Geography
Larne sits on the western side of a narrow inlet that links Larne Lough to the sea. On the eastern side of the inlet is a peninsula called Islandmagee. To the west of Larne is the ancient volcanic formation of Antrim Plateau, with its glaciated valleys scenically sweeping down to the sea the to the north of Larne in what are known as the Glens of Antrim. Larne is 25 miles from the Scottish mainland, with stunning views across the North Channel towards the Mull of Kintyre, Rhins of Galloway, Islay and Paps of Jura often visible from the Larne area - this proximity to Scotland has had a defining influence on Larne's history and culture.
The town is within the small parish of the same name. Like the rest of Ireland, this parish has long been divided into townlands, whose names mostly come from the Irish language. Over time, more rural townlands have been built upon and they have given their names to many roads and housing estates. The following is a list of townlands within Larne's urban area, alongside their likely etymologies:
- Antiville (likely from an Tigh Bhile meaning "the house of the old tree")
- Ballyboley (likely from Baile Buaile meaning "townland of the booley/dairy place")
- Ballycraigy (likely from Baile Creige meaning "townland of the rocky outcrop")
- Ballyloran (likely from Baile Loairn meaning "Loarn's townland")
- Blackcave North
- Blackcave South
- Curran and Drumaliss (likely from Córran meaning "crescent" and Druim a' Lios meaning "ridge of the ringfort")
- Greenland
- Inver (likely from Inbhear meaning "rivermouth")
Read more about this topic: Larne
Famous quotes containing the word geography:
“Yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Ktaadn, near which we were to pass the next day, is said to mean “Highest Land.” So much geography is there in their names.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The totality of our so-called knowledge or beliefs, from the most casual matters of geography and history to the profoundest laws of atomic physics or even of pure mathematics and logic, is a man-made fabric which impinges on experience only along the edges. Or, to change the figure, total science is like a field of force whose boundary conditions are experience.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)