Scrabo Country Park

About

This picturesque country park provides a natural and relaxing retreat to visitors. For those who enjoy walking, they can go and experience walks to the beech and hazel woodlands of Killynether. During Springtime, the woodland floor is carpeted with bluebells and wood anemones.

Here at Scrabo, there has been a lot of generated interest from geologists, as there are old quarries where the famous peach-coloured Scrabo sandstone came from. The quarries are of special interest to geologists as they display 'dykes' through which molten lava from deep in the earth burst up through the sandstone and horizontal 'sills', leaked out to the sides where there were weaknesses in the sandstone strata, cooling to form dolerite. The hard igneous dolerite captured the hilltop and protected it from the ice-sheet grounding away at the rest of the sandstone. Ravens and jackdaws nest in the quarries, which have also been the breeding site for kestrels and peregrine falcons.

When it is open, visitors can climb Scrabo Tower, built in 1857 in memory of the 3rd Marquis of Londonderry and is known as one of Northern Ireland’s best known landmarks. (The Tower is now in the care of the Department for Communities).

We hope you have an enjoyable positive experience at Scrabo Country Park. You may like to visit our other properties which include: Crawfordsburn Country Park, Helen's Bay and Redburn Country Park, Holywood.

If you would like to provide us with your comments, feedback or ideas for improvement please contact us at: nieainfo@daera-ni.gov.uk