Backpacking in Portbradden: St. Gobban's Church has been demolished

May 18 2023 | Tagged: United Kingdom

I planned my entire day around visiting St. Gobban's Church in the hamlet of Portbradden, only to find that it has been demolished.

Had I Googled it, I would have read that the 'church' was pulled down in 2017. But you don't think that they would pull down a church and not just any church.

St. Gobban's Church was the smallest church in Ireland.

But that's what happened. They demolished a fucking church.

But what is or was known as St. Gobban's Church, wasn't always a church, it started off life as a cow shed.

And despite being used a church, I guess, once a cow shed, always a cow shed. This story reeks of cow shit.

And the truth is, it was not consecrated, so it could be pulled down.

The property was bought and the new owner pulled it down. #ChurchNoMore.

Portbradden in County Antrim:

If you want to see how it looked back in 2014 Jonny Blair wrote about it on his blog.

If you are still wanting to go and have a look for yourself, you can drive down the tiny road but there is nowhere to park or you can backpack it like a true traveller.

I walked from the Whitepark Bay YHA Hostel, along the beach then a mad scramble over the rocks.

Bare in mind that at high tide and/or in bad weather, this route is not possible.