Slemish Mountain Loop Walk, St. Patricks Pilgrim Path, Antrim, Northern Ireland

Rising from the surrounding landscape, the SLEMISH Mountain (437m) Loop Walk is a short but strenuous 1.5km (1 hr) hiking trail to the popular and iconic peak of Slemish Mountain located only 10km east of Ballymena in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. Take this scenic walking route with you on our free App for iPhone and Android and share your photos on the ActiveMe facebook page.

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• Local Walking Guide or Tour Guide: coming Soon
• Other greats Things to See and Do in the Area: coming soon

Slemish Mountain (historically known as Slieve Mish like the mountains near Tralee in Co Kerry) is unique for two reasons, firstly is its natural beauty and rich natural heritage as the remains of the plug from an extinct volcano formed over 50 million years ago and secondly its rich heritage as the place where the St. Patrick was kept as a slave for 6 years from the age of 15 herding livestock for the local chieftain Mulchi at the foothills of Slemish Mountain.

Taken from his home in Christian Roman Briton by Northern Irish pirate raiders in 406AD, the newly captured slave boy Patricius (Patrick), only 15 years of age was an upper class Briton from a family of Christian Deacons and Priests. He was dragged back to Northern Ireland as a slave, renamed Succoth by his captors and put working as a Shepard. After 6 years Patrick managed to escape and made his way to Gaul (most of Western Europe during Iron Age) where he trained as a priest, determined to return and convert his captors, a revolutionary idea back then. On his return Patrick spent the next 30 years converting the pagans of Irelands north east.

It is clear that converting Ireland was not a one-man job as we have been told over the years. The main reason Patrick's missionary work has placed him as the Patron Saint of Ireland and converter of the entire island of Ireland is that remarkably, Patrick wrote two biography's and is the only slave from the ancient world to do so. Although Patrick wrote himself into history, it is thought that other saints were also converting people to Christianity in Ireland including St. Declan in Waterford, St. Ciaran and St. Auxilius and there was also the natural spread of Christianity along trading routes and travel between Britain and Ireland at the time.