The Grianán of Aileach
The Grianán of Aileach is a restored stone ring-fort on the summit of Greenan Mountain, and it is the reason most people stop in Burt at all. The circular dry-stone wall stands up to 5 metres high and 4.5 metres thick, wrapping a 23-metre interior with three internal terraces reached by steps and two passages built into the wall itself. From the top the ground falls away to Lough Foyle on one side and Lough Swilly on the other, and on a clear day the view runs across five counties. If you have twenty minutes in Burt, spend them here.
The hill mattered long before the wall you see now. It appears on Ptolemy’s 2nd-century map of the world, and it served as the royal seat of the northern Uí Néill from roughly the 5th to the 12th century – the inauguration place of the kings of Aileach. The exact age of the visible stonework is debated; what is not is that Muirchertach Ua Briain, king of Munster, had the fort pulled down in 1101 to weaken his northern rivals, reputedly ordering each of his soldiers to carry off a stone. It was rebuilt between 1874 and 1879 by Dr Walter Bernard, a Derry historian, which is why the walls look far more complete than a nine-hundred-year-old ruin has any right to.
Legend fills in the rest. One story has the Dagda, king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, raise the fort over the grave of his son; another has St Patrick baptise the local chieftain Eoghan at a well on the slopes. Take them as the folklore they are, but they are part of why the place has held its grip for so long.
Burt Castle
Below the hillfort stand the ruins of Burt Castle, a tower house the O’Doherty clan built in the 1500s to guard the southern approach to their Inishowen lands. It rose three storeys, with two circular watchtowers and a vaulted stone chamber at the top, and it changed hands repeatedly as Gaelic Ulster gave way to English administration. Its best-known occupant was Sir Cahir O’Doherty, whose 1608 rebellion – the burning of Derry and Strabane – ended with the estate confiscated and handed to Sir Arthur Chichester.
One thing to know before you go looking: the castle sits on private farmland and there is no public access. You can pick out the tower from the road, but reaching it means asking the landowner’s permission first. Don’t climb in uninvited.
St Aengus’s Church
The other building worth your attention here is a modern one. St Aengus’s Church, on the N13, was designed by Liam McCormick and built between 1964 and 1967, its circular plan and rising roofline modelled on the Grianán of Aileach on the hill above. It is widely rated among the finest churches built in Ireland in the last century – a rare case of a new building answering an ancient one on the same skyline. Even if the fort is your only real target, slow down for this on the way past.
Getting there and visiting
Grianán of Aileach is free and open daily, roughly 8am to 6pm. A short paved path climbs from the free car park to the summit, which keeps the walk manageable for most, though the terraces inside have steep steps and the stone gets slick when wet. The hilltop is fully exposed, so bring a windproof layer whatever the month.
There are no toilets or café at the fort. The nearest are down in the village at the An Grianán Hotel, a 43-bedroom, family-run place that takes its name from the fort and runs the Old Church Restaurant and the Fort Bar & Lounge. The fort car park fills fast on summer afternoons, so come early or late.
For a longer day, the Inch Wildfowl Reserve is 5 km west, with wetland trails and good birdwatching on Lough Swilly, and the Inishowen 100 – a 160 km signed loop of the peninsula – starts more or less on Burt’s doorstep. If you like a ruin off the beaten track, the old Burt Distillery worked here through the 18th and 19th centuries, and its stone chimney still stands at Bohullion Lower.