Physical Features. 6 1 



attaining an elevation of 1,755 ^'^^'^ '" ^lieve Croob, willi 

 other dominant elevations adjacent, notably Cratlieve, Slieve- 

 nisky, and Slievegarran. These granite hills probably 

 originated in latest Silurian times. Granite of the same 

 age is also to be found at Goraghwood, near Newry, and at 

 Castlewellan, to the west of Newcastle. It should be noted 

 that the granite of Slieve Donard is of a much later age, 

 probably owing its existence to the same plutonic disturb- 

 ances that gave rise to the basalt of Antrim. The district 

 of the Mournes attains considerable elevation, the dominant 

 peaks being Slieve Donard (2,796 feet), Slieve Commedagh 

 (2,512 feet), Slieve Bingian (2,440 feet), Slieve Bernagh 

 (2,394 feet), and the two Slieve Meels. Most of the 

 summits are dome-shaped, as is common with granite 

 mountains, but some are crowned with crags and sharp 

 peaks (hence the name, Slieve Bingian — the mountain of 

 the sharp peak). 



Coast Indentations and Lakes. 



County Antrim. — The coast of Antrim, while possessing 

 no great bays (except the land-locked Larne Lough), is 

 characterised by numerous sinuosities with intervening 

 headlands. The bays on the east coast are the continuations 

 of the valleys with their river courses which form the Glens 

 of Antrim. The most notable are Cushendun Bay, at the 

 foot of the Glendun Valley ; Red Bay, at the foot of the 

 Glenariff ^^alley ; Carnlough Bay, and Glenarm Bay, at the 

 foot of the Glenarm Valley. Larne Lough is enclosed from 

 the sea by the peninsula known as Island Magee ; the lough 

 is about 6 miles long, and at its entrance to the sea is less 

 than a quarter of a mile wide. Belfast Lough, the extension 

 of the Lagan Valley, is 14 miles long and 7 miles wide at 

 its mouth. 



County Down. — The chief indentations of the County 

 Down coast are Strangford Lough, Dundrum Bay, and 

 Carlingford Lough. Strangford Lough covers at high-water 

 an area of 57 square miles. Much of it is too shallow for 

 navigation, purposes, consisting of shallows and sloblands. 

 A considerable area of this lough could be easily reclaimed, 

 and already parts of it near Newtownards have been so 



