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madeinatlantis
LONDON TRAVEL GUIDE
IRELAND - GREAT BRITAIN
THE largest single feature in the configuration of Ireland is the central plain, which with a breadth of 50 miles spreads from the east coast for 100 miles westward, dividing the northern from the southern mountains. The edges of the level ground are approximately marked by straight lines drawn from Dundalk to Ballina, and from Dublin to Galway. Except, however, at the heads of Killala, Clew, and Galway Bays, the plain does not penetrate to the Atlantic Ocean, for a broken rim of peaks is ranged along its Connaught border.
Midway through the island, the Shannon, the longest river of the British Isles, flows completely across this plain from a source in the northern mountains, within twenty miles of the sea, to a gorge in the southern mountains at Killaloe, and thence past Limerick into a great westward estuary. From Lough Allen where the source streams gather, to Killaloe at the entry of the gorge, the river descends less than 60 feet in 80 miles; but between Killaloe and Limerick it falls 100 feet in 20 miles to the head of the tideway. Above Killaloe, therefore, the flow of the river is not rapid, although the volume of water carried seaward is relatively great. The Shannon, everywhere broad, here spreads to lake breadth along quite half its course, forming Loughs Ree and Derg, and from time immemorial it has proved a sufficient barrier to divide the plain into two portions, Connaught to the west and Meath to the east.
Although the central plain of Ireland occupies but a third of its surface, it must not be supposed that the remainder of the island consists of uplands comparable to the Scottish and Welsh Highlands, or even to the Southern Uplands of Scotland or the Pennine Moors of England. The Irish hills resemble rather those of the Rift Valley of Scotland or of the Devonian peninsula of England; for Ireland, more compact in outline than Great Britain, presents 'internally no such natural divisions as are produced in the greater island by the elevated watersheds and the more or less symmetrical disposition of the rivers. The high grounds of Ireland are for the most part insular masses rising out of a coherent plain, upon which the divides are so ill determined that in some portions the river courses present no intelligible system. Perhaps the general character of the land-relief may best be realised from the statement that no fewer than twenty-three out of the thirty-three Irish counties contain peaks of more than 1000 feet, and twelve of them have peaks of more than 2000 feet, and yet it is possible to ride from the central plain to the sea, without exceeding an elevation of 300 feet, by no fewer than twelve intervals through the hills: -- (1) by the Erne to Donegal Bay: (2) by Lough Neagh and the Bann to the. Giants' Causeway: (3) by the Lagan to Belfast Lough: (4) by Newry to Carlingford Lough: (5) down the Slaney to Wexford: (6) down the Barrow to Waterford: (7) down the Shannon to Limerick: (8) through the median depression of County Clare to the estuary of the Shannon: (9) to Galway Bay: (10) to Clew Bay: (11) to Killala Bay: and (12) to Sligo Bay. And these are additional to the broad entry of Meath.
The plain is chiefly floored with almost undisturbed strata of Carboniferous limestone, but the gorge of the Shannon at Killaloe is a clear indication that vast series of deposits, probably of the Coal Measures, were once accumulated above the existing limestone horizon. Within these deposits the now emergent uplands were buried, and it is the long process of denudation, carried almost to maturity, which has deprived many of the central Irish streams of all indication of their consequent or subsequent origin. Often flowing over an almost imperceptible slope, their courses have been easily diverted by such local changes as the growth of a bog, or the removal of a bar of soluble limestone. Only in the south of Ireland do we find definite topographical method, and clearly articulated systems of drainage.
The historical divisions of Ireland are obviously related to these physical contrasts. Invaders, first of Goidelic and later of English race, entered from the Cheshire gap by the defenceless coast of Meath, and spreading inward over the plain, dispersed the older inhabitants to right and left, into the Ulster and the Munster mountains, or drove them beyond the Shannon into the mountainous limit of Connaught. Leinster, consisting essentially of an upland of exceptional massiveness, connected by structure with the neighbouring Wales, was left somewhat apart; indeed at one time it appears to have been held by tribes of Brythonic speech, kin to the modern Welsh rather than to the Goidelic Irish. But the symmetry of the divisions resulting from the mode of settlement was obscured by the annexation of Meath to Leinster, in order to form a province with Dublin for a focus. It is convenient, therefore, to substitute for the traditional division into four provinces -- Ulster, Connaught, Munster, and Leinster -- an arrangement into three belts in harmony with the physical and historical generalisations. They are equivalent (1) to Ulster in the north; (2) to Munster and ancient Leinster, which excluded Meath, in the south; and (3) to Meath and Connaught in the centre. Each of these belts contains one of the principal cities of Ireland -- Belfast, Cork, and Dublin.
Ulster consists of the nine counties, Antrim, Down, Armagh, Monaghan, Cavan, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Derry, and Donegal. Of these Antrim is of exceptional structure and configuration. It is a plateau of volcanic basalt rising from the valley of the lower Bann and Lough Neagh to an elevation of 1800 feet in the summit of Trostan, whence it falls almost precipitously to the sea. Fair Head, a sheer cliff at the north-eastern angle, is distant only thirteen miles from the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland, and the North Channel flows through the strait to the inner seas of Britain. Nearer to the mouth of the Bann, at the Giant's Causeway, the columnar structure of the basalt is very impressive. To the rear of the Antrim plateau is Lough Neagh, as large as the county of Rutland, and nearly as large as the Lake of Geneva, but with a maximum depth of only fifty-six feet. It is a quadrilateral sheet of water, twenty miles in length, and fifteen miles in breadth, produced by the fracture and collapse of a portion of the basaltic beds. Beyond Lough Neagh is the central valley of Ulster, which although narrower than the Rift Valley of Scotland, strikes south-westward along the same axis. Through it has been constructed the Ulster Canal, from Belfast Lough to the Shannon. On either hand rise parallel mountain belts prolonging respectively the Southern Uplands and the Grampian Highlands of Scotland. In the centre is Portadown, the principal junction of the Ulster railways, where meet four lines traversing gaps in the bordering uplands -- from Dublin and Newry, from Belfast and Lisburn, from Cavan and Monaghan, and from Londonderry and Omagh. Considered with reference to the lie of the central valley, the Bann and the Erne must be regarded as transverse rivers. They rise in the south-eastern upland, cross the central valley, the one through Lough Neagh, the other through the upper and lower Loughs Erne, and enter the sea at either end of the north-western upland of Donegal. They correspond, therefore, in type to the Clyde. The Lagan has a source in the Mourne mountains, beside that of the Bann, but bends north-eastward into the longitudinal Belfast Lough.
The north-western uplands of Ulster occupy the counties Donegal, Tyrone, and Derry, with the exception of the south-eastern portions of the two latter. They have a south-westward graining like that of the Scottish Highlands, and are drained chiefly by the north-eastward, longitudinal Foyle, which descends past Londonderry to a broad sea lough, half closed near its exit by a tongue of alluvium. West of Lough Foyle is a second more fiord-like inlet, Lough Swilly, and between the two the peninsula known as Inishowen, that is to say, Owen's Island, which projects to the cliffs of Malin Head, the northernmost point of Ireland. The mountains of Inishowen rise to more than 2000 feet, although the isthmus between Loughs Swilly and Foyle which connects the peninsula to the mainland, is less than 300 feet high. Donegal consists of many rolling, parallel ridges striking south-westward. In Errigal it rises to 2400 feet, and in the south-western point, Slieve League, sheer from the sea to 1900 feet. Ridges and valleys alike are devoid of trees, and clad almost everywhere with peat-bog. The natural entries to the Foyle basin, the only fertile portion of the district, are from the mouth of the Bann by the north coast, and by a low pass from the south-east into the head of the valley at Omagh.
The south-eastern uplands of Ulster constitute a welldefined belt which ranges through the counties Down, Armagh, and Monaghan, and subsides gently into the central plain in Longford and south-eastern Cavan. This belt is pierced transversely by clefts which contain the Strangford and Carlingford sea-loughs, corresponding to Wigtown and Luce Bays along the southern uplands of Scotland. About midway in its length, the granitic mass of the Mourne mountains emerges from the surrounding schists and slates, and rises in Slieve Donard, beside the shore of the Irish Sea, to an elevation of 2800 feet.
That part of the Ulster coast which contains the cities of Londonderry and Belfast, together with the Lagan and Bann valleys, is distinct from all the remainder of Ireland, by virtue of agricultural, industrial, and racial peculiarities. In the six counties, Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Derry, and Donegal, although they measure only about one-sixth of the surface, are grown more than a third of the oats, more than a third of the potatoes, and all the flax of Ireland. Linen-weaving is the characteristic industry, but Belfast, importing coal and iron from Great Britain, has become one of the great centres of British shipbuilding. It has now a population amounting to some 350,000, among whom Protestants of Scottish origin are the dominant section. A group of small dependent towns stud the district around, the chief being Lisburn, Lurgan, Newry, and Carrickfergus. On the margin of the Belfast neighbourhood stands the ancient city of Armagh, the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland both for Catholics and Protestants. The Bann is navigable through Lough Neagh as high as Portadown, and a small industrial area, marked by the towns Coleraine and Portrush, lies about its mouth. Enniskillen is at the point where a bridge spans the short length of river connecting the upper to the lower Lough Erne.
The south of Ireland, consisting of Munster and Leinster proper, exhibits a delicacy and simplicity of build such as occurs in no other part of Britain. The Counties Waterford, Cork, and Kerry, roughly equivalent to the ancient region of Desmond, are formed of a series of parallel rock-folds, upon which rests a surface of ridges and furrows almost as expressive of the supporting structure as the roof of a Gothic cathedral. The lower Suir, and the upper Blackwater, Lee, and Bandon flow eastward along the axes of downfolds. Bending in succession, they breach southward gorges through the limiting upfolds, and emerge on the obliquely cut coastline between Carnsore Point and Cape Clear. Where their estuaries cross the last downfolds they expand a little to right and left, and constitute the almost land-locked harbours of Waterford, Youghal, Cork, and Kinsale. In the ends of Kerry and Cork, the sea has invaded the longitudinal valleys, here inclined to the south of west, and formed the ria-sounds known as Dingle Bay, Kenmare River, and Bantry Bay, thus imparting the familiar fringed outline to the extremity of Ireland. Where the slender promontories merge with the mainland, Macgillycuddy's Reeks, the highest summits in the island, tower among the oceanic mists to a height of 3400 feet, with the wood-girt Lakes of Killarney at their foot. The population is gathered in the valleys and along the intricate coastline. The produce of the pastures is chiefly exported from Cork, a city of 100,000 inhabitants, whose outport, Queenstown, has an added significance as a calling point for mail steamers bound to or from Liverpool. It is also a supplementary base for the fleets watching the channel entries.
North of the westward ridges of Cork and Kerry, which prolong the structure of South Wales, is a conspicuous south-westward range, Slieve Bloom, whose lie seems to indicate an origin in common with Scotland and North Wales. This range, in the heart of Ireland, divides the two most important river basins in the island, that of the Shannon to the west, and that of the group of sister streams, the Barrow, Nore, and Suir, to the east. The Shannon follows the foot of Slieve Bloom in the slow expanse of Lough Derg, and traverses the gorge of Killaloe through mountain masses which are hinged to Slieve Bloom. It then descends the rapids of Castleconnell to Limerick, whence opens the westward estuary. There, on either hand, are plains of the Munster counties Clare and Limerick, which together formed the ancient division of Thomond. They contain some of the richest pasture in the land, and have for their market and port of exit the considerable town of Limerick. Eastward from Limerick the Golden Vale extends to the Suir, between Slieve Bloom and the mountains of Cork, thus offering a lowland way, followed by the Waterford and Limerick railroad, from the Shannon to Waterford.
Originating side by side in Slieve Bloom the Barrow, Nore, and Suir have middle courses so far apart that the lower Barrow flows southward along the foot of the Wicklow mountains, and the Suir eastward beside the ridges of County Waterford. Yet all three gather to a common estuary known as Waterford Harbour. 1 The basin of the Slaney, with its estuarine harbour at Wexford, may be counted as an element in the same drainage area, the richest agricultural district in Ireland. The four conjoint basins are equivalent to the Leinster counties, Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Queen's County, and southern Kildare, together with the Munster county of Tipperary. Where crossed by the railway from Dublin to Cork, they have an elevation of about 400 feet, which is higher than the average of the Irish plains. With this fact may be correlated the unusual absence of lakes.
Five-eighths of the barley of Ireland is produced in the basins of the rivers which drain into the harbours of Wexford and Waterford, a fact partly explained by the northward loop of the July isotherm of 60° Fahrenheit. A fifth of all the barley of Ireland is produced in the single county of Wexford, and here alone is there an acreage under barley nearly equivalent to that under oats. A natural consequence of the favoured character of this district is that the only inland towns of Ireland of any considerable size are placed here, Kilkenny upon the Nore, and Clonmel upon the Suir.
Eastward of the Barrow and northward of the Slaney is the mountain mass of County Wicklow, the nucleus of the ancient Leinster. It culminates at a height of over 3000 feet in Lugnaquella, sister peak to Snowdon, for Wicklow is to be thought of as a fragment of North Wales, visible across the sea. On either side the same south-westward graining and a like mineralogical structure result in similar landscapes. To the north of Dublin Bay is the peninsular rock of Howth Head, a detached fragment of the Wicklow axis, analogous to the Great Orme's Head, detached from the range of Snowdon by the mouth of the Conway river. The rapid torrent Avoca, and the Liffey, encircling the northern foot, bear away the mountain rains. On a sill between the Wicklow mountains and the sea is the pleasure resort of Bray, the Irish Brighton, in the dry rain-shadow of the steep upland.
The central plain of Meath and Connaught forms three basins separated almost imperceptibly by boggy divides. In the centre occupying the King's, Westmeath, and Longford counties of Leinster, and the County Roscommon of Connaught, is the fertile plain of the middle Shannon, with Athlone in its midst at the chief crossing of the river, in the interval between Loughs Ree and Derg. Westward of the Shannon basin in Counties Galway and Mayo are the streams which wander over the slightly undulating slope to the lake chain of Con, Mask, and Corrib, and so to exits in Killala and Galway Bays. Eastward of the Shannon basin is the Boyne, flowing from low - lying sources through County Meath to Drogheda. The bogs of the plain, with the exception of the great bog of Allen, in King's County and Kildare, have been largely drained, but communications across the lowland must formerly have presented no small difficulties. Thus while Dublin, and the coast-land to north of it, constituted the English base within the "pale," and the mountain edge of Connaught was the final retreat of the native Irish, the great plain between, intersected by the Shannon, was the scene of incessant contention. Except for the small ports of Dundalk and Drogheda in County Louth, and the little cattle-markets of Mullingar, Athlone, and Ballinasloe, there are no towns within an area larger than Yorkshire and Lancashire combined. Clew Bay cuts the western rim into two portions, the Nephin mountains to the north, and the peaks of Connemara to the south, while Lakes Con, Mask, and Corrib, at an elevation of less than so feet, nearly connect Killala Bay with Galway Bay, and form a moat between the mountains and the plain, which almost insulates the rocky fortress of western Connaught. Galway and Sligo, the chief towns of Connaught, are ports engaged in fishing and the exportation of agricultural produce.
Dublin is placed in the midst of the east coast, where the plain of Meath and the mountains of Leinster adjoin. It was originally founded as a bridge-town on the Liffey, and the bay is a harbour of inferior character, although the best available along the monotonous coast of the plain. The mail steamers from Great Britain make use of the outport of Kingstown at the southern point of the entry.
Dublin is the nucleus of communications throughout Ireland, whether by canal or railroad. The Royal and Grand Canals radiate from the Liffey, the one westward, the other north-westward to the Shannon, and a great through line of navigation extends from Belfast Lough by the Lagan and the Ulster Canal to Leitrim, and thence down the Shannon to its mouth. A southward branch of the Grand Canal is carried to the head of the navigation of the Barrow. Dublin is therefore connected by waterways with Belfast, Limerick, and Waterford.
The three trunk railways are the Great Southern and Western, striking south-westward from Dublin, through Kildare, Queen's County, and Tipperary, to. Limerick Junction, and thence to Limerick and to Cork: the Great Midland and Western runs through Athlone to Galway, and the Great Northern of Ireland through Drogheda, Dundalk, and Portadown, and thence, on the one hand, to Belfast, and on the other, to Londonderry.
To an extraordinary extent, therefore, the life of Ireland is centralised in Dublin. Cork, Waterford, and Limerick export the cattle of the south, and Londonderry and Belfast the manufactured products of the north, but Dublin, opposite to Chester, Liverpool, and Holyhead, is the centre of distribution for the whole island. Were it not for the industrial activities in and about Belfast, the grouping of the population in Ireland at the present day would strikingly resemble that of England in the Middle Ages. Dublin corresponds to mediæval London and Cork to mediæval Bristol, and the remainder of the people are spread evenly
over the rural districts. There is no inland town of as many as 20,000 inhabitants. No greater contrast could be imagined than that presented by the maps indicative of the density of population in Scotland and in Ireland.
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RESTAURANTS
HOTELS
RUSSELL SQUARE
HISTORY
GREAT BRITAIN
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