The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (locally pronounced carrick-a-reed) is a

rope bridge A simple suspension bridge (also rope bridge, swing bridge (in New Zealand), suspended bridge, hanging bridge and catenary bridge) is a primitive type of bridge in which the deck of the bridge lies on two parallel load-bearing cables that a ...

near

Ballintoy Ballintoy () is a small village, townland (of 274 acres) and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is alongside the B15 coast road, north-east of Coleraine, west of Ballycastle and between it and Bushmills. It is in the historic ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede (). It spans and is above the rocks below. The bridge is mainly a tourist attraction and is owned and maintained by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. In 2018, the bridge had 485,736 visitors. The bridge is open all year round (subject to weather) and people may cross it for a fee.

History

It is thought

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

fishermen have been building bridges to the island for over 350 years. It has taken many forms over the years. In the 1970s it had only one handrail and large gaps between the slats. A new bridge, tested up to ten

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s, was built with the help of local climbers and

abseil Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...

ers in 2000. Another was built in 2004 and offered visitors and fishermen alike a much safer passage to the island. The current wire rope and

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three v ...

bridge was made by Heyn Construction in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

and raised early in 2008 at a cost of over £16,000. There have been many instances where visitors, unable to face the walk back across the bridge, have had to be taken off the island by boat. On 24 May 2017, a routine inspection revealed that the bridge's structural ropes had been damaged overnight in an act of vandalism. The National Trust announced that the bridge would be closed "for the foreseeable future". However, on the following day it was announced that structural engineers had completed repairs, and that the bridge had been reopened.

Fishing

It is no longer used by fishermen during the salmon season, which used to last from June until September, as there are now very few salmon left. In the 1960s, almost 300 fish were caught each day, but by 2002, only 250 were caught over the whole season. The salmon come through the area to spawn in the

River Bann The River Bann (from ga, An Bhanna, meaning "the goddess"; Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is one of the longest rivers in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). However, the total lengt ...

and the

River Bush The River Bush (from the ga, an Bhuais) is a river in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The River Bush is long. The river's source is in the Antrim Hills at 480m. From there the river flows northwest, with a bend at the town of Armoy. It then f ...

Features

There are views of

Rathlin Island Rathlin Island ( ga, Reachlainn, ; Local Irish dialect: ''Reachraidh'', ; Scots: ''Racherie'') is an island and civil parish off the coast of County Antrim (of which it is part) in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's northernmost point. ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

from the area. The site and surrounding area is designated an Area of Special Scientific Interest for its unique geology,

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

, and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is '' flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. ...

. Underneath there are large caves, which once served as home for boat builders and as shelter during stormy weather.

Geology

Carrickarede island is the best example of a

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged ma ...

in Northern Ireland.

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...

has exposed a section through the neck of this old volcano.Habitas, Earth Science Conservation Review, National Museums Northern Ireland
Ballintoy – Ballycastle
/ref> The presence of

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

, explosion breccias, grey

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to refer ...

and explosion bombs show the extreme violence of the eruptions about 60 million years ago when molten rock punched its way through

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...

.Habitas, Earth Science Conservation Review, National Museums Northern Ireland
Ballintoy – Ballycastle (summary)
/ref> Along the coast of this area, as with much of the Antrim plateau, the cliffs are of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

with the characteristic Ulster chalk underneath. At Carrickarede, the ancient

volcanic pipe Volcanic pipes or volcanic conduits are subterranean geological structures formed by the violent, supersonic eruption of deep-origin volcanoes. They are considered to be a type of ''diatreme''. Volcanic pipes are composed of a deep, narrow cone o ...

has left

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...

, a tougher rock than basalt, which erodes more slowly. Behind the dolerite, to the south, the vent is filled with

pyroclastic rocks Pyroclastic rocks (derived from the el, πῦρ, links=no, meaning fire; and , meaning broken) are clastic rocks composed of rock fragments produced and ejected by explosive volcanic eruptions. The individual rock fragments are known as pyrocl ...

that break down more easily, mostly a coarse tuff

agglomerate Agglomerate (from the Latin ''agglomerare'' meaning "to form into a ball") is a coarse accumulation of large blocks of volcanic material that contains at least 75% bombs. Volcanic bombs differ from volcanic blocks in that their shape records flu ...

. The combination of the hard rock out front and the softer rock behind, with long-term erosion by the waves, has eventually left this small island.

In popular culture

A plate of this bridge (Artist:

Thomas Mann Baynes Thomas Mann Baynes (1794–1876) was an English artist and lithographer. He is known for his drawings and watercolours of landscapes, buildings and outdoor events. Life He was London born, and is probably the son of James Baynes, a noted waterco ...

- Engraved by: J. Davies) appeared in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832, accompanied by a poetical illustration by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

(L. E. L.) referring to a gentleman who is supposed to have lived on the island as a hermit at one time (possibly a rebel who had fled out of Scotland).

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

describes the bridge in his 1978 poem ''A Postcard from North Antrim:'' A lone figure is waving From the thin line of a bridge Of ropes and slates, slung Dangerously out between The cliff-top and the pillar rock.

Gallery

File:Rope Bridge, Carrick-a-Rede. County Antrim, Ireland-LCCN2002717354.jpg,

Photochrom Photochrom, Fotochrom, Photochrome or the Aäc process is a process for producing colorized images from a single black-and-white photographic negative via the direct photographic transfer of the negative onto lithographic printing plates. The proc ...

of the Bridge, c. 1890 Image:Carrick-a-rede.jpg, Bridge structure, 2004 Image:Carrick-a-rede rope bridge.jpg, Bridge structure, 2005 Image:Carrick-a-Rede July 06.jpg, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, 2006 Image:Carrick-a-Rede, touwbrug vanaf het eiland.jpg, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, 2007 Image:Carrick_a_rede_2010.jpeg, Bridge in use 2010 File:Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Northern Ireland - Diliff.jpg, View of the bridge and island File:Carrick-a-rede rope bridge 2.jpg, The bridge in 2017

References

External links

National Trust – Carrick-a-RedeNew Rope Bridge for Carrick-a-Rede. CultureNorthernIreland.org Feature
{{Authority control Bridges completed in the 17th century Buildings and structures in County Antrim National Trust properties in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland coast Pedestrian bridges in Northern Ireland Bridges in Northern Ireland Ropework Suspension bridges in the United Kingdom Tourist attractions in County Antrim Simple suspension bridges Volcanic plugs of Northern Ireland Toll bridges in Northern Ireland