The Gobbins drew worldwide acclaim, with newspapers declaring that 'the varied beauty of this cliff path baffles all description'. Bridge and cliff at The Gobbins Thousands of people visited The Gobbins in the first few decades of the 20th century \- advertisements of the time declared ‘the new cliff path along The Gobbins Cliffs, with its ravines, bore caves, natural aquariums ... has no parallel in Europe as a marine cliff walk'. However the railway company got into financial difficulties during the 1930s; upkeep slipped and the path was closed in the run up to World War II. The Gobbins was briefly reopened by the Ulster Transport Authority after the war, but closed in 1954. Several abortive attempts were made by government and individuals to restore the path.
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There would be no new bridges built at The Gobbins for over 100 years. Berkeley Deane Wise died in May 1909. He would have been disappointed to know that his plans were never fully completed, but nonetheless The Gobbins was recognised as his crowning achievement.
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The Gobbins is a cliff-face path at Islandmagee, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on the Causeway Coastal Route. It runs across bridges, past caves and through a tunnel, along The Gobbins cliffs (Irish: Gobán meaning "tip/point of land" or "headland").Niall Ó Dónaill. Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (Irish-English Dictionary) pp. 655-656. .
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Postcard of The Tubular Bridge - believed to show the creator of The Gobbins, Berkley Deane Wise and his wife, Leah, in about 1902. Berkeley Deane Wise drew up a map of his planned path in 1902, showing a 3 & 1/4 mile long route. It would start near the village of Ballystrudder (a small laneway just off the ‘Gobbins Road’ is still called the ‘Gobbins Path’ as a consequence). The path would then run for a mile or more along an undulating section of coast, skirting farmers' fields before reaching the spectacular ‘cliff section’ where visitors would enjoy bridges, tunnels and caves.
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It is this last section which became so famous and which is accessible today (by guided tour, leaving from The Gobbins visitor centre). Wise’s map listed a series of new names for features along the cliffs, which he planned for visitors to explore - like Sandy Cave, the Man O’War stack and Otter Cave.Berkeley Deane Wise (1902) 'The Gobbins' - copy of map filed under ‘Islandmagee’, Local Studies Collection, Ballymena Central Library, Libraries NI The first stretch of The Gobbins opened to the public in August 1902. First to explore its ‘strange, fantastic forms’ were members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
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The Gobbins required constant maintenance to cope with the impact of waves and storms. Following the Great Depression and the steady rise of competition from road transport, the railway company got into financial difficulties - by 1938 the Northern Counties Committee was losing £19,000 a year. Wise's Eye at The Gobbins The Gobbins was closed for a time in 1936, then during the Second World War there was an even more acute shortage of manpower and finance. As a result, no upkeep was carried out, apart from painting the railings black to avoid them acting as a landmark for German air-raids heading into Belfast.
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From 2011-2015 Larne Borough Council led a project to reopen The Gobbins. A series of new bridges and galleries were constructed and installed during 2014-15. The work was funded by the European Union’s INTERREG IVA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) and administered by the North East Partnership, Larne Borough Council and the Ulster Garden Villages Limited. The Gobbins was accessible to visitors from August 2015 by guided tour.
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The Gobbins was the brainchild of a pioneering Irish railway engineer called Berkeley Deane Wise. Originally from New Ross, Wise served his apprenticeship working on the railway line between Dublin and Wexford. At the age of just 22, he developed tunnels and bridges for one of the most challenging sections in the country, along the coast at Bray Head. This and other experiences helped give Wise the skills he needed to conceive his ultimate achievement – The Gobbins – just over 25 years later.
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This runs beside the third biggest waterfall in Scotland, The Grey Mare's Tail, it was installed and is operated by Vertical Descents. There is also an indoor via ferrata in Kendal Climbing Wall that takes a route around the climbing areas on steel ladders and rungs. Gobbins Path, Northern Ireland. Walking route along sea cliffs.
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Opening for the 2016 summer season was delayed until the end of April following storm damage to the approach path in January 2016 but further damage occurred in June 2016. The path re-opened on 30 June 2017. Car parking, a café, exhibition and visitor facilities for The Gobbins are provided by visitor centre at nearby Ballystrudder.
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Wise also built a new path along the coast from Whitehead to the lighthouse at Blackhead, overlooking the town, in 1892. To reach the lighthouse he added several bridges and a tunnel. Wise soon had ambitious plans for a much more elaborate path built on sheer cliffs a few miles to the north: The Gobbins was about to be born.
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In June 1904, Wise hosted the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland (of which he was an esteemed member). Their Journal records some of the few surviving technical details of the bridges and other constructions on the original path: > “...the cliff section has necessitated a large number of bridges, varying > from ten to thirty feet span… About mid way an isolated sea-stack occurs > known as ‘The Man-o’War’, separated from the mainland by a chasm 65 feet > wide…To span this a special bridge was designed by Mr Wise. The steel > framework is 70 feet in length and is composed of longitudinal angles and > bars with 12 elliptical stiffeners” The original Tubular Bridge at The Gobbins The ‘special bridge’ the engineers were describing was the famous Tubular Bridge - which quickly became a symbol of The Gobbins.
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After the war, The Gobbins was briefly reopened by the new Ulster Transport Authority, but closed in 1954. Several attempts were made by government and individuals to restore the path. Writer and filmmaker, John H. Lennon from Co Down was a particular champion. However lack of finance and scepticism about tourist numbers in the face of the conflict in Northern Ireland frustrated these attempts.
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While there was already some provision for tourists, the BNCR's civil engineer Berkeley Deane Wise constructed a new promenade and imported sand from Portrush to make a beach. In 1892 he also engineered a cliff path was engineered that stretched 1¼ miles from Whitehead to the Blackhead promontory. The lower sections bordered the shore but blasting and cantilevering from the cliffs was necessary higher up. Further north from Whitehead on the eastern coast of Islandmagee is a region of high basalt cliffs known as the Gobbins.
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The NCC acquired a third hotel, the Laharna Hotel at Larne, from the Holden company in 1909 and with it the Holden train. Glenariff continued to be a popular tourist destination and Sunday trains were run on the Cushendall line during summer to meet public demand. The Gobbins cliff path on Islandmagee had not been completed in BNCR days. While it had been intended to carry the path three miles (5 km) to Heddle's Port, the engineering and other construction works this would entail were considered to be too expensive.
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In late Victorian and Edwardian times, Whitehead was a popular seaside holiday destination developed by and visitors flocked from Belfast and the surrounding area each year. Whitehead is a Victorian railway village with a well preserved conservation area, including the railway station. It is home to the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, County Antrim Yacht Club and the Council owned Bentra Golf Course, as well as being the starting point for the popular Gobbins Path. The town also was home to an aerodrome during the First World War which housed two airships.
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A pioneering Irish railway engineer called Berkeley Deane Wise took this tourism endeavour to the next level, creating innovative new paid-for attractions that would encourage visitors to use the railway company's services. Just south of Gobbins Path, Wise helped transform the tiny hamlet of Whitehead into a premier holiday resort. He designed and built a bandstand, ladies and gents bathing boxes, a ‘children’s corner’, a slipway and a pavilion with 500 seats. Whitehead received a silver at the Britain in Bloom awards in 2005 & 2006 and a bronze in 2007 with the local Brighter Whitehead group planting many of the flowers.
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The Blackhead Path was built by the Victorians in 1892, partly funded by the railway company, to attract day trippers and holiday makers to Whitehead which was at the time a growing tourist destination and resort. Wise also built a new path Blackhead Path along the coast from Whitehead to the lighthouse at Blackhead, overlooking the town, in 1892. To reach the lighthouse he added several bridges and a tunnel. Wise soon had ambitious plans for a much more elaborate path built on sheer cliffs a few miles to the north: The Gobbins Path was about to be born.
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In 1888, Wise became the Chief Engineer of the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway Company. The company already had a keen interest in tourism, thanks to the work of another pioneer, Railway Manager, Edward John Cotton – one of the youngest ever Railway Managers in Britain and Ireland. Cotton arranged 'excursion trains’ for every occasion and made 3rd class tickets available from all stations – opening up the possibility of travel and day trips for thousands of ordinary people. Blackhead Lighthouse - Berkeley Deane Wise built bridges and a tunnel to make a path here before he created The Gobbins.
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Berkeley Deane Wise took this tourism endeavour to the next level, creating innovative new paid-for attractions that would encourage visitors to use the railway company's services. Within a year of starting at the 'Northern Counties' he had opened a series of paths and bridges at beautiful Glenariff Glen – later adding a tearoom and shelters with coloured glass to view the waterfalls there. Just south of The Gobbins, Wise helped transform the tiny hamlet of Whitehead into a premier holiday resort. He designed and built a bandstand, ladies and gents bathing boxes, a ‘children’s corner’, a slipway and a pavilion with 500 seats.
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The company's hotels, which had closed during the war years, were reopened to the public by mid-1947 although the Midland Station Hotel in Belfast, which had suffered severe damage during the 1941 Blitz, was not fully operational. Paths and bridges at Glenariff were repaired but the Gobbins cliff path, on which maintenance had ceased in 1942, would not reopen under NCC management. The Northern Ireland Government resumed its deliberations into the transport situation that had been postponed during the war. It published a White Paper in 1946 that proposed the amalgamation of the BCDR, the NCC and the NIRTB, together with that portion of the GNR(I) which lay in Northern Ireland, into a single organisation to be known as the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA).
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When it first opened, the path stopped short of the ‘Seven Sisters’ caves. But Wise’s map shows he planned to continue building to Heddles’ port and create an exit onto to the 'county' road. in 1905 he was granted money to extend The Gobbins by the railway companyMidland Railway Company - Northern Counties Committee (29 June 1905), Minute 692, Committee Minutebook, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland – which had become part of the larger Midland Railway Company (MR). Plaque to B.D. Wise at WhiteheadIn June 1906 Wise fell ill, and his job was taken over by the company’s Locomotive Engineer Bowman Malcolm. Further work was undertaken including blasting a tunnel at the rear of ‘Trump Cave’, and building the supports for a suspended walkway inside another cave.
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