A.
D.1809,December 6.- Bog of Rine, Camlin River, County Longford.
"In the night during a thunderstorm, about 20 acres of the bog
burst asunder in numerous places, leaving chasms of many perches in
length, and of various breadths, from 10 feet to 3 inches. The rifts
were in general parallel to the river, but in some places the smaller
rifts were at right angles to it; not only the bog, but the bed of the
river was forced upward; the boggy bottom filling up the channel of
the river, and rising 3 or 4 feet above its former banks. In a few hours
170 acres of land were by these means overflowed, and they continued
in that state for many months, till the bed of the river was cleared
by much labour and at considerable expense."
The
bog had been an unusually wet one. It did not sink in any particular
place. "Several earthquakes were felt in distant countries about
16th December, ...and it is not absolutely impossible that a communication
may exist between them " (the earth quake and the bog-slide.)
Ref:
Edgeworth, App. 8 to the 2nd Report of Bog Commission, p. 176, 1811
A.D.
1883. January 30- Bog near Newtownforbes, Co. Longford.
"A bog near Newtownforbes has commenced to migrate, covering turf
and potatoes."
A.D.
1819, January.- Owenmore Valley, Erris, Co. Mayo
"A mountain tarn burst its banks, and heaving the bog that confined
it, came like a liquid wall a-down, forcing everything along boulders,
bog timber, and sludge, until, as it were in an instant, it broke upon
the houses [of a small village], carrying all before it, stones, timbers,
and bodies; and it was only some days after, that at the estuary of
the river in Tullohan Bay, the bodies of the poor people were
found."
Ref:
Otway, "Sketches in Erris and Tirawley," p. 14, 1841
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