IRELAND IRONWOOD
IRELAND, CHURCH OF IRON-WOOD
IRENAEUS IRONY
IRENE IROQUOIS
IRETON, HENRY IRRAWADDY
IRIARTE Y OROPESA, TOMAS DE IRREDENTISTS
IRIDACEAE IRRIGATION
IRIDIUM IRULAS
IRIGA IRUN
IRIS (Greek mythology) IRVINE
IRIS (botany) IRVING, EDWARD
IRISH MOSS IRVING, SIR HENRY
IRKUTSK (government of Russia) IRVING, WASHINGTON
IRKUTSK (Russian town) IRVINGTON
IRMIN ISAAC (child of Abraham)
IRNERIUS ISAAC I.
IRON ISAAC II.
IRON AGE ISAAC OF ANTIOCH
IRON AND STEEL ISABELLA (queen of Castile)
IRON MASK ISABELLA II.
IRON MOUNTAIN ISABELLA (wife of Charles VI)
IRONSIDES ISABELLA OF HAINAUT
IRONTON ISABEY, JEAN BAPTISTE
IRELAND, an island lying west of Great Britain, and forming with it the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It extends from 51 deg. 26'
to 55 deg. 21' N., and from 5 deg. 25' to 10 deg. 30' W. It is encircled
by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the east is separated from Great Britain
by narrow shallow seas, towards the north by the North Channel, the
width of which at the narrowest part between the Mull of Cantire
(Scotland) and Torr Head is only 13(1/2) m.; in the centre by the Irish
Sea, 130 m. in width, and in the south by St George's Channel, which has
a width of 69 m. between Dublin and Holyhead (Wales) and of 47 m. at its
southern extremity. The island has the form of an irregular rhomboid,
the largest diagonal of which, from Torr Head in the north-east to Mizen
Head in the south-west, measures 302 m. The greatest breadth due east
and west is 174 m., from Dundrum Bay to Annagh Head, county Mayo; and
the average breadth is about 110 m. The total area is 32,531 sq. m.
Ireland is divided territorially into four provinces and thirty-two
counties:--(a) _Ulster_ (northern division): Counties Antrim, Armagh,
Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, Monaghan, Tyrone. (b)
_Leinster_ (eastern midlands and south-east): Counties Carlow, Dublin,
Kildare, Kilkenny, King's County, Longford, Louth, Meath, Queen's
County, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow. (c) _Connaught_ (western midlands):
Counties Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo. (d) _Munster_
(south-western division): Counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick,
Tipperary, Waterford.
_Physical Geography._--Ireland stands on the edge of the European
"continental shelf." Off the peninsula of Mullet (county Mayo) there are
100 fathoms of water within 25 m. of the coast which overlooks the
Atlantic; eastward, northward and southward, in the narrow seas, this
depth is never reached. The average height of the island is about 400
ft., but the distribution of height is by no means equal. The island has
no spinal range or dominating mountain mass. Instead, a series of small,
isolated clusters of mountains, reaching from the coast to an extreme
distance of some 70 m. inland, almost surrounds a great central plain
which seldom exceeds 250 ft. in elevation. A physical description of
Ireland, therefore, falls naturally under three heads--the coasts, the
mountain rim and the central plain.
Coasts.
The capital city and port of Dublin lies a little south of the central
point of the eastern coast, at the head of a bay which marks a sudden
change in the coastal formation. Southward from its northern horn, the
rocky headland of Howth, the coast is generally steep, occasionally
sheer, and the mountains of county Wicklow approach it closely.
Northward (the direction first to be followed) it is low, sandy and
fringed with shoals, for here is one point at which the central plain
extends to the coast. This condition obtains from 53 deg. 25' N. until
at 54 deg. N. the mountains close down again, and the narrow inlet or
fjord of Carlingford Lough separates the abrupt heights of the
Carlingford and Mourne Mountains. Then the low and sandy character is
resumed; the fine eastward sweep of Dundrum Bay is passed, the coast
turns north again, and a narrow channel gives entry to the
island-studded lagoon of Strangford Lough. Reaching county Antrim,
green wooded hills plunge directly into the sea; the deep Belfast
Lough strikes some 10 m. inland, and these conditions obtain nearly to
Fair Head, the north-eastern extremity of the island. Here the coast
turns westward, changing suddenly to sheer cliffs, where the basaltic
formation intrudes its strange regular columns, most finely developed
in the famous Giant's Causeway.
The low land surrounding the plain-track of the Bann intervenes
between this and the beginning of a coastal formation which is common
to the north-western and western coasts. From the oval indentation of
Lough Foyle a bluff coast trends north-westward to Malin Head, the
northernmost promontory of the island. Thence over the whole southward
stretch to Mizen Head in county Cork is found that physical appearance
of a cliff-bound coast fretted with deep fjord-like inlets and fringed
with many islands, which throughout the world is almost wholly
confined to western seaboards. Mountains impinge upon the sea almost
over the whole length, sometimes, as in Slieve League (county
Donegal), immediately facing it with huge cliffs. Eight dominant
inlets appear. Lough Foyle is divided from Lough Swilly by the
diamond-shaped peninsula of Inishowen. Following the coast southward,
Donegal Bay is divided from Galway Bay by the hammer-like projection
of county Mayo and Connemara, the square inlet of Clew Bay
intervening. At Galway Bay the mountain barrier is broken, where the
great central plain strikes down to the sea as it does on the east
coast north of Dublin. After the stern coast of county Clare there
follow the estuary of the great river Shannon, and then three large
inlets striking deep into the mountains of Kerry and Cork--Dingle Bay,
Kenmare river and Bantry Bay, separating the prongs of the forklike
south-western projection of the island. The whole of this coast is
wild and beautiful, and may be compared with the west coast of
Scotland and even that of Norway, though it has a strong individuality
distinct from either; and though for long little known to travellers,
it now possesses a number of small watering-places, and is in many
parts accessible by railway. The islands though numerous are not as in
Scotland and Norway a dominant feature of the coast, being generally
small and often mere clusters of reefs. Exceptions, however, are Tory
Island and North Aran off the Donegal coast, Achill and Clare off
Mayo, the South Arans guarding Galway Bay, the Blasquets and Valencia
off the Kerry coast. On many of these desolate rocks, which could have
afforded only the barest sustenance, there are remains of the
dwellings and churches of early religious settlers who sought solitude
here. The settlements on Inishmurray (Sligo), Aranmore in the South
Arans, and Scattery in the Shannon estuary, had a fame as retreats of
piety and learning far outside Ireland itself, and the significance of
a pilgrimage to their sites is not yet wholly forgotten among the
peasantry, while the preservation of their remains has come to be a
national trust.
The south coast strikes a mean between the east and the west. It is
lower than the west though still bold in many places; the inlets are
narrower and less deep, but more easily accessible, as appears from
the commercial importance of the harbours of Cork and Waterford.
Turning northward to the east of Waterford round Carnsore Point, the
lagoon-like harbour of Wexford is passed, and then a sweeping, almost
unbroken, line continues to Dublin Bay. But this coast, though
differing completely from the western, is not lacking in beauty, for,
like the Mournes in county Down, the mountains of Wicklow rise close
to the sea, and sometimes directly from it.
Mountains.
Every mountain group in Ireland forms an individual mass, isolated by
complex systems of valleys in all directions. They seldom exceed 3000
ft. in height, yet generally possess a certain dignity, whether from
their commanding position or their bold outline. Every variety of form
is seen, from steep flat-topped table-mountains as near Loughs Neagh
and Erne, to peaks such as those of the Twelve Pins or Bens of
Connemara. Unlike the Scottish Highlands no part of them was capable
of sheltering a whole native race in opposition to the advance of
civilization, though early customs, tradition and the common use of
the Erse language yet survive in some strength in the wilder parts of
the west. From the coasts there is almost everywhere easy access to
the interior through the mountains by valley roads; and though the
plain exists unbroken only in the midlands, its ramifications among
the hills are always easy to follow. Plain and lowland of an elevation
below 500 ft. occupy nearly four-fifths of the total area; and if the
sea were to submerge these, four distinct archipelagos would appear, a
northern, eastern, western and south-western. The principal groups,
with their highest points, are the Mournes (Slieve Donard, 2796 ft.)
and the Wicklow mountains (Lugnaquilla, 3039) on the east; the
Sperrins (Sawel, 2240) in the north; the Derryveagh group in the
north-west (Errigal, 2466); the many groups or short ranges of Sligo,
Mayo and Galway (reaching 1695 ft. in the Twelve Pins of Connemara);
in the south-west those of Kerry and Cork, where in Carrantuohill or
Carntual (3414) the famous Macgillicuddy Reeks which beautify the
environs of Killarney include the highest point in the island; and
north-east from these, the Galtees of Tipperary (3018) and Slieve
Bloom, the farthest inland of the important groups. Nearer the south
coast are the Knockmealdown (2609) and Commeragh Mountains (2470) of
county Waterford.
Central plain.
It will be realized from the foregoing description that it is
impossible to draw accurate boundary lines to the great Irish plain,
yet it rightly carries the epithet central because it distinctly
divides the northern mountain groups from the southern. The plain is
closely correlated with the bogs which are the best known physical
characteristic of Ireland, but the centre of Ireland is not wholly
bog-land. Rather the bogs of the plain are intersected by strips of
low-lying firm ground, and the central plain consists of these bright
green expanses alternating with the brown of the bogs, of which the
best known and (with its offshoots) one of the most extensive is the
Bog of Allen in the eastern midlands. But the bogs are not confined to
the plain. They may be divided into black and red according to the
degree of moisture and the vegetable matter which formed them. The
black bogs are those of the plain and the deeper valleys, while the
red, firmer and less damp, occur on the mountains. The former supply
most of the peat, and some of the tree-trunks dug out of them have
been found so flexible from immersion that they might be twisted into
ropes. Owing to the quantity of tannin they contain, no harmful miasma
exhales from the Irish bogs.
Rivers.
The central plain and its offshoots are drained by rivers to all the
coasts, but chiefly eastward and westward, and the water-partings in
its midst are sometimes impossible to define. The main rivers,
however, have generally a mountain source, and according as they are
fed from bogs or springs may be differentiated as black and bright
streams. In this connexion the frequent use of the name Blackwater is
noticeable. The principal rivers are--from the Wicklow Mountains, the
Slaney, flowing S. to Wexford harbour, and the Liffey, flowing with a
tortuous course N. and E. to Dublin Bay; the Boyne, fed from the
central plain and discharging into Drogheda Bay; from the mountains of
county Down, the Lagan, to Belfast Lough, and the Bann, draining the
great Lough Neagh to the northern sea; the Foyle, a collection of
streams from the mountains of Tyrone and Donegal, flowing north to
Lough Foyle. On the west the rivers are generally short and
torrential, excepting the Erne, which drains the two beautiful loughs
of that name in county Fermanagh, and the Shannon, the chief river of
Ireland, which, rising in a mountain spring in county Cavan, follows a
bow-shaped course to the south and south-west, and draws off the major
part of the waters of the plain by tributaries from the east. In the
south, the Lee and the Blackwater intersect the mountains of Kerry and
Cork flowing east, and turn abruptly into estuaries opening south.
Lastly, rising in the Slieve Bloom or neighbouring mountains, the
Suir, Nore and Barrow follow widely divergent courses to the south to
unite in Waterford harbour.