BILLY,
a parish, partly in the barony of CAREY, but chiefly in that
of LOWER DUNLUCE, county of ANTRIM
and province of ULSTER; containing with the post-town of Bushmills,
5845 inhabitants.
This parish
is bounded on the west by the river Bush, and on the north-east
by the sea; it is also intersected for nearly three miles by the road
from Ballymoney, through Bushmills
to the Giants Causeway which is within its limits. Including
eight townlands which now form part of the parish of Dunseverick,
it comprises according to the Ordnance survey 17,329¾ statute
acres, of which 16,860 are applotted under the tithe act, and valued
at £8,139 per annum. The land is generally in a good state of
cultivation; the system of agriculture is considerably advanced, and
is still improving; there is very little waste land except moss and
bog, which together form nearly one-third of the surface. Whinstone
abounds, and is quarried for building and for the roads; limestone is
found in great quantity and is occasionally burned for manure, and wood-coal
is obtained near the Causeway.
Among
the principal seats are Bushmills House, the residence of Sir
F.W. Macnahten, Bart., Ballylough, of W. Trail, Esq.;
Ballydivity, of J. Stewart Moore,Esq.; Black Rock House,
the property of Miss Wray, and now in occupation of Hugh Lecky,
Esq; and Benfield formerly the residence of Col. Wray,
but at present uninhabited.
There
are some weirs on the river Bush, near its influx into the sea, for
taking salmon, of which great quantities are sent to Liverpool and London.
A market on Tuesday, and five fairs are held at Bushmills; and
on the day after Dervock fair, which is generally on Aug. 12th
(except that day falls on the Saturday or Sunday, on which occasions
it is held on the Monday following) a pleasure fair, called the Causeway
fair, is held at the Rock Head, above the Giants Causeway,
and is numerously attended by persons for many miles around, for whose
accommodation tents are pitched.
This parish
was formerly the head of a union, which comprised also the parishes
of Armoy, Ballyclug,
Donegore and Kilbride, together
forming the corps of the archdeaconry of Connor; but by the act of the
5th of Geo. IV., obtained by Dr. Mant, the union has been dissolved,
the parishes disappropriated from the archdeaconry, and the rectorial
tithes annexed to their respective vicarages, with the exception ony
of this parish, of which the rectory and vicarage alone now constitute
the corps of the archdeaconry, with the cure of souls, the former archdeacons
having no cure of souls: it is in the diocese
of Connor, and patronage of the Bishop. The late Archdeacon
Trail, then rector of this parish, in 1830, separated nine townlands
from it, giving the tithes of four; and his brother, the Rev. Robt.
Trail, rector of Ballintoy, seven
townlands from that parish, giving the tithes of three, for the formation
and endowment of the perpetual curacy of Dunseverick, the patronage
of which is vesterd alternately in the respective incumbents: the new
church is a very neat building in a central situation. The tithes of
the parish amount to £489 4s. 7½d., of which £37
9s. 3d., is paid to the perpetual curate, and the remainder to the archdeacon.
The church, a plain substantial building, was ereceted on the site of
a former structure, by aid of a gift of £800 and a loan of £500,
in 1815,from the late Board of First Fruits. The glebe-house was built
in 1810, by the Rev. T. Babington, vicar, aided by a gift of
£350 and a loan of £450 from the same board.
In the
R.C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Coleraine.
There
are two meeting houses for Presbyterians in connection with the Synod
of Ulster, one of which is of the third class, and there are places
of worship for Seceders, Covenanters, and Wesleyan Methodists.
At Eagry
is a school under the Trustees of Erasmus Smith’s Charity for which
a good school house has been erected, with a residence for the master,
who has two acres of land; a school is held in a house hired for that
purpose at Bushmills, and is supported by subscription; there
is a parochial school for girls, for which a house was built, in 1832
by William Trail Esq.; also schools at Moycraig, Carnbore,
Straidbilly and Dromiarran, and another is held in the
Methodist Meeting House at Castle-Cat, which was endowed with
£20 by the late Dr. Adam Clarke. The Rev. Archdeacon
Trail, in 1831, bequeathed £50 for the use of the poor of
the parish, which has been invested in Government securities and the
interest is annually distributed by his son, W. Trail, Esq.
There
are some remains of the ancient castle of Ballylough, which was of much
importance; the lake on which it was situated has been drained, and
is now under cultivation.
The GIANT’S
CAUSEWAY, probably the most extensive and curious assemblage
of basaltic columns in the world, is situated between Port-na-Grange
and Port Noffer, in N. lat. 55o 20’ and W. Long. 6o 50’;
and derives its name from a popular tradition that it was erected by
giants, as a commencement of a causeway across the ocean to Scotland.
This very interesting natural curiosity forms part of a large promontory,
of which Bengore Head, about a mile distant, is the most northernmost
point in Ireland. The only access to it by land is down a winding path,
cut at the expense of the late Earl of Bristol, while Bishop
of Derry, on the western side of a verdant headland called Aird Snout,
to two detached hills called the Stookans, whence the first view
of this stupendous work of nature is obtained.
This view
is one of the most magnificent imaginable, embracing an immense bay
broken with capes and headlands, rising abruptly to a height of 400
feet above the level of the sea and consisting of lofty colonnades of
the most symmetrically formed basaltic pillars, inserted in the cliffs
like artificial supporters, standing in groups lke giant honeycombs,
or scattered in pleasing disorder like the ruins of a city of temples
and palaces.
From the
Stookans the road leads to the base of the Causeway, which
extends in a northerly direction from the promontory to the sea. This
splendid natural pier is somewhat triangular in form; the base beneath
the cliff being 135, the eastern side 220, and the western 300 yards
long; while the breadth in the centre is about 60.
The view
of the causeway from the footpath suggests the idea of an immense unfinished
embankment, forming an inclined plane, in some cases rising by successive
steps, in others presenting a nearly level pavement, formed by the tops
of the closely united columns, with some chasms exhibiting the admirable
arrangement of this wonderful structure. The causeway is divided into
three unequal parts. The little, or western causeway is 386 feet long
but only 16 high, and is separated from the central compartment by an
enormous whin dyke, extending from the cliff to the sea. The middle
section which is the shortest, contains a magnificent group of lofty
pillars, called “the honeycomb” and is also bounded
on the east by a whin dyke. Beyond this is the grand causeway, which
is 706 feet long by 109 wide in the middle; in that part of this compartment
which is called “the loom” is attains an elevation
of 34 feet, from which it diminishes in height gradually as it approaches
the sea into which it enters for some distance beyond low water mark.
In the western and central compartments all the columns are perpendicular,
but in the grand causeway they are vertical towards the east, inclining
eastwards as they approach the sea, and westward near the base of the
cliff.
The three
divisions of the causeway comprise 37,426 distinct and perfect columns,
besides many that are scattered and broken about in its vicinity. The
columns consist of prisms of equal dimensions through their whole height,
which ranges from 15 to 36 feet, with diameters of from 15 to 28 inches,
and varying in their number of sides from 3 to 9, although the greater
number are pentagons and hexagons. Each of the pillars is perfectly
distinct, and almost invariably differs in size, number of sides, and
points of articulation from the adjacent columns, to which, however,
it is so close that not even water can pass between them. Almost every
column is composed of several pieces, the joints of which are articulated
with the greatest exactness, and in a strictly horizontal direction.
Generally, the upper part of the section is concave and the lower convex,
but this arrangement is sometimes reversed. The cavity or socket is
perfectly circular, from two or four inches deep, and in a few instances
its rim is divided, covers two or three articulations, and terminates
in sharp points. In a few of the columns no joints are visible; in some
three, four or more may be traced; and in the “loom”, columns
are found which are divisable into as many as 38 pieces. The basalt
of which these columns is composed is of a very dark colour, approaching
to black; its weight is three times as great as that of water; and of
100 of its constituent parts, 50 are siliceous earth, 25 iron, 15 argillaceous
earth, and 10 calcareous earth and magnesia.
About
300 yards east of the causeway is the Giants’ Organ, about
120 feet long, consisting of 60 columns, of which those in the centre
are 40 feet high, but those on the sides are lower. At the eastern extremity
of Port Noffer are four lofty and massive basaltic columns, rising
to the height of 315 feet; they are hexagonal and jointed, and from
their height and isolated position are called the Chimney Tops.
Near these is the Theatre, consisting of three distinct colonnades,
the successive tiers of which are separated by horizontal strata of
amorphous basalt, red and grey ochre, and fossil coal, the alternations
of which with the columnar basalt produce a very extraordinary and pleasing
appearance.
A little
eastward of Port-na-Spagna is a perpendicular cliff, 326 feet
high, composed of alternate layers of columnar and horizontal basalt,
arranged with surprising regularity; but the most picturesque cliff
is Pleaskin, which rises from the sea in a gentle acclivity for more
than 300 feet, and then ascends perpendicularly 70 feet more to its
summit. This beautiful headland is 382 feet in height, and strikingly
exhibits the geological formation of this district, as it consists of
numerous clearly distinguishable strata, which rise above each other
in the following order: at the base is a bright red ochreous rock, on
which are placed tabular basalt, grey ochreous rock, amorphous basalt,
clear red basalt, irregular basalt with cracks, iron ore, imperfectly
formed basaltic pillars, argillaceous rock, fossil coal, and the lower
range of basaltic columns, which is 45 feet high. Imposed on this colonnade
are grey rock containing nodules of iron, slightly columnar basalt,
grey ochreous rock, amorphous basalt, and then the upper range of basaltic
pillars, which forms a magnificent colonnade 64 feet high, and has broken
basalt for a superstratum, above which is vegetable mould covered with
green sod. This splendid headland, which is unrivalled for beauty of
arrangement and variety of colouring, is seen to most advantage from
the sea, from which also some of the grandest views of the causeway
and its adjacent scenery are obtained.
Fossil wood, as black and compact as coal, and fossil oysters and muscles
are found in the limestone rock that forms the substratum of the causeway
and its neighbouring promontories; and large opals, chalcedony, agates;
&c., are collected here. Specimens of these fossils and minerals,
and a wooden model of the causeway, are in the museum of Trinity College,
Dublin.
