Weird wobble in the border
How did the Drummully Polyp on the border between Co. Monaghan and Co. Fermanagh come about?
ON the border between Fermanagh and Monaghan, there’s an odd irregularity: a 150-acre chunk of the Republic of Ireland that slots into Northern Ireland like a jigsaw piece. Its 91.5-metre-wide border is one of the world’s narrowest.
Officially the area is known as Drummully, named after the hillocks, or glacial drumlins, that define the area. The term polyp, a cancerous growth growing on a long stalk, reflects the problem such a border has caused.
Locals also call it the Sixteen Townlands, Coleman Island or the Connons after two of its larger settlements.
The counties of Monaghan and Fermanagh were created in the 1580s from Gaelic lordships: Airgialla (McMahon’s country) and
Fear Manach (Maguire’s country). These were subdivided into tuatha of 100 dwellings, bailte biataigh (anglicised to ballybetaghs) of 16 towns, and tates, which are forts.
During the Ulster Plantation, when Britain colonised Ireland, the bailte biataigh belonged to the Mac Domhnaill family, who were loyal to the McMahons. The future border was drawn around their land.
In 1924, when the Boundary Commission was deciding on the precise delineation between the Irish Free State and the North, it toured the polyp and considered if it should be cut off.
Protestant Unionists owned most of the land in Drummully, but were a minority of the population. The controversial plan to remove the polyp was shelved.
As a result, the railway line between Clones and the town of Cavan crosses the border six times in eight kilometres.
Mike Duignan, Gwynedd.
What are the world’s five deepest natural harbours?
SYDNEY HARBOUR is generally regarded as the deepest natural harbour in the world. It has an average depth of 12.8 metres, with channels for shipping varying from 28m to 45.7m deep, and shoals with depths of 3m to 4.7m. It is probably also the largest natural harbour in the world, being more than 17.5 km long and covering 13,340 acres.
Deep harbours are often rias, funnel-shaped coastal inlets formed by the submergence of the lower portion of a river valley. Falmouth, together with the Carrick Roads in Cornwall, England, is a classic drowned river valley dominated by a deep, meandering channel navigable from Falmouth to Truro, with depths of up to 33m at the southern end.
The Port of Mahon, Minorca, is the world’s second deepest natural harbour and the deepest in the Mediterranean. It has a length of over 6.4km, a width of 1.2km and a depth of up to 30m.
Halifax Harbour, off the coast of Nova Scotia in Canada, has a depth of 18m at low tide.
Another example of a ria, it has a consistently deep channel for shipping.
Where Sydney Harbour can only handle vessels with a maximum draft of 13.7m, Halifax can cope with up to 17m.
In fifth place is the Port of
Milford Haven in Wales, which has a water depth of more than 17m available.
Alison Augustyn, Northants.
Which general said his worst officers were those who were ‘stupid and diligent’?
IN JANUARY 1933, the UK’s Army, Navy & Air Force Gazette posted the following passage attributed to German general Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, placing officers into various classes.
He said: ‘I distinguish four types. There are clever, hard-working, stupid and lazy officers.
‘Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and hard-working; their place is in the General Staff. The next ones are stupid and lazy, they make up 90% of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the mental clarity and strength of nerve necessary for difficult decisions.
‘One must be aware of anyone who is stupid and hard-working. He must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will only ever cause mischief.’
This acerbic assessment can be applied to many areas of life, such as the civil service and politics.
Hammerstein-Equord was born to a noble military family in 1878, and in World War I fought in the Battle of Turtucaia in Romania. After the war, he remained loyal to the Weimar Republic and in 1930 was appointed to the highest military post, chief of the German Army.
An aloof and sarcastic man, he had a strong distaste for the Nazi Party. As late as 1933, he referred to the Nazis as a ‘criminal gang’ and ‘perverts’. In 1934, at the age of 56, he was forced out of his post by the Führer, and recent biographies suggest he was involved in plots to assassinate Hitler. He died of cancer in 1943.
Len Forrest, Hereford.
Since the construction of the Aswan High Dam, the Nile no longer floods and deposits fertile silt on the land. Does this mean Lake Nasser is gradually silting up?
THE Aswan High Dam, which was completed in 1971, directs the Nile into the manmade reservoir Lake Nasser, which is 85% within Egypt and 15% in Sudan.
The lake is 479.3km long and 14.9km across at its widest point, with a capacity of 133.4 cubic kilometres of water.
The dam altered a water cycle farmers had relied on for thousands of years and which had provided the bedrock of the Ancient Egyptian economy.
The annual flooding of the Nile deposited four million tonnes of nutrient-rich sediment that enabled an agricultural revolution.
The Aswan High Dam does provide benefits. It enables the authorities to release water during a drought, control floodwaters and prevent damage along the floodplain.
It generates ten billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power, about half of Egypt’s annual supply, and has improved navigation along the Nile.
It has also created problems. Poor drainage of the newly irrigated lands has led to saturation and increased salinity. More than half of Egypt’s farmland now has medium to poor soil.
It has been calculated that five cubic kilometres of sediment have been deposited in Lake Nasser, and it is being investigated whether mining these rich sediments to spread on arable land is a viable option.
A. T. Kira, Manchester.
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