O'Reilly — On the Wade of the Coast of Ireland, 8fc. 199 



parts. This island lies contiguous to two others, viz. Hare Island 

 and Castle Island, which, lying in a range, and being low ground, 

 might have been very probably then rent by the ocean." 



Memoir, Geological Survey of Ireland (Sheets 188 and 189), (1861). 

 The district described includes some of southern ports of the counties 

 of Cork and "Waterford, which lie on each side of Toughal. 



Youghal Bay and the mouth of the Blackwater Eiver. 



(p. 5.) — " The coast differs in different parts, excepting a line of 

 frequently inaccessible cliffs, where it runs across one of the longitu- 

 dinal ridges, and low sandy or marshy shores, where the valleys strike 

 out upon it. The cliffs rise to between 150 and 200 feet near Mine 

 Head, while at Ardmore Bay the coast consists of a gravelly sandy 

 beach, backed by low vertical banks of clay. Between Ardmore and 

 Ardrogma Heads it again presents cliffs, some of which are 190 feet 

 high ; these are broken at Whiting Bay into low rocky shores, with 

 sandy beaches, but appear again beyond it, and continue as far as the 

 mouth of Youghal Harbour. From Youghal Harbour a gradually 

 widening strand stretches to the south-west for four miles, along low 

 cliffs of marly clay, which in one place at the end nearest to Youghal, 

 rise to a height of 90 feet, but further to the south-west sink down so 

 as to permit the tide to encroach considerably inland. Knockadoon 

 Headland again is edged by vertical cliffs with heights of 130, 170, 

 and 200 feet, but south of Kilcredan, another strand commences where 

 the Cloyne Valley comes out upon the coast." 



Charles Smith's " History of Cork " vol. i. (1750) :— 

 (p. 109.) — "The large extended strand of Youghal, as far as the 

 lowest ebbs uncover it, and probably much farther, is no other than a 

 common turf bog, covered over with sand and pebbles, from whence 

 not only good turf is dug every season, but also great quantities of 

 timber, trees, as fir, hazel, &c., are found. Some years ago a skeleton 

 of a monstrous animal was discovered in this strand ; I saw one of the 

 shoulder bones in Youghal; it is 3|- feet long, and weighs about 

 100 lbs. The remainder of the skeleton, and (as I am informed) 

 another of the same kind, lie still buried in the strand. When they 

 were first discovered, it happened to be a very low ebb. These bones 

 lay in a turfy soil not far from the surface. They undoubtedly 

 belonged to some fish of the cetaceous family, which seems the more 



K.I. A. PROC, VOL. XXIV., SEC. B.] -K 



