Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Pococke's Tour in Ireland in 1752 (Author: Richard Pococke)

entry 9

On the first of July, I walk'd up to the course, and set out; My Lord sent a man five miles with me, and Mr. Brougham and Mr. O'Neale accompanied me three. We passed the end of Kle Glyn and ascended towards a high point called Mount Garranpoint, and in the map Ardclinnis Point, over which there is a very steep road, and at the bottom of it, is a rock, which, before part of it fell down, was thought to be the figure of a fish. From this point the mountains are very fine, quite perpendicular towards the top with trees growing out of them as in the little park, from which large white lime stone rocks have roll'd down, in many of which I saw Belemnites which are frequently found on the shore, as well as echini; but it is very difficult to separate them from the rock: the lower part of this opening call'd Red Bay is much admired, having the same kind of ground on each side of the valley, but no wood below, so that I think it is not near so beautiful as the ground of the great park; but it is said that the late Lord had thought of making a park there, which he might have done, only by building a wall at the sea and at the west angle. In this road we observed several streams running from the hill, which


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flow'd underground into the sea, on the north side of this vale a river falls into the sea, near the mouth of it are cliffs of a sandy red stone in which there are four or five caves, and some families live in them: and just over the point are remains of an old Castle call'd Redbay Castle. On the south side of the bay I observed an old church which answers to the situation of Galbally in Sr. Wm. Petty's map. When I passed this point turning round I was surpriz'd at the sight of the end of the mountain to the north east of the valley, which appeared with a most beautiful square top, and in some situations like a Lozenge this is call'd Clockay Brackeen. I came to another little valley call'd Cushendall where I dined; Going two miles to Cushenden Bay, I was directed about half a mile from the road to see some caves, which are not so curious altogether as the sea cliff, which is the most beautiful I ever saw, it consists of pebbles of a middling size of different colours all cemented together; so that it has the appearance of variegated marble, and is exactly like the Hertfordshire stone which is used for the top of snuff boxes, except that the stones are much larger, that is from about four or five to 8 or 9 inches in diameter. The sheep take shelter in these caves in the winter, and there is in some part of the grotts a cake of their dung near a foot thick, which the people have not as yet taken away for manure. Over the north side of this bay is an old tower, which is I suppose what is called in the map Caries Castle. This head of Land is the most north eastern point of Ireland. We returned to the road on the other side of the river and ascended up a very long hill, to a healthy country, which affords good turf with a gravel under it, and the white lime stone is found in many parts through the country The soil being alter'd from Red Bay to this place, in which

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space there is no lime stone: Very fine roads are made here all the way to Ballycastle in which coming near the northern shore of Ireland we turn'd to the west and passed by Caravadount, below which is a Danish fort, and a little farther to the south is a fine flat hill called Drumnikilliah, which much resembles the situation of Jerusalem: and so we arrived at Ballycastle: From the eastern shore I saw the Isle of Sanda to the east of which a McDonel is Laird: And the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland seemed surprizingly near in the bay of Cushendun, tho' it is almost thirty miles distant, but it is a very high land; they often go over to that land for game: where there is great plenty of what is called the black game, which Lord Antrim has brought over more than once, but could never get them to breed, or keep them long, so that probably they return back. Ballycastle is situated in a sort of a creek, at the mouth of the small river Glenshesk in the large open bay which is made by Fairhead and the point at Balintoy, near which Sheep Island is seen, having the Isle of Rathlin stretching to the north of it from east to west. The tide comes in from the north, and probably the tides meeting off Fairhead and the Mull of Kintyre cause such an Eddy current that in the bay the flow lasts nine hours and the ebb only three. Ballycastle is a strong instance of the assiduity and judgment of one person Mr. Boyd to whom the place belongs, who holds it as a fee farm under Lord Antrim, who has made most of his tenants happy in such a tenure; for all this country as I mention'd before belongs to Lord Antrim; his ancestors from Scotland, the McDonalds, conquer'd it, and Queen Elizabeth granted it to them by patent; the family are now distinguished by the title of Antrim; it extends from near Larne to Coleraine: from Larne to Glenarme the people are mostly Presbyterian,

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as well as from Ballycastle to Coleraine; but from Glenarme to Ballycastle they are for the most part Papists. Mr. Boyd's great work was to make a safe harbour for shipping, which he had done most effectually, having received £10,000 from the publick for that purpose: It was effected by a pier to the north and east made of piles of oak, fixed together with iron, and all fill'd within with large stones, so that it makes three very good Quays. But unfortunately last winter, some of the piles to the north gave way in a violent storm, and about the same time some of the inner piles of the eastern pier fail'd, occasioned by fastening their cables to them: But when they came to examine the foot of the piles, they found they had been eaten by a small worm, of a different kind from those of the Indies or Holland, or from those I saw at Shoreham, being very small, about a quarter of an inch long, and as big as a middling pin; Looking on them in a microscope, on the back they appear like a smooth grub, on the belly a little like a shrimp, with seven legs on each side, and I think a smaller pair behind, it has large black eyes and the snout seems to be pointed, and probably has on it such a pair of shells to bore as the larger have, but I could not discern it: They make holes in the length of the part of the wood which is always under the salt water, for the air or fresh water kills them: This mole is on the west side of the little bay: To the east along the shore which faces it is sandy, and piles are droven in to keep the sea from gaining on the bank, and when it does gain, they fill it again with great expense; and they are now making a strong pier built of stone and mortar, where the piles have fail'd, on one side are store houses, on another smiths' forges and all sorts of trades, for building boats and for carrying on the work of the piers, besides this Mr.

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Boyd
has built a very good Inn, a Brewery, Tan-yard, houses for boiling soap, and salt, making candles, and a very fine bleach yard; all which he farms out. He has also built a handsome house for himself, and a brick wall on two sides of a garden of seven acres; and at the same time has carried on the works of a very considerable colliery, which is to the east towards Fairhead on the sea side. The first is about a mile from the town, where there is a fine boxwheel for raising the water out of the coalpits, turned by a stream brought from the river by a channel cut along the side of the hill, and through some high ground for above a mile; about half a mile further is a shaft near the top of the cliff, and as much further another to which there is an entrance from the shore by a passage, the top and side of which are supported by woodwork: At the collieries are quays for shipping them on small vessels made at great expense with large stones. From the first pit there is a way made with wood, as at Whitehaven and Newcastle for two carts to be drawn on. This sea cliff is very curious, but appears most beautiful at Fairhead. There is first a stratum of firestone, which is in pillars of one stone, some of them being near twenty feet long, and this seems to be some tendency towards the natural production of the Giant's Causeway; this in Fairhead has something of the appearance of a Gothick work: then there is what they call Till, which I take it, is a ragged broken stone, then free stone, next a vein of coal followed by Till, and then two layers of free stone of different qualities; for there they have grinding stones and whetstones out of different quarries. They have a vitriol spring in one part, and one sees several perpendicular veins in the cliffs which they call faults in the work, they extend into the sea, and one of them being about fifteen or twenty feet broad, appears like a large Causeway.


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This Gentleman in the colliery and all the manufactures he supports, has about 300 people employed every day, and in the years of scarcity he took care to buy corn and have it sold at a reasonable price. All these things undertaken and carried on by one man, are a very uncommon and extraordinary instance in a practical way of human understanding and prudence.

The old Town of Ballycastle is a quarter of a mile from the port, which consists of a short street, and here they hold their markets; and just below it is an old mansion house in ruins of the Antrim family. When I came to Ballycastle Mr. Boyd soon found out, I had compliments to him from the Archbishop of Dublin, he obliged me to make his house my home; where I met my acquaintance his daughter Mrs. Macaulay, married to Dr. Macaulay Vicar General of the Diocese of Dublin.