12 Facts About Fair Head

Fair Head is considered one of the best traditional climbing and bouldering locations in the British Isles, and is one of the biggest expanses of climbable rock in Northwest Europe.

All of the land at Fair Head is private farmland, and not owned by the National Trust.

Fair Head are classed as an area of special scientific interest, and are on the register of Antrim ASSI.

Fair Head is a sill of Palaeogene age that is the thickest and most extensive of the various sills from the plateau lavas of northeast Ireland.

Fair Head's sill is 85 metres thick at its maximum, and consists of columnar-jointed dolerite rock showing crystals of olivine, that intruded into Carboniferous sediments in the north of the outcrop circa 60 million years ago.

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At the north end of Murlough Bay, a substantial sill appears below the main Fair Head sill, separated by 85 metres of Carboniferous shales.

Fair Head is not regarded as an ideal crag for novice climbers, and the long nature of the routes, the requirement for long and intimidating abseils for access in many areas, and the high concentration of E-grade climbs, means that it is ideally a crag for intermediate and even more for expert-level climbers.

Fair Head is considered one of the best climbing venues in the British Isles, and is compared to Stanage for the scale of routes, particularly at E-grade.

Fair Head is noted for the variation in its climbing sections from the westerly-facing sea-cliff walls like the Rathlin Wall, to the cold dark mountain-like north faces of White Lightning Amphitheatre and Grey Man's Path, which have been compared to Clogwyn Du'r Arddu.

Fair Head is one of the largest rock climbing crags in the British Isles, stretching to over 5-kilometers.

Fair Head crag is on private property and is part of the McBride family farm, a working farm the McBride family has operated for over three centuries, but access is given.

Fair Head contains over 511 bouldering problems, with a concentration in the boulder fields that have accumulated in Murlough Bay area and at the base of the Ballycastle Descent area.