Castlewellan to Newcastle - Newcastle Way Trail

Start : Old market house, Castlewellan’s Upper Square, Castlewellan (BT31 9DD) along A25.

(S) From the old market house, turn right (North-West). Pass through the entrance gates to the forest park. Walk along Castle Avenue for around 790 m to a junction.

(1) Continue ahead along the tarmac driveway (North-West). Grassy meadows border the lane until the imposing structure of the castle comes into sight ahead. Constructed from local granite in 1856, the castle was built in Scottish baronial style and is now a private conference centre.

(2) Continue straight ahead at a junction and climb around the back of the castle. The trail passes almost level with the multiple roofs, turrets and chimneys of the ornate building. The lane now becomes a forest track, and continues on through mixed deciduous woodland above the lake shore on your left-hand side. As with elsewhere in the park, the magnificent beech trees here are thought to be around 250 years old, and lend the trail a rather stately air.

(3) At the northern tip of the lake, turn left onto a smaller path that brings you past Cypress Pond. Continue descending (South) until you meet the trail that circumnavigates Castlewellan Lake itself.

(4) Turn right (West) here and trace the wooded shoreline for around 1 Km to a fine viewpoint at the lake’s western tip, where the mile-long expanse of water is laid out before you.

(5) Now turn left (South-East) and climb gradually away from the lake. Occasional clearances in the trees allow fantastic views across the intervening farmland to the Mourne Mountains.

(6) At the southwest corner of the park, keep an eye open for a right (South-East) turn off the track. A grassy footpath now descends past fields to the exit gate.

(7) Turn left at the main road (A50), then left again at a roundabout toward Castlewellan town centre.

(8) After 130 m or so, turn right (South-East) onto the A50 towards Newcastle. Follow this road for 300m.

(9) Turn right onto a suburban housing estate along Burrenwood Road. Keep straight ahead, past the houses, to the end of the road.

(10) Where the road finishes, a grassy footpath continues on South-West, carrying you down into a hollow. At the base of the hill, pass over a stile into a field on the left.

(11) Cross two metal footbridges. You now need to climb again, crossing two meadows on the western side of the hollow. Given the pastoral surrounds, it comes as no surprise to discover that the name for this section of path is ‘Cow Lane’. Exit the meadow through a gate and join a country lane (Burrenbridge Road). Turn left (South-East) here and follow the road for roughly 800m, where a stone track heads off to the right. This is ‘Green Lane’, appropriately bordered by hedges and woodland.

(12) Climb steeply along the track to reach another lane : Burrenbridge Road.

(13) Turn left (South-East) onto this road. Almost 2 Km of road now lies ahead, though the lane sees little traffic. Much of the distance consists of a long, gradual descent towards the village of Bryansford. The section finishes where the lane joins the B180.

(14) Cross the B180. On the opposite side of the junction lies Bryansford Gate, the ornate gothic entranceway to Tollymore Forest Park. Pass though Bryansford Gate and continue straight ahead along the driveway. This brings you past 18th-century Clanbrassil Barn (where refreshments are available in the summer) to the main parking area. The route now follows the black trail, heading over a wooden footbridge and onto a series of forest tracks.

The first section of woodland contains mainly beech trees, and is carpeted with bluebells in the spring. Pine becomes dominant as the track draws close to the Shimna River. The chutes and rapids of this river can be seen below before the trail dips across Parnell’s Bridge.

(15) Turn right before Parnell’s Bridge until you pass the Boundary Bridge.

(16) Once on the opposite bank, turn right and follow a series of tracks around the park’s western corner. The route then climbs gradually to reach the stone wall that marks Tollymore’s southern boundary, with the wild peaks of the Mournes rising directly beyond the wall.

(17) Keep right for the three next junctions. The track plunges into dense pines again as it descends through series of switchbacks to the Spinkwee River.

(18) You cross it via Hore’s Bridge. Keep right at the next two junctions, climbing steadily and again passing near the boundary wall. The peak on the far side of the wall is Slieve Commedagh, Northern Ireland’s second highest summit at 767m.

(19) Keep right at the next junction and make the final ascent of the route. The track now sweeps round to the left and begins to descend. Where there are gaps in the vegetation, the panorama extends east over Dundrum Bay and the town of Newcastle. Watch out for a final right turn onto a trail that winds down to a wooden gate, your exit point from the park.

From the wooden gate that marks your exit from Tollymore Forest Park, continue ahead to a second gate and stile.

(20) Cross the stile, and you will find yourself at the top of a narrow tarmac lane. Follow this steeply downhill to reach a junction with a larger road after 500m.

(21) Turn right and follow the larger road for 400m, then turn left (North-East) onto a track known as Tipperary Lane. The track descends past several houses before entering Tipperary Wood, an enclave of deciduous woodland on the banks of the Shimna River. Continue to follow the track past the local scout campsite until you reach the tarmac of Bryansford Road (B180).

(23) Turn left at the road and cross the bridge over the Shimna. Once on the river’s northern bank, turn right (East) and enter Islands Park. A paved footpath now leads past various recreational facilities and along the river bank, bringing you to a footbridge. Cross the bridge and continue across another section of parkland to reach the Shimna Road, a busy thoroughfare.

(23) Cross it whith care, it is needed to cross in safety. The route now enters Castle Park, an area that was reclaimed from marshland in the 1930s. Pass the boating lake on your left, which was formed by widening the mouth of the Shimna. The path comes to an end at Newcastle’s Central Promenade. The tourist office is just 100m away to the right. (E)

Start : Old market house, Castlewellan’s Upper Square, Castlewellan (BT31 9DD) along A25.

Arrival : Newcastle Centre, 10 - 14 Central Promenade, Newcastle (BT33 0AA)

Parking : Newcastle Centre Car park, 10 - 14 Central Promenade, Newcastle (BT33 0AA), Public Parking, Upper Square, Castlewellan (BT31 9DD)

Terrain : Mostly Gravel paths

Public Transport : Translink

Facilities : Toilets at Tollymore and Castlewellan parks and Newcastle town centre. Refreshments situated at numerous points along the way.

Dog Policy : Dogs must be kept on leads

Note : Please be aware that this walking route passes through areas of open land such as hillside, working farmland and working forests. Livestock may be present, ground conditions may be uneven or wet underfoot and all forestry signage should be adhered to.

Find more information and walk ideas at Walk NI here.

Tollymore Forest Park : Tollymore Park is pretty huge! Among its unmistakable features are its imposing cork oaks, its trails along the Shimna River (a pretty river that runs through the forest), as well as its bridges and its barn that looks surprisingly like a church (designed by the great Thomas Wright of Durham (1711-1786)) .
But it doesn’t stop there! You will also come across Gothic portals, rocky outcrops (natural and man-made), caves and much more!
During your walk, you will discover that it is in the heart of this forest that the oaks used for the interior decoration of the White Star Line liners were once collected! The Titanic is no exception, and it was the Tollymore oak trees that were used for the interior design of the ship.

Castlewellan Forest Park : Spread over several dozen hectares, Castlewellan Forest Park has one of the largest collections of trees and shrubs on the continent… Perfectly maintained, the park has a magnificent and still wild nature, where it is good to walk…
Don’t miss the main attraction of the park: the Peace Maze. It is in fact a vegetal labyrinth, one of the largest in the world! It symbolically represents the path of peace that Northern Ireland must take to pacify the Anglo-Irish conflict. Created in 2000, it is a rather playful game for the visitors, who try to find the exit.

Bryansford : Take care as you approach Bryansford, especially if the evening is drawing in. There have been reported sightings of the dullahan in this area, one of the most fearsome creatures in Irish fairy mythology. A wild, headless horseman who rides a black steed, legend recounts that wherever the dullahan stops, a mortal will soon come to grief.

The Shimna River is a regular feature along the final section of this walk, and its natural beauty is undeniable. Yet many locals have mixed feeling about the river. Along with its tributary the River Burren, the Shimna regularly causes severe flooding across Newcastle town. Despite recent flood management schemes, nature is still proving hard to tame.