RATHLIN,
an island and parish, in the barony of CAREY, county of ANTRIM,
and province of ULSTER, 6½ miles (N.) from Ballycastle;
containing 1039 inhabitants.
This
island, which is situated off the northern coast of Antrim,
nearly opposite to, the town of Ballycastle, in lat. 540
36' (N.), and long. 90 15' , and which is regarded
as the ‘Rincnia’ of Pliny arid the ‘Ricina’
of Ptolemy, has received various appellations from different writers.
By the Irish historians it is called ‘Recarn,’ or ‘Recrain’
; by Buchanan, ‘Raclinda’ ; by Mackenzie, ‘Rachri’’
; by Ware, ‘Raghlin’ ; and ‘Raghery’ by Hamilton,
who derives that name from ‘Ragh Erin,’ signifying the ‘fort
of Erin.' Its present name which has been adopted by all modern writers,
is but a slight modification of that given to it by Ware.
St.
Comgall is said to have landed in this island with the intention of
founding a cell, but was expelled by a band of soldiers. In the sixth
century, however, a church was founded here by St. Columba, who placed
it under the superintendence of St. Colman. But the foundation of
this religious establishment is by some writers attributed to Lugard
Laither, who was abbot about the year 590, and by others to St. Legene,
abbot of Hy, by whom it was repaired about the year 630. In 790, a
body of Danish pirates, in their first descent upon the coast, laid
waste the whole island and destroyed the monastery, which was soon
afterwards restored. it was again destroyed in 973, by the Danes,
who martyred the abbot, St. Feradach ; since which time no subsequent
notice of it occurs.
King
John granted the island to Alan of Galway ; and Robert Bruce,
when driven from Scotland by the success of Baliol, his competitor
for the crown, took refuge here, where he fortified himself in a castle,
of which a fragment still remaining beers his name. In 1558, the Earl
of Sussex, then Lord-Deputy, attacked the Scots who had taken possession
of the island and expelled them with great slaughter. and so much
did the place suffer from the repeated ravages of the English and
Scots, that it is stated in a manuscript history of the country to
have been totally uninhabited in 1580.
The
island is about six miles and a half in length, and about a mile and
a half in breadth near the centre ; the eastern portion curves towards
the main land, from the nearest point of which it is about three mites
distant, forming a small enclosure which is called Church bay.
It comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 3,398¾ statute
acres, including 30½ acres under water : about three-fourths
consist of rocks and stony pasture, and the remainder of arable land
of medium quality. It is fully exposed to the northern ocean, and
the tides running here with great impetuosity, the sea is often so
rough as frequently to deter tourists from visiting it. The western
side is rocky and mountainous and the appearance of the coast strikingly
magnificent brown rocks and still darker masses of basaltic pillars
are in some places contrasted with chalk cliffs; on the northern side
the precipices towards the sea rise to the height of 450 feet without
any projecting base.
The
soil is a light mould, intermixed with fragments of basalt and limestone;
the valleys are rich and well cultivated, and arable land, meadows,
and a variety of rocky pastures are scattered over tile whole island.
The substratum of nearly the whole island is basalt and limestone,
and on the eastern side especially it forms beautiful ranges of columns,
differing from those of the Giants' Causeway only in their
dimensions, and in the greater variety of their arrangement, being
found in the same places perpendicular, horizontal, and curved. Considerable
beds of hard chalk extend for some distance along the southern shore,
and in house places; as near Church bay, where they are intersected
by basaltic dikes the hard chalk or limestone is found to possess
phosphoric qualities beds of puzzolana are also found here and on
the shores a substance resembling pumice stone. Mr. Hamilton
traces a vein of coal and iron-stone passing under time sea from the
mines at Ballycastle to this island, which he thinks has been
separated from the opposite coast by some convulsion of nature. Barley
of excellent quality and cattle are sent off from this place; the
former is chiefly purchased by Scottish merchants. Kelp was formerly
made in great quantities ; its manufacture was the chief source of
wealth to the inhabitants, but since the bleachers have discontinued
the use of it, there is very little demand i the chief markets for
it are Campbelltown and Glasgow There are two storehouses, one for
kelp and one for barley, erected by the Rev. Mr. Gage, proprietor
of the island, for the purpose of collecting the produce of his tenantry
; there is also a mill for grinding oats. The horses, cattle and sheep
are all small.
Church
bay, though affording good anchorage, is entirely exposed to the violence
of the western winds, during the prevalence of which no vessel can
ride here in safety; the only other havens are some small creeks on
the eastern side, of which the principal is Port Usenet, where the
small craft belonging to the island shelter during the winter. The
inhabitants of this part of the island are principally fishermen,
who make short voyages and carry on a little trade by way of barter
; they all speak the English language; but in the western part of
the island the Irish language is universal. and the inhabitants, from
want of intercourse with strangers, have many peculiarities ; they
are a simple, laborious, and honest people, entertaining are ardent
affection for their island, which alone they regard as their country,
and speak of Ireland as of a foreign land. They are very dexterous
in seeking for the nests of sea fowl, for which purpose they swing
themselves down the face of the precipices by means of a rope secured.
to a stake on the summit. Both Catholics and Protestants generally
live together in the greatest harmony, undisturbed by the difference
of religion; they frequently intermarry; scarcely was an individual
ever known to emigrate formerly, but many young men have gone to America
of late years. There is neither any town nor regular village; the
dwellings of the inhabitants are Irregularly scattered throughout
the island. The proprietor, the Rev. R. Gage, is constantly
resident and acts as magistrate. A coast-guard station for one officer
and six men, one of the eight that constitute the district of Ballycastle,
has been established here.
The
living is a rectory, in the diocese of
Connor, and in the patronage of the Bishop; the tithes amount
to £60, which is augmented with £27. 14s., from Primate
Boulter's fund. The glebe-house has been condemned as unfit for residence,
and the curate has a house and garden rent-free provided by the incumbent,
who pays him a stipend of £60. The glebe comprises 15 access
valued at £l8. 15s., per aan., making the gross income of the
benefice £106. 9s. The church, towards the erection of which
the late Board of First Fruits contributed a gift of £800, is
a neat small edifice with a square tower, erected in 1815.
The
Roman Catholic chapel is a plain building.
About
180 children are taught in three public schools.
There
are some slight remains of the ruined fortress called Bruce's castle,
of the original foundation of which there is nothing upon record.
Nearly in the centre of the island are some small tumuli ; in one
of these was found a stone coffin, near which was an earthen vessel,
and a considerable number of human bones ; and on the small plain
where these tumuli are placed have been found brazen swords, spear-heads,
and a large fibula, which are deposited in the museum of Trinity College,
Dublin. Near the Black Rock, on the south of Church bay, are
four remarkable caverns, which, though penetrating a basaltic mass
and at a point remote from any calcareous formation, have calcareous
stalactites depending from the roof, which by their continual dropping
have deposited an incrustation, about an inch in thickness, on the
door beneath.
