Ballyteige Burrow is a five-kilometre spit of shingle and dunes running west from Kilmore Quay along the south Wexford coast, and the swimming here is genuinely risky: strong currents and riptides run along the strand, and there is no lifeguard. Come instead for the walk, the birds and the fishing. It is mostly a shingle beach rather than soft sand – there are better Blue Flag options nearby if a paddle is the goal – but as a long, bracing walk away from the crowds it is hard to beat.
If you do one thing, walk out along the burrow from Kilmore Quay. The dunes rise to about 15 metres, high enough that the views take in much of the surrounding coast, with the Saltee Islands clear on the horizon and the estuary lying behind the beach. It is an easy, open walk; pick a dry, settled day and the light off the Saltees in the morning is the reward.
The dunes and their wildlife
The burrow is an internationally important habitat: a shingle-based dune system with meadows and wetland beyond. The protected dunes hold several rare insects and orchids, and the only population of scrambled-egg lichen in Ireland – the kind of detail that means staying on the marked paths is more than a formality, particularly through the nesting season. Behind the dunes, the mix of sand, mudflat and salt marsh around Ballyteige Lough draws waders and seabirds, and the lough edge is a known birdwatching spot.
Ballyteige Lough itself is not natural in its present form. It was reclaimed from a tidal inlet in the late 19th century, with a dam across the lough, the cutting of the Bridgetown Canal, and an embankment that closed it off from the open sea near Cullenstown.
Ballyteige Castle
The building you pass on the way to Duncormick is not quite the medieval castle it is often taken for. The prominent structure is a two-storey-over-basement farmhouse, built in the 18th century and now disused after being vacated in 1987, standing under the wing of the older Ballyteige tower house – a separate monument said to have been raised by Sir Waller Whitty. The farmhouse carries a darker thread of history: it has connections with John Henry Colclough, hanged off Wexford Bridge for his part in the 1798 Rebellion.
Fishing
This is one of the better-known marks in the south-east. The estuary behind the dunes holds the current Irish flounder record at 4.91 lb, and the strand itself produces good bass to over the ten-pound specimen size when the surf is up after a strong southerly blow. Cast from the burrow for bass, coalfish, dab, dogfish, flounder and plaice; the small inlet behind it is a popular spot for crabfishing, and boat trips run from the harbour at Kilmore Quay. The fishing runs all year, peaking in autumn for bass and winter for flounder. Cullenstown, on the western entrance to the lough, fishes well on a flooding tide.
Getting there and parking
The simplest approach is from Kilmore Quay, where there is free parking in the main car park and a small car park on the beach itself. Wexford Bus runs from Wexford Town to Kilmore Quay via Johnstown Castle several times a day, a trip of under an hour. There is no admission fee and the burrow is open year-round; the nearest toilets and café are back in the village. One practical note before you walk to the lough mouth: the channel narrows and the tide runs hard, so check the tide tables and keep well back of the water.