(6) Derrigimlagh WildAtlanticWay Discovery Point

Derrigimlagh WildAtlanticWay Discovery Point  marks the site of two outstanding achievements in world history.  The 5km (3.1 miles) long looped walk will bring you on a fascinating journey of discovery.  As you walk the trail you may be joined by the occasional sheep who graze on bog nearby.

Communications and Industrial Heritage

The site at Derrigimagh is one of the most important in Ireland’s communication and industrial heritage.  Guglielmo Marcon constructed a commercial radio station in the bog at Derriglimlagh.  In 1907, he sent the first transatlantic radio signal. There were hundreds of workers stationed there, including Jack Phillips, who was the chief Marconi wireless operator Jack Phillips board the Titanic. The station was largely destroyed during the War of Independence, though the foundations of many of the buildings can still be seen. He is listed in the 1911 census in Ballinaboy. He conducted experiments at various locations in Connemara.  There is a plaque at Connemara National Park celebrating his work on the world’s first full duplex two-way radio.

‘ ‘Yesterday I was in America’ The First Non Stop Trans Atlantic Flight

In 1919 another important event brought worldwide attention to the Ballyconneelly. Daring aviators John Alcock & Arthur Whitten Brown crash landed into the bog. They had taken off from Newfoundland in a Vickers Vimy and flown non-stop across the Atlantic for 16 hours. On landing, Alcock proclaimed, ‘Yesterday I was in America, I am the first man in Europe to to say that.’  Nearby at Errislannan Peninsula is also an aeroplane wing shaped memorial to Alcock and Brown  and a statue of them in the town of Clifden, which was unveiled in 2020.

The Looped walk
Starting at the car park, the walk will bring you from the entry and orientation point of the Marconi site to the location of former landmarks such as Marconi’s Condenser House, Power Station and Social Club. There is also a Cairn highlighting the landing of Alcock & Brown. Pathways and timber boardwalks lead you back through a bog landscape of outstanding beauty.  Each point allowing you to visualise both past and present.

The information points along the route also act as weather shelters, and there is parking at Derrigimlagh WildAtlanticWay Discovery Point.