Natural Bridges near Kilkee, County Clare

The fair authoress gives an equally interesting account of her visit to the NATURAL BRIDGES near KILKEE. "After a residence of seven weeks, an excursion was planned to visit the unfrequented village and bay of Ross, near Loop Head, whose natural Bridges of rock, over an inlet of the Atlantic, are considered amongst the greatest curiosities on this romantic coast; and finding my health and strength so much recruited, that instead of being unable to go a mile in a jaunting-car without feeling quite exhausted, I undertook a ride of twenty-four miles.

"Nothing worthy of note occurred, with the exception of an occasional caution from our careful driver, of 'Will you be plazed to howld fast,' or having to get occasionally off the car in passing over sundry hollows in the road; otherwise we might have found ourselves on the ground without the trouble of alighting. On stopping to inquire the shortest path to the 'Bridges,' the good-countenanced natives flocked around us: but as they could not speak English, we were at a loss for direction, until a little lad, who understood our language, came up and offered to act as guide. After passing over two fields we reached these remarkable objects—both picturesque, yet quite different—extending across the same natural canal or inlet, which appears as if cut out of the solid rock, and varies from fifty to sixty feet in width, and in its course it makes nearly a right-angle. The inner bridge next to the termination, and which is first seen, is beautifully arched, and formed of numerous thin strata of rock, like sheets lying closely over each other. The under side of the arch looks as smooth as if covered with a coat of dark plaster. It would appear that at some period the whole was a mass of rock, whose strata took an extraordinary curved or arched direction inland, which is likewise apparent in many other places here and along the cliffs to Loop Head, and that by some convulsion of nature a portion of the under strata was forced out, as the broken edges can be seen at low water, appearing like a sort of abutment from which the perfect arch springs: lines of these indented edges are apparent in an undulating course along the side of the canal nearly to its mouth, and appearing as if chiselled out by the hand of art.

"This bridge, together with that now about to be described, 'are formed of coarse, arenacious clay-slate, with crystals of quartz in the fissures.'

"The latter bridge is a remarkable structure, being nearly as level on the upper as the under surface. When we consider the span, which is forty-five feet, the thickness above the arch, nine feet, and the width, thirty feet, and reflect how impossible it would be for man, with all his boasted powers, to construct, or for a moment to support so great a mass, without a curve underneath, the mind can only contemplate this extraordinary structure as formed by the creative touch of nature's Divine Architect. From its exposed situation, close to the ocean, it has for ages withstood the force of the overwhelming billows during the westerly tempests. Nearly under this bridge are low caverns or openings between the rocks, as if caused by the coast having been shaken and rent into great fissures, into which the guide (who afterwards joined us) threw large stones, that were heard bounding and echoing to a great depth. Many of the fissures in some places are lined with minute crystals, which sparkle beautifully in the sun's rays. One of our party picked up a remarkably fine specimen. The guide attempted to disengage some good pieces, but failed for want of proper tools. The canal, or wild rocky valley, when the tide is out, is above a quarter of a mile in length, and when the visitor walks along the bottom of it he can only see naked rocks, the sky, and the breakers foaming in at the end. The bay is lined by a high bank of 'boulders,' or large rounded stones, which from their bulk appear to have been accumulating for centuries; they are similar to those of Forankee Bay, near Kilkee, but in much greater quantity. The ruins of an ancient little chapel and those of a dwelling-house, for many years the residence of the Keane family, in whose possession the property still remains, are to be seen near the village.