Overview
Melcombe Bay is a sheltered cove near Newport on Clew Bay, and its one great story is a shipwreck that didn’t happen. In January 1782, according to local accounts, a storm-crippled Danish frigate was driven in here and kept off the rocks. Danish Defence recounts the voyage from Captain Mathias Bille’s report, and the Mayo County Council guide to Mathias de Bille tells the Newport side of it.
The cove has private approaches and shoreline. Leave them undisturbed, and for a marked public route in the area choose a stage of the Great Western Greenway from Newport.
The 1782 Danish frigate
The frigate Bornholm left Copenhagen in December 1781 bound for the Danish West Indies. On 17 January 1782 an Atlantic storm drove her off course towards the Irish coast and on into Clew Bay, tearing away her foremast and bowsprit. Captain Mathias De Bille managed to work the crippled ship into the shelter of Melcombe Bay, clear of the rocks now known as Bills’ Rocks, which are said to be named for him after the event.
The escape came at a price. Several of the crew were lost in the storm, and fever spread through the survivors. Local accounts say the sick were carried to a makeshift hospital at Mellow’s Point on the edge of the bay, where many died and were buried in a small graveyard. De Bille caught the fever himself. He was taken in by a Newport merchant, John McLoughlin, and nursed at his house on Main Street, but he died on St Patrick’s Day 1782 and was buried with full military honours in the old parish churchyard, Colonel Sir Neale O’Donnell leading a parade of Volunteers. In gratitude the Danish royal family paid for De Bille House, still a landmark on Newport’s Main Street.
What to see and do
- The Great Western Greenway – the marked public route from Newport, with open views across Clew Bay’s islands.
- De Bille House – the landmark on Newport’s Main Street, linked to the captain’s story.
- Wildlife and photography – the calm water of Clew Bay draws gulls and terns, and low sun morning or evening gives long light across the shallows.
- The August festival – on the bank holiday weekend Newport’s Gráinne Uaile Festival brings raft races and street music to the harbour. Check the dates with Newport before you plan around it.
Practical information
- Access – the cove’s approaches and shore are private in places, so stay on documented public routes and do not cross fields or private shoreline.
- If you only do one thing: read the frigate story, then walk a stage of the Greenway out of Newport.
- Parking and getting there – Newport is on the N59. Use the town’s public parking and check local signs for restrictions, especially on market days and summer weekends.
- Amenities – Newport has cafés and a tourist office; check current opening times locally.
- Tides and safety – foreshore rocks are slippery with weed at low tide, so keep to the path and check the tide before you go near the water.
Pick up a coffee in Newport and carry on along the Great Western Greenway when you have had your fill of the quiet.