This little container is hidden close to a popular local attraction, a sea stack called Dún Briste 'The Broken Fort’.
The geology of the sea stack and surrounding area was laid down during the Carboniferous period and the different layers represent different conditions over millions of years during that period, This part of Ireland was tropical and situated not far south of the equator and variously a shallow sea/ coastal delta all of which formed layers of limestone, mudstones and sandstones.
On your way over the headland to the cache location you can visit a number of other interesting sites, Bronze Age barrows, and medieval ecclesiastical ruins, the remains of a promontory fort, a more modern WW2 vintage lookout post and see ÉIRE 64 inscribed into the clifftop which is also the cache location.
The headland is called Down Patrick head because St Patrick built a church here. According to legend a local druid/pagan God, named Crom Dubh, lived there. He refused to listen to St. Patrick who tried to convert him to Christianity. They fought, St. Patrick struck the ground with his crozier and the stack was separated from the mainland, leaving him to die there. It is said he was eaten alive by midges. That’s the local folklore version of how the sea stack came into existence.
The nearby Earthcache might hold clues as to how it actually came to be formed and is mentioned in the annals of the MacFirbis as having collapsed in 1393.
I do believe the part about the Midges.
In 1981 a local archaeologist, his father, a biologist and a radio crew arrived on the island by helicopter to examine the ruins there. It’s possible to see the outline of the ruins on aerial photographs. You can listen to that documentary here.
Finally if you are here in late Spring then there will be lots of sea Pink or 'Armeria maritima' in bloom.
Please close and replace the container exactly as you found it.