About this stretch of coast
Kearney sits on the southern tip of the Ards Peninsula and was a busy fishing community in the nineteenth century. At one point around 30 fishing vessels worked out of Kearney and nearby Tara, and local stories tell of a 'she-cruiser' crewed entirely by women who set out to fish the surrounding waters.
The village and coastal path have been in National Trust care since 1965, when Kearney became the Trust's first purchase in Northern Ireland through the Enterprise Neptune coastline campaign. The Trust reconstructed the village using the 1834 Ordnance Survey as its guide, and the whitewashed cottages you walk past today are all lived in.
The low rocky shore, salt marsh and small sandy beaches make this a good spot for wildlife. Look out for seals offshore and waders such as oystercatchers and turnstones working the foreshore, with the Isle of Man, Scotland and the Mournes visible across the sea on a clear day.