NI Beaches

All beaches

Porthamish

South Down

Porthamish is a coastal beach on the South Down coast. It is not a designated bathing water, so there is no routine water-quality monitoring here.

Conditions now

Air 8°C Partly cloudy
Swell 0.2m period 4 s · NE
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

3 NI Water storm overflows within 1.2 mi.

Measured in 20253 spills<1 h · 2 in the bathing season · 2 of 3 monitored
OverflowDistanceClassificationModelled spills/yrMeasured 2025
Ballyhornan South TPS
→ Ards Penninsula		 300 yd To be Determined — 2 spills
1 in season · <1 h
Ballyhornan North WwPS
→ Ards Penninsula		 680 yd To be Determined — —
Bishopscourt WwPS
→ Ballyarnet Burn		 0.9 mi To be Determined — 1 spill
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: Ballyhornan Outfall WwTW (270 yd → Ards Penninsula) · Ardglass WwTW (2.1 mi → Dundrum Bay Outer).

Amenities & features

Parking 1
Toilets 1
Cafes & food 1
Pubs & bars e.g. The Cable Bar 1
Shops 1
Picnic tables 10
Benches 8
Information 5
Bins 2

Boating — nearest harbours & marinas

  • Ardglass Harbour · Unknown · Newry Mourne and Down 2.9 mi
  • Killough Harbour · Council · Newry Mourne and Down 4.3 mi
  • Strangford Harbour · Unknown · Newry Mourne and Down 5.4 mi
2 more further away
  • Portaferry Harbour · Unknown · Ards and North Down 5.6 mi
  • Dundrum Harbour · Unknown · Newry Mourne and Down 11.7 mi

Wildlife & designations

This beach lies in or within 0.6 mi of:

  • ASSI Killard
  • ASSI Sheepland Coast
  • SAC Strangford Lough
    5 protected features · 2 Unfavourable
    • Reefs Unfavourable, 2018
    • Mudflats and sandflats not covered by seawater at low tide Favourable, 2021
    • Large shallow inlets and bays Favourable, 2019
    • Coastal lagoons Favourable, 2021
    • Harbour seal Phoca vitulina Unfavourable, 2019
  • SPA Strangford Lough
    5 protected features · 3 Unfavourable
    • Bar-tailed godwit Favourable, 2018
    • Arctic tern Favourable, 2017
    • Common tern Unfavourable, 2017
    • Golden plover Unfavourable, 2018
    • Knot 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 Strangford Lough
    6 protected features
    • Sandwich tern not yet assessed
    • Light-bellied Brent goose not yet assessed
    • Knot not yet assessed
    • Common Redshank not yet assessed
    • Common tern not yet assessed
    • Overwintering waterfowl not yet assessed
  • MCZ Strangford Lough

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.