GEOGRAPHICAL STATE AND CIRCUMSTANCES. SECT. I. Situation and Extent. THE County of London-Derry presents but a small portion of its boundary to the ocean. Beginning at the ruined castle of Bally-reagh near the bay of Port Rush, it extends along the shore to the Estuary of the Bann, somewhat less than four miles. From the Bann to the entrance of Lough-Foyle, the beach winds for the space of about seven miles, until it arrives at the point of Magilligan, whose projection forms the streight entrance of Lough-Foyle. The eastern shore of the lough furnishes here a boundary of nearly seven miles, extending to the rivulet which falls into Bally-macran. The shore now bends with the coast of the Lough, about eight miles and an half, until you pass the mouth of the river Fahan, and arrive opposite to the Fort of Culmore. From this streight, the lough contracting its surface, changes its title into that of a river. It is here also, that the natural boundary is augmented, by the accession of a territory comprised within an irregularly defined semicircle, whose centre is the market place of the city of London-Derry, and whose semidiameter, produced from that point, was intended to extend fully three miles in every direction. This semi-circumference, with all its curvings and acclivities, cannot well be less than eleven miles. Opposite to the most southern point of this semicircle, the boundary is resumed on the eastern bank of the river Foyle, and tending inland, with various curvatures, is not more accurately defined, than by the tops of mountains, and the fall of waters, until it passes through Lough Fiu, on the west of Sliabh-Gallan. Hence it proceeds with the stream, which issues from the lake, and passing through the demesne of Lisean, arrives at the flat country to the west of the village of Coagh. Another desertion of the natural boundary occurs at this place; leaving the course of the Lisean rivulet, the line of demarcation is traced, in many curvatures, through a swampy flat, towards the Cookstown or Ballinderry river. Henceforward, the limit is included within this stream, till it empties itself into Lough Neagh. If the boundary, from the bank of the Foyle to the shore of Lough Neagh, were a direct line, it would not amount to more than thirty-two miles; but considering its angles and declivities, we must add nearly one half more, so that this outline may be computed at about forty-eight miles. Lough Neagh becomes now the confine until the commencement of the lower Bann; the distance is about five miles and three quarters. The river Bann has scarcely issued from one lake, till it merges into another. The interval is not more than three quarters of a mile. The little lake (Lough-beg) presents a shore of not less than five miles: thence to the commencement of the liberties of Coleraine, the windings of the Bann, though not very considerable, prolonging its course about three miles, the distance may be nearly eighteen miles. On the Antrim side of the Bann, as on the Donegal side of the Foyle, a district included by a semicircle, whose radius was intended to be no less than three miles, is superadded to the territory and jurisdiction of the county of London-Derry. This line of demarcation curves irregularly through the district east of the Bann. I suppose that from the point above-mentioned, to the shore at Bally-reagh, it is not far from nine miles in measurement. It appears from the above computation, that the outline of this county may be about one hundred and twenty-four miles. The area is imperfectly triangular. The greatest length is between the point of Magilligan, and the Cookstown river, west of Coagh, which measures 82 miles in a direction from S. S. E. to N. N. W. The greatest breadth is from the march behind the sheriff's mountain, in the liberties of Londonderry, to the Vow ferry on the Bann, which may measure in a right line about 271⁄2 miles. All these computations are in Irish miles, which are to English, in the ratio of eleven to fourteen. This county lays between the latitudes of 54° 36" and 55° 12", north, and between the longitudes of 6° 18′′ and 7° 21′′ west. By doctor Beaufort's computation it contains 318,500 acres (Irish), which is equal to 405,363 (English.) According to my survey and computation, the area of this county extends over a surface of 321,600 acres (Irish), which in English measurement is 409,309 acres. On the north it is bounded by the ocean; on the west by Lough Foyle, and the county of Donegal; on the south by the county of Tyrone; and on the east by Lough Neagh, the river Bann, and part of the county of Antrim. Climate. The neighbourhood of the Western Ocean, the height of the mountains which surround us, and whose ranges intersect our county, are causes, which may account for the fall of a considerable quantity of rain. The following tables, though prepared for a former work, will give accurate and particular information on this subject. |