Portballintrae is a small village built around a horseshoe-shaped bay at the mouth of the River Bush, between Bushmills and the Giant’s Causeway. It started as a fishing village and has kept that scale — a handful of streets, a beach, and a harbour, with no shortage of history for its size.
History
The Lissanduff Earthworks, just outside the village, are thought to date back to the Bronze Age. Part of the bay itself is a geological Area of Special Scientific Interest.
Seaport Lodge, on Seaport Road, was built around 1770 by the Leslie family as a bathing lodge — one of the oldest buildings in the village, its old stables and coach house now home to a wine bar. Across Bushfoot Bay, Runkerry House is a sandstone building put up by Sir Edward MacNaghten of the Dundarave estate in the early 1860s, now converted into private apartments.
The bay’s best-known wreck is the Girona, a Spanish Armada galleass that sank off nearby Lacada Point on 26 October 1588. She was carrying close to 1,300 men — nearly three times her capacity, having picked up survivors from other wrecked ships — trying to reach Scotland after the Armada’s defeat. Only nine survived. In 1967–68, Belgian marine archaeologist Robert Stenuit recovered gold, silver, and jewellery from the wreck, now on display at the Ulster Museum in Belfast — one of the most significant Armada treasure finds ever made.
Getting there by heritage tram
The Giant’s Causeway and Bushmills Railway runs along part of the route of the old Giant’s Causeway Tram, which operated between Portrush and Causeway Head from 1887 to 1949 and was designed by local engineer William Traill as the world’s first hydroelectric tram. Today’s heritage train crosses the River Bush right by Bushfoot Golf Club on its way to the Causeway.
Beach and golf
The village beach sits inside the horseshoe bay, sheltered and easy walking distance from the centre. Bushfoot Golf Club, right beside the village, is a links course that shares the same stretch of coastline as the old tram route and the river mouth.
Staying in Portballintrae
A quiet, small-scale base between Bushmills and the Causeway — mostly B&Bs, self-catering cottages, and a couple of hotels, good for anyone who’d rather stay somewhere low-key than in Portrush itself.
