food van at the Village Tavern	Pub-yard food cart	£	Pizzas and burgers from a van that parks at the Tavern on selected evenings. Check the pub's Facebook before you walk over. The kitchen inside the pub is closed.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

1612, before the grant was even signed

The Clothworkers' first village

When the City of London livery companies were ordered to take on the Plantation of Ulster, the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers drew a 6,000-acre stretch west of the River Bann, granted formally on 17 December 1613. Articlave was their first settlement on the estate - it is generally taken to have been laid out a year before the grant, the site picked for the small river that gave it water and a name. The company built a bawn, a manor and tenant housing; the village kept the Gaelic name on the maps anyway.

Built in 1691, given by the company

St Paul's, Dunboe

The Clothworkers first improved an older parish church at Downhill, dedicated to St Adamnan. When that church was destroyed in the Williamite war of 1689 the company gave a piece of ground at Articlave, and St Paul's was built on it in 1691. It is still the Church of Ireland parish church here - paired with Christchurch in Castlerock and the small Church of the Ascension at Fermoyle in the hills above. The 300-year refurbishment was in 1991.

Dún Ceithirn, named in the Annals

The Sconce

The hill behind the village is called Sconce Hill, and the fort on top is the Giant's Sconce - Dún Ceithirn in the old sources, the fort of Ceithern. The Annals of Ulster record a battle there in 681 AD in which two kings of Cianachta Glinne Gaimen were burned alive. The fort is oval, prehistoric in origin, and the road that runs up to it is still called Sconce Road. The chipper at the bottom of that road takes the name too.

Older than the temple, and thatched

Hezlett House at Liffock

Two minutes east of the village, at the Liffock crossroads on the way to Castlerock, sits Hezlett House - a single-storey thatched cottage built around 1691, probably as a parsonage for the rector of Dunboe. It is cruck-framed, which is unusual for the North at that date, and is one of the oldest inhabited buildings still standing in Ulster. The Hezlett family - Presbyterian farmers - took it on in the 1760s and lived there until the National Trust acquired it in 1976. The postcode says Castlerock; the cottage actually sits between the two villages.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Up to the Sconce Out Sconce Road past the chipper and up to the Giant's Sconce on top of the hill. Earthworks, a long view back to Donegal in clear weather, a place that has been a place for at least 1,500 years. Boots if it's been wet.

3 km returndistance

1 hourtime

Articlave to Castlerock strand Cross the A2 at St Paul's, take the lane down past Hezlett House at Liffock, and you're on the strand at Castlerock. Bring the train timetable home - the station is at the seafront end and the line runs back to Coleraine.

3 km one waydistance

40 mintime

Downhill Demesne via the Black Glen Push on past Castlerock through the Bishop's Gate and into the Demesne, and you come up onto the cliff at Mussenden Temple from below - the way that costs nothing and earns the view. The car-park route on the far side is for people in a hurry.

6 km returndistance

2 hourstime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Hezlett opens for the season. The Sconce dries out. The strand is empty. Light starts to behave on the cliffs at Mussenden.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Articlave itself stays quiet - the cars are all parked at Castlerock and the Demesne. Bedrooms in the village are a lot easier to find than in Portrush. Worth using that.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Storms in off the Atlantic, big skies, and the temple at its most photographable. Most of the coach traffic gone. The chipper is still the chipper.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Hezlett shuts. The Tavern carries on. The wind on the Sconce will rearrange you. Train still runs from Castlerock if the road is dirty.

◐ Mind yourself

07 / 08

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Treating Articlave as a destination rather than a base

The village has a pub and a chipper. The reasons to be here are within fifteen minutes - the strand, the temple, the demesne, the cliff path. Sleep in Articlave; eat in Coleraine or Castlerock; spend the day on the coast.

Looking for the Hezlett House in Articlave

It is at the Liffock crossroads on the road to Castlerock, technically a Castlerock postcode. The locals know it as the Articlave one anyway. Drive a kilometre east on the A2 and watch for the thatch.

The Mussenden Temple coach drop from Belfast just for a photograph

Ninety minutes each way to spend forty minutes at a turnstile. If you're in Articlave for the night, walk up the strand and into the Demesne the back way. The temple is the same temple; the trip is a different trip.

Driving the A2 through here in summer at the speed limit

It is a village street with a school and a church on it. Two of the worst speed-trap stretches on the north coast are within a kilometre. Take the hint.

Getting there.

By car

Belfast to Articlave is 1h 15m on the M2 / A26 via Coleraine, then 7 km west on the A2. Derry is 50 minutes via the A2 along Lough Foyle. The village is right on the main road - you cannot miss it.

By bus

Translink Ulsterbus 134 runs Coleraine-Articlave Monday to Saturday, about every four hours, 14 minutes each way. Limited Sundays.

By train

No station in Articlave itself. Castlerock station is 1.5 km north on the Belfast-Derry line - hourly trains most of the day, four minutes back to Coleraine, thirty minutes on to Derry. Walk or taxi from there.

By air

City of Derry (LDY) is 35 minutes by car. Belfast International (BFS) is 1h 15m. Dublin is 3 hours.