The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (locally pronounced carrick-a-reed) is a rope bridge 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 histori ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. 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 () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

. In 2018, the bridge had 485,736 visitors. The bridge is closed for winter (subject to weather) and people may cross it for a £13.50 to £15.50 (adult) fee.

History

It is thought

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

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 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

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 a static or fixed rope, in cont ...

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 the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

bridge was made by Heyn Construction in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

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 , meaning "the goddess"; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is the longest rivers, river in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). The total length ...

and the River Bush.

Features

There are views of

Rathlin Island Rathlin Island (, ; 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. As of the 2021 ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

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

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

, and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

. 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 volcano, volcanic object created when magma hardens within a Volcanic vent, vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if risi ...

in Northern Ireland. Marine

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

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 co ...

, explosion breccias, grey

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

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. Ch ...

.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 aphanite, 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 planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

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

volcanic pipe Volcanic pipes or volcanic conduits are subterranean geology, 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, narro ...

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 are clastic rocks composed of rock fragments produced and ejected by explosive volcanic eruptions. The individual rock fragments are known as pyroclasts. Pyroclastic rocks are a type of volcaniclastic deposit, which are deposit ...

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 flui ...

. 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 – 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. Landon's writings are emblematic of the transition from Romanticism to Victorian literature. Her first major b ...

(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 Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

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 of hand-colouring of photographs, hand-colouring photographs from a single black-and-white photographic negative, negative with subsequent photographic transfer onto Lithography, ...

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