Dam between Ringeelaun Point and Muckinish - at Mulroog, Co Galway
I'm pretty puzzled by this structure.
Here's an aerial view
http://binged.it/1n6gXnc
And here it is on an old map, showing the placenames:
http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,536752,715409,7,9
At that second link, you can see that the structure is not present on the the 6" map [completed between 1830 and 1845] and it is present on the 25" map [completed around 1905 or 1910]
In the aerial photo it looks just like one of many roads in the area which are submerged by every tide. But from close up, it is obviously a different class of structure.
It is effectively a dam, parts of which have crumbled. Even when it was intact, I guess that the highest spring tides would have flowed over the surrounding karst coast, inundating the bay and refreshing the water in it.
Here are some guesses as to its purpose:
- Land reclamation attempt which was never completed
- Attempt to artificially create a suitable habitat for oyster/mussel farming
- Road
- Force the tidal flow through a narrow channel, to power a mill.
- Force the tidal flow through a narrow channel, for fishing.
- Coastal erosion protection
Loughaunrone to the north http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,536884,723439,7,9 is a nearby example of a bay whose neck was closed. Can't remember the source now, but I recall reading that people took advantage of the narrow neck of the bay, by catching whole shoals of mullet as they'd exit the bay on a falling tide. The bay was finally closed off, for the simple purpose that it made a convenient roadway.
Here's an aerial view
http://binged.it/1n6gXnc
And here it is on an old map, showing the placenames:
http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,536752,715409,7,9
At that second link, you can see that the structure is not present on the the 6" map [completed between 1830 and 1845] and it is present on the 25" map [completed around 1905 or 1910]
In the aerial photo it looks just like one of many roads in the area which are submerged by every tide. But from close up, it is obviously a different class of structure.
It is effectively a dam, parts of which have crumbled. Even when it was intact, I guess that the highest spring tides would have flowed over the surrounding karst coast, inundating the bay and refreshing the water in it.
Here are some guesses as to its purpose:
- Land reclamation attempt which was never completed
- Attempt to artificially create a suitable habitat for oyster/mussel farming
- Road
- Force the tidal flow through a narrow channel, to power a mill.
- Force the tidal flow through a narrow channel, for fishing.
- Coastal erosion protection
Loughaunrone to the north http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,536884,723439,7,9 is a nearby example of a bay whose neck was closed. Can't remember the source now, but I recall reading that people took advantage of the narrow neck of the bay, by catching whole shoals of mullet as they'd exit the bay on a falling tide. The bay was finally closed off, for the simple purpose that it made a convenient roadway.