Donaghadee Webcam – Watch the Clouds Over County Down

The Donaghadee Webcam looks straight up into the sky over Donaghadee, a harbour town on the County Down coast of Northern Ireland. It is a weather camera, not a street view. A wide-angle lens points skyward between two houses, so cloud fills most of the frame, with a tiled roof and its dormer windows in the lower left corner, the top of a tree along the bottom edge and a red brick wall with a white window on the right. Donaghadee Heritage Preservation Company set it up to show the town’s current cloud cover, and it was the first weather camera in Donaghadee linked to the Windy weather site. The picture can shift within minutes, from thin streaks of high cirrus to a flat grey lid of low cloud, and on a settled day to plain blue.

About Donaghadee

Donaghadee sits on the north coast of the Ards Peninsula, about 29 kilometers (18 miles) east of Belfast and 10 kilometers (6 miles) southeast of Bangor. The 2021 census counted 7,325 people. The town grew around its harbour. In the early 1600s Hugh Montgomery received a Royal Warrant to build a seaport here and run a mail packet service, and Montgomery’s Pier went up in 1618. Portpatrick in Scotland lies roughly 34 kilometers (21 miles) away across the North Channel, and boats were already crossing regularly between the two by 1616.

The harbour you see today began with plans by John Rennie, commissioned by the government in 1818. Rennie died two months after work started, and his son, later Sir John Rennie, finished the job with David Logan as resident engineer. The lighthouse on the south pier was first lit in November 1836. Its cut limestone tower stands 16 meters (52 feet) tall, it was automated on 2 October 1934, and the Commissioners of Irish Lights still operate it, with a white light that carries 31 kilometers (17 nautical miles) out to sea. The local heritage group counts it among the first lighthouses in Ireland to run on electricity.

The camera’s owner is a community charity that records the town’s maritime past. Its flagship project is the Sir Samuel Kelly, the lifeboat that rescued survivors from the Larne to Stranraer car ferry MV Princess Victoria when she foundered in a storm on 31 January 1953. The boat is now preserved at the harbour, and Donaghadee has had an RNLI lifeboat station since 1910. The group says it hopes to add a second camera facing out to sea.

Weather and Climate in Donaghadee

The Irish Sea keeps temperatures here in a narrow band. August is usually the warmest month, averaging about 14.7 C (58.5 F), and February the coldest, at around 6 C (43 F), so a summer afternoon in Donaghadee is closer to mild than hot. For a sky camera the interesting days are the changeable ones, when broken cloud, passing showers and bright spells can follow each other across the frame in the space of an hour. A clear autumn or spring morning, by contrast, can leave the lens looking at nothing but blue.

Daylight swings far more than temperature. At almost 55 degrees north, Donaghadee gets about 17 hours 17 minutes of daylight at the June solstice and only about 7 hours 15 minutes at the December solstice. In midsummer the sky in the camera stays light until late evening, while in midwinter it is dark by late afternoon. Spring and autumn are when the length of the day changes fastest from one week to the next. After dark the frame shows little beyond the outline of the rooftops, so the view is most useful between sunrise and sunset.

Things to Do Near Donaghadee

Start at the harbour. Walk out along the south pier to the lighthouse, then look back at the town and north over the water toward the Copeland Islands. Grace Neill’s opened in 1611 as the King’s Arms and claims to be the oldest bar in Ireland. Grace Neill herself ran it until her death in 1916, and Peter the Great, John Keats and Daniel Defoe are all said to have visited. The Sir Samuel Kelly lifeboat is on show near the harbour, with the story of the 1953 rescue told by the heritage group that runs this camera.

Above the town, the Moat is a mound topped by a small castle folly built by Daniel Delacherois in the early 19th century, and it was used to store the gunpowder that blasted rock for the new harbour. A restoration between 2018 and 2022 added a camera obscura. The Commons, a 6.5 hectare (16 acre) stretch of seafront, is the town’s marine walk. Offshore, the three Copeland Islands (Lighthouse Island, Copeland Island and Mew Island) cover 158.74 hectares (392 acres) between them. Copeland Bird Observatory has worked on Lighthouse Island since 1954, and the islands’ Manx shearwater colony, at more than 4,000 pairs, holds over 1.7 percent of the world population. Mew Island’s lighthouse dates from 1884 and has been automatic since 1996.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

For more skies and sea along this stretch of coast, try these cameras.

• Belfast Lough Webcam
• Lochgelly Webcam
• Dublin Port Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Donaghadee located?

Donaghadee is in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the north coast of the Ards Peninsula. It lies about 29 kilometers (18 miles) east of Belfast and 10 kilometers (6 miles) southeast of Bangor, in the Ards and North Down council area.

What can you see on the Donaghadee Webcam?

Mostly sky. The lens points upward from between two houses, so clouds, blue sky and changing light fill the frame, edged by a tiled roof on the left, a treetop at the bottom and a brick wall on the right. The harbour and lighthouse are not in view.

Why does the Donaghadee camera only show the sky?

It was installed as a weather camera to show current cloud cover over the town, and it feeds into the Windy weather site alongside other weather cameras. The heritage group has said it hopes to add a second camera facing the sea.

What is the weather like in Donaghadee?

Mild and changeable. August averages about 14.7 C (58.5 F) and February around 6 C (43 F). Daylight runs to about 17 hours in June and falls to about 7 hours in December.

Who runs the Donaghadee Webcam?

Donaghadee Heritage Preservation Company, a community charity that also looks after the Sir Samuel Kelly lifeboat and records the history of the town’s harbour and lighthouse.

When was Donaghadee Lighthouse built?

The lighthouse on the south pier was first lit in November 1836. The 16 meter (52 foot) limestone tower was automated in 1934 and is still operated by the Commissioners of Irish Lights.

How old is Grace Neill’s pub in Donaghadee?

Grace Neill’s opened in 1611 as the King’s Arms, which is the basis for its claim to be the oldest bar in Ireland. It takes its current name from Grace Neill, who owned it until 1916.

Source: Donaghadee Heritage Preservation Company