Cregagh Glen Cache Series
Into The Wild GC2D7GK
Feet of Clay GC2D7GR
In My Tree GC2D7GV
The Fixer GC2D7GW
Rise GC2TPBB
The purpose of this mini-series of caches is to draw you up through the picturesque and ancient Cregagh Glen and then to link to 2 further established caches on the Castlereagh hills (Rocky Memorial GC2BRA5, Belfast View GC2FYDB) and ultimately to the cache at Lisnabreeny Rath (Ring Fort GCJ3Z8).
All caches in this series are hidden within Cregagh Glen. Sturdy footwear is essential – paths can be muddy all year round. Not suitable for wheelchairs or strollers. Please supervise children at all times - the glen has naturally steep sides and a river running its length.
Distance/Time one way: Cregagh Glen walk – 1km approx. ½ hour (2.5 km to Lisnabreeny Rath approx. 1 hour - not including caching time!)
Bring a picnic and take a seat at the top of the walk at Lisnabreeny Fort – wonderful views over Belfast, and to the Mournes on a clear day.
All caches in this series have been placed with kind permission of the National Trust – the landowners of Cregagh Glen
Access
Entrance on Upper Knockbreda Road, just south of the Cregagh Road junction.
Care should be taken if crossing the Upper Knockbreda Road — this is a busy dual carriageway.
By car - No parking at entrance. On street parking available at the top of the Cregagh Road.
Please be considerate of residents when parking and please do not stop on the carriageway!
By bus - Metro Services 6 (30, 30A, 31).
Cregagh Glen to Lisnabreeny Fort
Beginning at the entrance on the Upper Knockbreda Road, follow the path uphill through Cregagh Glen. At the top of the glen take the path to the right and cross under the Manse Road bridge via the wooden walkway and into the grounds of Lisnabreeny House.
Follow the lane along past the house, school and farmland. A stile will take you past the gate halfway along this lane. At the end of the lane a wooden gate will lead you to the clearly marked National Trust path through fields at the end of which is a bench. Stop here to catch your breath and enjoy the view over Belfast. Continue further up the hill, past a metal farm gate to another wooden gate. This will lead you to another field from where you will see a stand of mature trees marking the site of the rath.
The ‘In My Tree’ Cache
Up here in my tree, Newspapers matter not to me
Cache cache is a small plastic container slightly longer than a 35mm film canister - but is well camouflaged - the camouflage is substantially larger than the cache. Contains only a log - and an exclusive FTF badge! - so don't forget your pen!
Please note: heavy tree-cover in the glen plays havoc with your GPSr. Numerous average waypoints taken - you will have to use your geoinstincts for this one!
Background
Glen
The greater part of Cregagh Glen is owned and maintained by the National Trust. The river though small, displays a number of impressive waterfalls, the largest with a drop of around fifteen metres.
The woodland element of the glen is in parts quite ancient and is one of very few surviving remnants of a thousand acre forest. It consists mainly of ash, beech, hazel, sycamore and Scots pine. The principal ground-cover is field woodrush and bluebell but other species such as dog violet and wood anemone (also known as ‘windflower’) can be observed – the glen is at its most beautiful in the Spring, when the bluebells are in flower and the river is in full flow.
Rumour has it that Thomas Russell, librarian of Belfast Society for Promoting Knowledge (later to become the Linen Hall Library) and as it happens, co-founder and leader of the United Irishmen, was hidden by a James (or some say William) Witherspoon: a woodsman who had a small cabin in the forest by the glen. Russell was later hanged and then beheaded for his part in Robert Emmet’s failed rebellion of 1803 or some say for his cataloguing (it wasn’t very good).
House
In 1937 Lisnabreeny House (then around 100 years old) along with 166 acres of land including much of the Cregagh Glen, was gifted to the National Trust by Dr Nesca Robb; a well-known local writer of the time. Since being the family home of the Robb family (Belfast department store owners who made the kind donation), Lisnabreeny House has in its time been the first city youth hostel in Ireland and a US Army headquarters in Northern Ireland during and after the Second World War. The US Army maintained a military cemetery in a neighbouring field (see Rocky Memorial GC2BRA5 for details). The recently restored Lisnabreeny House is now part of Lagan College, Belfast’s first religiously integrated school.
Rath
Lisnabreeny Rath, probably meaning ‘fort of the fairy’, dates from the early Christian period, between 500 and 1000AD. Raths are common throughout Ireland but particularly in this area, although Lisnabreeny is the only one local to here with full public access. When functioning, it would have contained a simple dwelling within an area protected by an earth bank and palisade fence. Much of this construction is still visible today.
