BINEVENAGH AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY MANAGEMENT PLAN 2010-2020 Contents 02/03 Ah, kind friends, I’m just come here tonight to sing to all of you Edwin Poots, Minister for the Environment .......................................................................... 04 About this place, likewise my love, she lives down near the sea; Foreword by Chairman......................................................................................................... 05 She was born in Magilligan with its mountains bold and grand And the first place that I saw my love it was down upon the Strand. Setting the scene ................................................................................................................. 06 Through BInevenagh Rock so lofty where the ravens build their nest I ofttimes took her for a stroll and clasped her to my breast Management context ........................................................................................................... 08 And just as we’re returning after walking the whole day Who is it for? ......................................................................................................................... 09 Near to sweet Duncrun I pressed her hand and this to her did say, We will never leave Magilligan, my Mary dear and I, How the plan was produced ................................................................................................ 10 For if we leave Magilligan I’m sure we both would die... People’s perceptions ........................................................................................................... 12 Eddie Butcher, The Shores of Sweet Benone, 1966 A vision for Binevenagh AONB ............................................................................................ 15 Landscape character - key characteristics .......................................................................... 16 Themes................................................................................................................................. 18 Land and sea ....................................................................................................................... 20 Historic environment ............................................................................................................ 30 Sustainable communities ..................................................................................................... 38 Making it happen – arrangements ....................................................................................... 44 Cover Photograph by Aidan Gilfillan, Bellarena Primary School Management plan context ................................................................................................... 48 BINEVENAGH AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY MANAGEMENT PLAN 2010-2020 EDwin Poots Foreword Minister for the Environment by Chairman 04/05 “My congratulations go to the This plan is testament to the With the help of all those the plan Binevenagh is a very special place and established to provide a sounding However, just because we don”t have Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage determination and abilities of those identifies as key partners, I am confident a bit of a well kept secret in terms of board for these interests. to prepare a plan doesn”t mean that it’s Trust and to all those who participated who came together to develop it and to I will see Binevenagh’s outstanding Northern Ireland’s landscape. not worth doing. The management plan and subsequent in developing this first management the enthusiasm of the local community living landscape continue to provide Previously known as North Derry action plan is the result of an extensive Perhaps this challenges us to make the plan for the Binevenagh Area of and others who contributed to it. It also inspiration and sustenance to its Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty year long consultation but the process plan work because we believe it is the Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is never speaks volumes of the special place residents and visitors in the future.” (AONB), it was one of the first such is far from over at this point. These are right thing to do. easy to arrive at a concise statement this landscape clearly has in the hearts designations in Northern Ireland in the the first steps in realising the potential of what it is that makes an area special of those who live in or visit the area. Many thanks are due to all those who mid 1960s. Its redesignation in 2006 sustainable management of this to those with widely differing interests. have contributed to the process so some 40 years later as Binevenagh landscape as a place where people live, Even harder is to agree a course far in particular the Causeway Coast AONB has helped raise the profile of work and play. It provides us with food, of action to ensure that the area’s and Glens Heritage Trust and the this very special landscape. acts as our playground, classroom, outstanding landscape qualities are Binevenagh AONB Management Forum. home and a place to engage the placed foremost in the minds of those What makes Binevenagh unique is the Edwin Poots outdoors. Steeped in cultural and natural Binevenagh AONB deserves to be who can shape its future. range of landscape within a relatively Minister for the Environment heritage it is different things to different looked after. I urge you to get involved compact area. The extensive coastline people and this reflects in the plan. regardless if you live, work or play in features wide sandy beaches, dune this landscape. land, seaside towns and estuaries This is the first time such a backed by a distinct cliff line and management plan has been developed upland area. for the area. It is a visionary document which hopes to inspire those involved The development of this plan, in the AONB to work in partnership facilitated by the staff of the Causeway to deliver for the AONB and not one Coast & Glens Heritage Trust, is a individual or organisation. key step forward in how the many and varied interests interact with AONBs in Northern Ireland differ from Richard Gillen Binevenagh’s landscape. Binevenagh elsewhere as there is no statutory Chairman, Binevenagh AONB AONB Management Forum was duty to develop a management plan. Management Forum BINEVENAGH AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY MANAGEMENT PLAN 2010-2020 06/07 Setting the Scene Binevenagh Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is one of 9 such areas in Northern Ireland, including the Causeway Coast AONB and the Antrim Coast and Glens AONB on the north coast. It is also part of a 49 strong family of AONBs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The AONB designation recognises whilst southwards it rolls away towards The landscape results from millennia landscapes of national importance and the Sperrin Mountains. of management, as witnessed by its helps to protect these landscapes for long history of settlement, the treasures The cliff tops provide a wonderful the people who live and work there recovered from its muddy sediments, platform from which to appreciate and for visitors who come to enjoy their and the burial sites and old churches the physical processes and human special qualities. left as a built legacy. influences that have shaped this Binevenagh AONB is a landscape on landscape and offer one of the finest Binevenagh AONB’s population is the edge, a frontier, situated as it is panoramic views in the country. This about 5,000 people, living mainly in in the North of Ireland’s far northwest landscape retains relics of the many scattered communities, surrounded by corner, a place literally looked up to layers of human activity, from the key towns that include Limavady to the from all sides. Mesolithic settlements of the Bann west and Coleraine to the east. With a Estuary, through the ancient clachans population of about 1,300, Castlerock, Binevenagh Mountain’s craggy basalt and historic sites of the Curly Valley, situated on the coast, is the largest face looks north to the Atlantic, forming a the heritage gardens at Downhill and single settlement within the AONB. strong contrast with the level polder fields AONB covers 16,594 hectares Above: Photograph by Adam Dallas, Hezlett Primary School Bellarena to sites of military and land beneath. Where they meet the coast to Binevenagh is a place of contrasts. For of land, however the designation Opposite: Photograph by Ross Canning, Ballyhackett Primary School surveying history at Magilligan. the west, the wide sweep of Magilligan the gregarious, the coastal strip can also extends off shore which is an Strand gives way to the subtle beauty of Its significance as a home to important be a busy seasonal tourist venue with integral part of the AONB and thus Lough Foyle, which is so rich in value to wildlife populations is reflected in the plenty of opportunities for recreation. offers the opportunity for integrated over wintering birds. Binevenagh’s proud number of national and international This distinguishes it from the somewhat management of the whole coastal profile is bounded to the east by the designations that aim to protect desolate and wild feel of the uplands, and marine ecosystem with that of intimate landscape of the Bann Estuary, valuable natural habitats. or the parkland at Downhill. Binevenagh the terrestrial habitats. BINEVENAGH AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY MANAGEMENT PLAN 2010-2020 08/09 This plan expresses our shared concerns and hopes; we are committed to realising its vision, aims and objectives. Management Who is contexT it for? First designated in