Grianán of Aileach open for Spring Equinox

A community campaign to extend the opening hours of Inishowen’s iconic Grianán of Aileach ringfort, has been successful.

Bettina Linke, who was at the forefront of the campaign, has received confirmation from the Office of Public Works (OPW) Grianán of Aileach will be open for sunrise at the spring equinox - Wednesday, March 20 at 3.06am.

As previously reported in Derry News, OPW has overall management of Grianán of Aileach and late last year had taken a decision to restrict its opening hours.

It was also responsible for confusing signs in the Fort’s car park which gave disappointed visitors the impression it was closed, when in fact it was open. These signs were later removed.

In its email to Ms Linke about Grianán, an OPW spokesperson said: 

“OPW has been reviewing the arrangements at Grianan of Aileach and a decision has been taken that the site will now be accessible during daylight hours. Please see the page on Heritage Ireland where any updates will be posted.

“This means that you won’t have any problem accessing the monument for sunrise 15th to 22nd March 2024, or on any other day.

“I acknowledge you have sent another query since regarding overnight access for lunar events over the next year and we will come back to you separately on that next week,” said the OPW spokesperson.

Reacting to the news visitors would be able to observe the spring equinox within Grianán, a delighted Bettina said it was a “much appreciated decision by the OPW”.

She said: “We nearly have fully our Grianán back.

“As you can see in the reply above, I also applied for overnight opening for observing the full moons during the ongoing major lunar standstill, which only occurs every 18.6 years, so please, keep signing and sharing the petition.”

Ms Link established the online ‘Restore open access to Grianán of Aileach” petition at the end of January and it has subsequently been signed by almost 2,000 people.