Cavehill

Cave Hill rises above Belfast as a dark, rocky ridge topped by basalt cliffs. Its slopes drop into wooded parkland owned by Belfast Castle, a 19th-century Scottish baronial building set in Deer Park. Three man-made caves scar the lower cliff, the largest measuring 21 feet long and 10 feet high. Above them stands McArt’s Fort, a ringfort defended by a 10-foot ditch and a sheer precipice. The hill’s profile is known locally as ‘Napoleon’s Nose’ for its resemblance to the emperor’s face. On clear days the Isle of Man and Scotland appear across the water. Jonathan Swift is said to have shaped his idea of a sleeping giant from this hill. The caves were once used for iron-mining and later became winter stores for the fort’s inhabitants. A steep boulder slope called the Devil’s Punchbowl lies beside the lowest cave, once used to pen cattle. The fort’s summit is 150 feet north to south and 180 feet east to west, offering wide views over the city. In 1795 Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken allegedly swore an oath here to launch the 1798 rebellion. A B-17 bomber crashed into the hillside in 1944, killing all ten crew; the site is still marked by a local field called the Bomb Hole. The hill’s basalt layers sit above ancient limestone and clay laid down over millions of years. Limestone was once quarried and carried to Belfast docks by horse-drawn railway along the Limestone Road. Two small hamlets, Daddystown and Mammystown, were built for quarry workers in the 1820s. Easter Monday fairs once drew crowds to the Volunteers’ Well near the caves. Today the park draws visitors to Belfast Castle, the caves, and the summit’s sweeping views of the Mourne Mountains and Lough.