Sea cave photography and the hunt for Ireland's oldest bones.

amcinroy

Hi folks,

I am a photographer from Northern Ireland. Over the last 2 years I have been busy on a project to photograph Antrim's mighty sea caves. The journey has been full of adventure and last year I used my toy dinghy to take me into the Grand Cave of Runkerry, a cave never photographed before. That story made headlines in the Irish News. My project has also taken me to Rathlin Island on the hunt for Robert the Bruce and his legendary spider.

More recently I have completed Chapter 7 of the story which I think might interest the archaeologists on this forum. I have attempted to link some new photographs of Antrim's raised beach caves to the work carried out by the pioneers of Ulster archaeology in the early 1900s. The story highlights some interesting bones excavated by Andrew McL. May in the cave at Portbradden, bones that I very much hope my project might help to refind.

Anyway, you can read the complete story here
http://www.andymcinroy.com/5port7.htm

And here's a selection of the photographs.

ahara

Hi Andy,

The pictures are fantastic. I knew there were caves along the Antrim coast but never thought they would be anything like this in size. I might go up for a look at them if I get a chance. Have you any particular favourites or are any fairly easy to access?

Thanks

amcinroy

Thanks ahara, glad you enjoyed them.

These caves are all very different. Some are very easy to access (e.g Mermaid's Cave below Dunluce castle), while others either need a boat (Dunkerry) or a low spring tide (Cathedral Cave, White Rocks).

I would recommend that you go and see Portcoon (4th image). This one is very close to the Giant's Causeway and is fairly accessible except at the highest tide. There is a tricky 20 foot rock step to negotiate so care is still needed. PM me for directions.

Wibbs

Wow. Just wow. Those images are spectacular. It's great to know someone is out there documenting these. I had no clue of their existence, certainly not of their number and possible use in prehistory. Kudos