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BELLARENA

CO. DERRY · IE

Bellarena
Baile Bhéal Rinne

The Causeway Coastal Route
STOP 05 / 05

Baile Bhéal Rinne · Co. Derry

A request-stop station, a basalt cliff, and seven miles of strand to the west.

Bellarena is not a village in the usual sense. There is no main street, no square, no clutch of pubs around a crossroads. There is a railway station, a Georgian manor behind its gates, a scatter of farms on the flat ground between the mountain and the Roe estuary, and the long line of Binevenagh holding the eastern horizon. The 2021 census counted 341 people. Most of them you will not see.

What you came for is the geography. Binevenagh is the western full-stop of the Antrim basalt — the same lava field that built the Giant's Causeway, here ending in a cliff line over the Magilligan lowlands. To the west, the lowlands run out into seven miles of strand. To the south, the Roe meets Lough Foyle in mudflats that the geese know better than anyone. Stand at the station car park on a clear day and the whole arrangement is laid out for you in one slow turn of the head.

The way to use Bellarena is as a hinge. Train in from Belfast or Derry, walk up Binevenagh, drive west to the strand, eat in Limavady or Castlerock, come back for the late train. It is not a place that asks you to stay. It is a place that asks you to look.

Population

341 (2021 census)

Walk score

A railway halt, a manor gate, and farmland in every direction

Founded

Named 'the beautiful strand' by the Earl Bishop in the late 18th century

Coords

55.1167° N, 6.9000° W

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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 mountain

Binevenagh ends the Antrim plateau.

A 385-metre basalt escarpment that drops in a clean cliff line over six miles of coast. Lough Foyle on one side, the Atlantic on the other. The AONB designation came in 2006; the geology came 60 million years earlier.

Walks & outings → 02 The station

Two platforms in the middle of farmland.

Bellarena station opened in 1853 and was rebuilt in 2016 with an 800-metre passing loop — the bit of track that let the Belfast–Derry line move to an hourly service. The Queen opened the new platform on 28 June 2016. The fields haven't noticed.

Stories & lore → 03 The strand

Seven miles of sand to the west.

Magilligan Strand runs from Magilligan Point round to Downhill — the longest beach in Northern Ireland, backed by one of the largest dune systems in the UK. Drive to Benone, walk until you forget what time it is.

Walks & outings →

02 / 05

Stories & lore.

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

Bellarena — 'the beautiful strand'

The Earl Bishop named it

The townland was Ballymargy before the late 18th century, when Frederick Hervey — Bishop of Derry, Earl of Bristol, and the most flamboyant clergyman of his age — gave it the half-Italian name it still carries. Hervey built Downhill House and the Mussenden Temple a few miles west along the same coast. He did not build Bellarena House itself, but the name is his.

The Gages of the strand

Bellarena House

The estate was leased in 1603 by William Gage of Northamptonshire and stayed in the family for centuries — though by an inheritance twist the heir, Marcus McCausland of Drenagh, took the Gage name in the 1790s and extended the house. His son Conolly added the library and a third storey in 1822. Sir Charles Lanyon — the architect who would later build Queen's University Belfast — redecorated the place in the 1830s. The house is private; the gates are not the destination.

How Bellarena unlocked the line

The passing loop

For most of its life the Belfast–Derry railway was single-track for long stretches, which capped the service at a train every two hours. The 2015–2017 line upgrade put an 800-metre passing loop and two new platforms in at Bellarena, replacing the older loop at Castlerock. From 2017 there has been an hourly service in each direction. The Queen unveiled the plaque on the new Down platform in June 2016. A request stop in farmland turned out to be the bit of geometry the whole line was waiting for.

Seven miles, one beach

Magilligan

West of Bellarena the land flattens into the Magilligan triangle — the prison, the army training ground, the dune system, and the strand. The beach runs from Magilligan Point round past Benone to Downhill, seven miles of sand, the longest in Northern Ireland. The ferry to Greencastle in Donegal leaves from the Point and gets you across Lough Foyle in fifteen minutes if the tide is right.

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Things to do outside.

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

Binevenagh cliff and lake Drive up the Bishop's Road, park at Binevenagh Lake, walk to the cliff edge. The view runs from Donegal to the Causeway. The lake is stocked, the wind is honest, and the path is short enough to do in trainers.

3–5 km loops from the car parkdistance

1–2 hourstime

Magilligan / Benone Strand Drive ten minutes west to Benone, walk as far as you fancy. Hard sand, blue-flag water in summer, the dunes behind you. Cars are allowed on parts of it — keep an eye on the tide line.

Up to 11 km of beachdistance

However long you havetime

Bellarena station to the Roe estuary From the station car park you can walk out toward where the Roe meets Lough Foyle. Flat, quiet, full of birds in winter. Wellingtons after rain.

4 km returndistance

1 hourtime

04 / 05

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

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

Driving up looking for the village centre

There isn't one. The station, a few houses and the manor gates are the village. Park at the station or drive on to Binevenagh.

The 7 miles of strand on a coach itinerary

Magilligan rewards an unhurried morning, not a 20-minute photo stop. If you only have 20 minutes, do the Binevenagh cliff view instead.

Getting there.

By car

Limavady to Bellarena is 10 minutes on the B201 / Seacoast Road. Derry is 35 minutes west, Coleraine 25 minutes east. The Bishop's Road up Binevenagh leaves the B201 just east of the village.

By bus

Translink Ulsterbus services serve Limavady; from there it's a short taxi or a country bus to Bellarena. Most visitors arrive by train or car.

By train

Bellarena is on the Belfast–Derry line, hourly each way since 2017. About 30 minutes from Derry, 25 from Coleraine, 2 hours from Belfast. It can be a request stop on some services — flag the driver.

By air

City of Derry Airport (LDY) is 25 minutes by road. Belfast International is 90 minutes.