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 disovery.

Communications and Industrial Heritage

The site at Derriglimagh is one of the most important in Ireland’s communication and industrial heritage.  Guglielmo Marcon constructed a commerical radio station in the bog at Derriglimlagh.  In 1907 he sent the first transatantic radio signal. There were hundreds of workers stationed there including Jack Philips who was the chief Marconi wireless operator Jack Phillipsonboard the Titantic. 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 Atantic 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 an also aeroplane wing shaped memorial to Alcock and Brown  and a statute of them in the town of Clifden which was unveiled in

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 as well as the 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.