A.D.1835,
September 17. Fairloch Moss, Randalstown, Co. Antrim.
(A very large bog overlooking a. valley. )- All day a portion of it
swelled up till the the
convexity was 30 feet in height; at 5 p.m with a sound like a loud,
rushing wind, it sank several feet, and a collection of tufts, mud,
and water moved N.E., not rapidly, and soon stopped. It swelled up again,
and about midday on the 19th, it again burst with a similar noise and
the flow crept on till the 21st. when it ceased till the 23rd, being
interrupted by ditches; on the 23rd, at 3 p.m., it suddenly rushed forward.
Continuing, it surrounded a cottage 10 feet deep, rose over the Belfast-Londonderry
coach road, crossed it with a width of 300 yards, and poured over the
far bank in a cascade, and continued down the valley till it reached
the River Maine, which it dammed temporarily, and killed all the fish.
The flow into the Maine did not cease till Sept. 28. The deposited area
of bog was three-quarters of a mile long, and 200 to 300 yards wide;
with a maximum depth of 30 feet. The place where the bog had swelled
up to 30 feet, afterwards sunk 20 feet below its original level, and
a small pool occupied the hollow"
Ref:
Hunter, Magazine of Natural History, vol., ix, May, 1836, pp. 251-261