About Pollnagollum Cave Waterfall
Pollnagollum Cave Waterfall is a small waterfall within the Belmore Forest spilling over a limestone cliff in front of what appeared to be an alcove or small cave entrance.
The waterfall is said to have a drop of 12-13m in height, but its flow varies depending on how much rain had fallen.
As you can see in the photo above, this waterfall had a modest flow during our mid-July 2024 visit, but I’d imagine earlier in the year or in a rainier time, it could easily swell significantly.
There are actually multiple caves on the island of Ireland that have the name Polnagollum (meaning “hole of the doves”).
However, the one we’re talking about here is also sometimes called the Polnagollum-Coolarkan Cave (not to be confused with the one in The Burren in County Clare, for example).
The secondary name is due to the fact that there used to be a limestone quarry operation here called the Coolarkan Quarry, and there’s even a limestone monolith-like remnant that people now use for climbing.
Apparently, the Polnagollum Cave is a filming location for the popular Game of Thrones show, but I personally haven’t really seen this show so I can’t elaborate more on this association.
However, having noticed how much attention Game of Thrones filming locations get throughout Northern Ireland, this remote spot seemed to have received increased visitation as a result (though we were the only people here during our morning visit).
In any case, visiting the Polnagollum Cave Waterfall was pretty straightforward as it was a mere 250m walk (500m round-trip) to get from the car park (see directions below) to the lookout.
The walk started off along a forest road where we had driven to its lay-by to park the car, and then we walked the continuation of this road briefly to a fork where we took the narrower road on the right.
From there, the path skirted by what appeared to be a small opening in the forest, which was quite possibly the location of the Coolarkan Quarry.
At this opening, there was an interesting limestone protrusion or monolith that was apparently used by climbers, and there was also a path that went deeper into the opening though it’s not the way to the Polnagollum Cave.
Continuing on the main path for another 150m or so, we then followed a sign leading to some slippery steps down to the viewing platform looking down at the Polnagollum Cave and waterfall.
During our visit, there was a gate at the viewing platform fronting the continuation of the trail leading right down into the cave.
While the railing or gate looked like it could be easily traversed, we opted to stay in the viewing area and not go any further than that.
So our visit was brief (taking no more than 25 minutes away from the car) given that this was a short jaunt.
However, there was a longer 6km loop trail deeper into the Belmore Forest to extend this excursion though we didn’t do it so we can’t say anything more about that option.
Authorities
The Polnagollum Cave Waterfall is near the border-split towns of Blacklion, County Cavan, Ireland and Belcoo, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland within the Belmore Forest of the Cuilcagh Lakelands Global Geopark in the parish of Boho, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. It is administered by a cooperation between Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and Cavan County Council. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark website.
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