6 August 2010 - Portpatrick

My first visit to this old port. We were visiting to see where my some of my family originated from.

A damp first evening to watch the raft race across the harbour. The event was part of the fundraising for the Portpatrick Lifeboat.

8 August 2010

A second visit on a much better day.

Sunday morning. The old lighthouse on the harbour wall.

Looking across the harbour to the waterfront pubs and hotels.

The inner harbour.

The white fronted building is the Crown Hotel where we had our lunch.

Quite a few boats in the harbour. We later realised why.

Looking down on the harbour from the path to the Portpatrick Hotel.

We thought we could hear pipes in the distance. We did, they were being played by a piper on the back of the lifeboat as she entered the harbour.

The lifeboat was followed in by a long line of small boats.

We later discovered what was going on. It was the annual visit by the small boats from across the sea at Donaghadee.

All the visitors were wearing these commemorative shirts marking the centenary of their lifeboat.

The harbour was soon even fuller.

Pirates!

Soon the drinks were flowing.

The real stuff. A drop of Guinness.

August 2014

The first night of our holiday on a return visit to Portpatrick. The view over the town from the path down from our hotel.

Across the sea to Ireland.

Portpatrick St Andrews auld kirk which is 17th century. It ceased to be used in 1842 when the new church was built. The tower is just about all that remains.

The view through the churchyard and across the sea to Ireland. Some of my distant relatives are buried here.

Another view of the old kirk tower.

All that remains of the inside of the old kirk.

The plaque on the wall giving some brief chronology.

A bright sunny morning with the tide in. we were staying in the hotel on the hill.

The promenade.

Sunset across the bay.

Portpatrick lighthouse at last light.

The black and white hotel is the Crown. We had a fantastic sea food meal here. Well recommended!

Harbour lights.

Another bright fresh morning. The lighthouse.

This was an interesting two sided bench very skillfully made from stone with every nook and cranny filled with the right size piece of stone.

Late afternoon on the promenade.

A couple of shots from above the town to the south.

Farewell Portpatrick for 2014!

July 2019

A return visit to the old port where some of my distant family resided.

The small beach and promenade.

The old Kirk where some of my distant relatives were buried.

I was surprised to see black guillemots in the harbour. There were about sixteen of them.

Lobster pots on the harbourside.

A memorial to the brave lifeboatmen of Portpatrick who fought bravely to try and rescue passengers on the Princess Victoria in January 1953 caught in the severe European windstorm. This was the same storm that resulted in the North Sea Flood of 1953 which claimed 531 lives in the UK alone. The sinking of the Princess Victoria was the worst single incident of the storm with 133 lives lost.

The second part of the memorial.

Portpatrick lifeboat.