Dún Briste
Dún Briste (Irish: Broken Fort) is a natural sea stack or pilaster – in geomorphology called a stack – that was formed in Ireland during the Carboniferous period, possibly Mississippian, approximately 350 million years ago.[1]
Etymology
The name comes from the Irish words dún meaning "fort" and briste meaning "broken", reflecting both the structure's appearance and its legendary origins.
Description
The stack lies immediately off the peninsula of Downpatrick Head, six kilometres north-northeast of the town of Ballycastle, County Mayo.[2] It is 45 metres high, 63 metres long, and 23 metres wide.[3]
History
According to legend, before Dún Briste was separated from its neighbouring peninsula (Downpatrick Head), Saint Patrick built one of Ireland's first churches there. The legend continues that when a local druid, Crom Dubh, refused to convert to Christianity, the angry Patrick struck the ground with his staff and cut the stack from the mainland, condemning the druid to die there in solitude.[4]
During World War II the nearby house served as a lookout post for the Irish Coast Guard.[5]
Evidence that it was once part of the mainland was presented in 1980 by researchers who landed on it by helicopter and carried out surveys, where they found stone buildings and remains of sheep crossings.[6][7]
References
- ^ "Dun Briste Sea Stack". Downpatrick Head.
- ^ "Downpatrick Head". Ireland.com.
- ^ "Dun Briste: una impresionante pila del mar en Irlanda". Vista al Mar. 16 December 2015.
- ^ "Dún Briste, la roca sola ante el Atlántico". Viajes National Geographic (in Spanish). 24 April 2022.
- ^ "Dun Briste, un precioso rincón de …". vicmun.com (in Spanish). 5 May 2022.
- ^ Miller, Iain (5 July 2022). "Dún Bristé Sea Stack".
- ^ Laura Geggel (15 February 2018). "That Sea Stack from Reddit Didn't Take 'Millions of Years' to Form". livescience.com.