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
