NI Beaches

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Cloghy Beach

North Down

Cloghy, also spelt Cloughy or Cloughey, is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the east coast of the Ards Peninsula, in the Ards and North Down Borough. It had a population of 1,360 people in the 2021 Census.

Adapted from Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Conditions now

Air 10°C Partly cloudy
Swell 0.3m period 3 s · N
Rain 0mm last 48 hours

Water quality

Not a designated bathing water — not routinely sampled.

No published samples for this site yet.

Weekly lab samples, not real-time. Avoid bathing for 48 h after heavy rain.

Sewage & storm overflows

5 NI Water storm overflows within 1.2 mi.

Modelled~9 spills/yrNI Water's prediction, all 5 combined
Measured in 202585 spills194 h · 22 in the bathing season · 3 of 5 monitored
Nearest 5 overflows
OverflowDistanceClassificationModelled spills/yrMeasured 2025
Cloughey South WwPS 340 yd To be Determined — 33 spills
6 in season · 90 h
Cloughey FFT CSO 680 yd To be Determined — —
Cloughey North WwPS
→ Strangford		 0.5 mi Satisfactory ~9 47 spills
15 in season · 104 h
Ringbouy Cove WwPS
→ Ards Penninsula		 1.0 mi To be Determined — —
Castle Meadow Drive WwPS
→ Ards Penninsula		 1.0 mi To be Determined — 5 spills
1 in season · <1 h
How these are counted

“Modelled” is NI Water's hydraulic-model prediction of spills per year. “Measured” is from NI Water's event duration monitors, counted with the industry 12/24 method (discharges within the same 12- or 24-hour block count as one spill); the bathing-season figure (1 Jun–15 Sep) is our count from NI Water's published discharge log. An overflow with no monitor isn't known to be dry. Classification is NI Water's own.

Nearest wastewater treatment works: Cloughey WwTW (800 yd → Ards Penninsula) · Main Road Cloughey 103-111 ST (1.5 mi → Strangford).

Amenities & features

Parking 1
Cafes & food e.g. Chip Buddy 2
Shops e.g. Centra 1
Picnic tables 1
Benches 7
Bins 6

Boating — nearest harbours & marinas

  • Portavogie Harbour · Unknown · Ards and North Down 2.7 mi
  • Portaferry Harbour · Unknown · Ards and North Down 4.5 mi
  • Ballyhalbert Harbour · Unknown · Ards and North Down 4.6 mi
2 more further away
  • Strangford Harbour · Unknown · Newry Mourne and Down 4.9 mi
  • Kircubbin Harbour · Unknown · Ards and North Down 4.9 mi

Wildlife & designations

This beach lies in or within 0.6 mi of:

  • ASSI Outer Ards
    2 protected features
    • Intertidal rock Favourable, 2020
    • Intertidal mudflats and sandflats Favourable, 2021
  • SAC North Channel
    1 protected feature
    • Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena Favourable, 2019
  • SPA Outer Ards
    5 protected features · 3 Unfavourable
    • Arctic tern Favourable, 2017
    • Golden plover Unfavourable, 2018
    • Light-bellied Brent goose Favourable, 2018
    • Turnstone Unfavourable, 2018
    • Ringed plover Unfavourable, 2018
  • pSPA East Coast Marine proposed Special Protection Area, not yet classified
    7 proposed features
    • Great crested grebe
    • Red throated diver
    • Sandwich tern
    • Common tern
    • Arctic tern
    • Manx shearwater
    • Eider duck
  • Ramsar Outer Ards
    6 protected features · 2 Unfavourable
    • Arctic tern Favourable, 2017
    • Golden plover Unfavourable, 2018
    • Light-bellied Brent goose Favourable, 2018
    • Turnstone not yet assessed
    • Ringed plover Unfavourable, 2018
    • Manx Shearwater not yet assessed

Protected features and their latest condition assessment, from DAERA's 2023 marine protected area review. Only sites with a marine part are assessed there.

Alerts & advisories

No advisories active for this beach today.