Overview
Rossport is a scattered township on the south shore of Broadhaven Bay, and for a small place in a remote corner of north Mayo it carries an outsized story: this is where five local men went to jail in 2005 rather than let Shell run a gas pipeline through their land. For the visitor, though, the draw is quieter – a flat 10 km loop along a tidal shore known for its cockles. Rossport (Irish: Ros Dumhach, also Rosdoagh) is part of the Erris Gaeltacht and the parish of Kilcommon, and Belmullet, 12 km on, is where you’ll find fuel, shops and a bed.
The Rossport Walk
The main reason to come is the Rossport Walk, an easy 10 km loop that takes about two hours and twenty minutes from the Barr Thra crossroads. The track runs through bogland and along the tidal shore, following a stone wall that doubles as a handrail in poor visibility. If you only do part of it, walk the shore section at low tide, when the flats give up the cockles that locals still gather by hand.
Three things to look out for along the way:
- The old pier (1891): a short diversion off the main track leads down to the stone pier.
- Rossport House: the walk passes the former Bournes estate, its walled garden and façade visible from the path.
- Rossport Court Tomb: a short detour inland reaches the Neolithic monument, set in a field above the river mouth.
Wear sturdy boots – the bog sections go soft after rain.
The court tomb and the Bournes estate
The Rossport Court Tomb (also called Rosdoagh Court Tomb; National Monument No. 386) is Neolithic, with the local record putting it at around 5,000 years old. Its ruined central court is about 9 m across, and 16 of an original perimeter of 33 stones are still standing; the whole cairn once ran to some 18 m in diameter. It sits in a field above the point where the Glenamoy River empties into the Broadhaven estuary, and was built as a communal burial and ceremonial place.
Rossport House was built in 1832 by Samuel Bournes, Cromwellian descendants who held the land here. It’s a two-storey house with a walled garden, and the family ran an industrial knitting and sewing school for their tenants. During the Great Famine the estate served as a soup kitchen, a bell rung to call people for the daily porridge; the Bournes were remembered as relatively decent landlords, if ones who also called in the police to manage the crowds of destitute at the gate. After the family moved to Cambridge in 1881 the house became a police barracks, then a Garda station until 1959, a Gael Linn college, and finally Coláiste Chómain – until the secondary school moved to a new building in 1968.
Two footnotes give the place its colour. In 1893 a con man passing himself off as Captain Allan Sutherland of the Argyll Highlanders lived in Rossport House, bought horses locally on credit, sold them in Dublin, and ended up sentenced to penal servitude. And around 1900 there was a serious plan to bridge Sruth Fada Conn Bay from Rossport to Glengad – a wooden bridge was costed at £1,000, a suspension bridge at £700 – before the First World War shelved it for good. Earlier, from 1874, a Scottish amateur doctor named Robert Buchanan lived at Rossport Lodge and treated the local sick, and was loved for it.
The Rossport Five and Shell to Sea
In 2005 Rossport entered the national news when five local men were jailed for refusing Shell access to their land for the Corrib gas pipeline, which as proposed would have run a high-pressure, unodourised line close to homes and through the estuary. Their imprisonment sparked the Shell to Sea campaign and years of protest and solidarity camps. Willie Corduff, one of the five, won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2007. The campaign eventually forced a redesign: the pipeline was tunnelled 4.9 km beneath Sruwaddacon Bay to protect the Special Protection Area, whose machair grasslands and estuary support wintering geese, waders and otters.
Practical information
- Getting there: Rossport is a short detour off the road between Belmullet and Bangor. Belmullet, 12 km north, is the service base for fuel, shops, car hire and accommodation. Public transport is thin – the nearest useful stop is Belmullet, with onward services to Westport and Ballina.
- Parking: free parking at the Barr Thra crossroads where the walk starts, and a lay-by near the old pier.
- Tides and safety: the shore and pier are strongly tidal, so check tide tables before setting out and don’t get caught on the flats. It gets windy on the estuary, and phone signal is patchy – tell someone your route.
- Staying over: a heritage-themed glamping development at Rossport won planning approval from Mayo County Council in June 2026, pitched at dark-sky tourism, so options here may soon be more than the drive from Belmullet.
- Nearby: Ballycroy / Wild Nephin National Park and Achill Island round out a north Mayo trip.
Time the loop for low water and bring a bag – the cockle flats are the best part of the walk, and the tide, not the map, sets your pace here.