In 1774 the Bishop of Derry (fourth Earl of Bristol, Frederick Augustus Hervey), built a palatial home amid a 160-hectare demesne. The house burnt down in 1851, was rebuilt in 1876, and abandoned after WWII. The ruins now stand forlornly on a cliff-top, with beautiful landscaped gardens below.
The colonnaded, dome-capped Mussenden Temple , built by the bishop for his library (some say his mistress), is a Game of Thrones icon.
Enter via the coast road's Lion's Gate or Bishop's Gate.
Also here is the whitewashed, 17th-century Hezlett House (10am to 5pm April to September), one of Ireland's oldest thatched cottages, with exhibits on rural Irish life.
