Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Pococke's Tour in Ireland in 1752 (Author: Richard Pococke)
entry 4
On the 25th I went a mile to Maghera, after having been at Newcastle a mile to the South east on the sea; it is a good house lately purchased with some land by Mr. Annesly and I went to Tullamore park I have described. In Maghera Church yard is part of a round tower about twelve feet high, and it may be fifteen in diameter, 'tis said, the top was blown down and remained on the ground without breaking in pieces, but I could not be well informed, that it was really so;22 here is an ancient burial place of the Magennis's. I ascended two miles up to the Castle of Dundrum, which commands a fine view of all the country; it is of an irregular multangular form, with a fine round tower in it, which in the inside is about thirty feet in diameter; it is sd. to be built by Sir John De Curcey for the Knights Templars. From this place I
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saw plainly the Isle of Man. As the Northern and Southern tides meet here, it occasions a great sea and a most extraordinary suction into the bay, which makes it extremely dangerous to come near the Coast, where there are frequent Shipwrecks. I descended a mile to Mount Panther, with a design to pay a visit to Dr. Delany, but he was not arrived; so passing under the village of Clough finely situated on a rising ground, and the residence of Mr. Annesley, third son of the famous Francis Annesley of the inner Temple. I came to Mr. Bayley's on the bay of Dundrum, to whom I had sent that I would come and dine with him; this Gentleman is brother to Sir Nicholas Bayley and has a family Living of £800 a-year. Soon after I came in Dr. Delany sent his servant, to borrow something for that they were on the road, and being invited to dine, they soon came in, He and his Lady; and being all agreably surprised,23 I dined, and rode seven miles East to Killough, between the sandy banks on the sea, which sometimes move so, as not only to bury rabbit warrens, but as it is supposed whole villages, as has happened in Cornwall. Killough is most pleasantly situated in a small bay which is about a mile deep and not half a mile over, it consists of one Street, but is in a declining way, no soldiers being sent to the Barrack of late years; the linnen manufactory also has failed, and the boiling of rock salt from Liverpool, and the fishery likewise is very small, tho' there is a good pier built to shelter the boats from the South East wind but there is notwithstanding one of the best Inns here in
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the whole road. Just out of the town is a Charter School founded by Judge Ward to whom the town belongs, it is for twenty boys and twenty girls, and I went to see it. Near the town is a stream running from a rock, it is the lightest water in Ireland; and comes out of the cliffs, which are a cement of pebbles; the rock below being of a slaty kind: at some distance beyond it there is a hole or cave, where the tide comes in, and when it retires, makes a great noise and bubbles up in a very extraordinary manner.24