Month: May 1922

I had the following account of a cloudburst from a farmer in the Draperstown district, who was an eyewitness to the destruction done, being in the glen in search of sheep just after the occurrence. There is a narrow mountain valley in the Sperrin Mountains called Glennelly and convenient to its ridge, which has the townland of Goals on one side and Glenern on the other. About fifty-years ago a remarkable cloudburst occurred on the Glenern side of the ridge. The mountain side was steep and covered with 4 to 5 feet of peat, and the deluge broke up about 3 acres of this, carrying most of it away. It also moved a solid mass of peat, about ¾ acre in extent, for about one perch down-hill. Fifty head of sheep were destroyed, and great damage done to low-lying lands along the glen. Just on the opposite side of the ridge—in Goals—a destructive cloudburst had fallen previously, cutting deep furrows into the mountain side.—“G. B. Mc Keown” (Draperstown).