Derrigimlagh Discovery Point

Visitors can can discover the stories of this famous site and it’s past history. The walk is made all the more interesting by a number of engaging and attractive features along the route, which are designed to engage visitors and encourage them to interact with the history of the location.

Steeped in history, The Derrygimlagh blanket bog, close to Clifden, is a rugged and wild landscape with an two major claims to fame. Pilots John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown crashed-landed in the bog in 1919 after completing the world’s first transatlantic flight. They landed close to a wireless telegraphy station which had been set up 14 years earlier by Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi. Today the location of the Marconi wireless station is home to a memorial cairn dedicated to the pair. Hire a bike, navigate around tiny lakes and peat bogs, and discover this unique and beautiful area.

The walk is augmented by a number of attractive features which are designed to engage visitors and encourage them to interact with the history of the location.
These include:

• A set of ‘hides’ along the route which not only offer shelter but house old fashioned crystal radio sets which allow visitors to listen to recordings from the age of the Marconi station as well as recreated sound effects;

• A Tuning fork ‘organ’ which allows visitors to interact and experiment with different sound frequencies;

• A wind reed installation which generates different sounds according to local wind conditions and emphasises the exposed and remote nature of the site;

• A number of ‘historioscopes’ which allow viewers to view key points at the site and see how they would have looked in the early 20th Century – including the old Marconi buildings and images from the Alcock and Brown crash site;

• A parabolic mirror – a specially designed sculpture which plays on acoustics, reflections and light to encourage the visitor to engage with the landscape and appreciate the significance of sound to the location’s history;

• A number of artistic interpretative panels telling the story of the site.

Image credits:
Pat Moore – Failte Ireland