You often hear about the Seven Wonders of the World.
There’s multiple different lists from the original 7 ancient wonders to wonders of engineering
to natural wonders.
In this video I’ll be making my own list examining seven engineering wonders of Ireland,
counting down from 7 to 1.
This is simply my opinion, I’m not an engineer so if you think other places should have been
included instead comment below.
The Boyne Viaduct crosses the river of the same name in the town of Drogheda in County
Louth.
The 30 metre high bridge carries the main Dublin to Belfast railway line.
Previous to its construction, passengers had to travel through the town to another station
on the other side of the deep and wide estuary.
Engineer John Benjamin Macneill with help from Bindon Blood Stoney, designed the bridge
by experimenting with a lattice of cast iron girders to minimise the weight of the bridge
on the soft rover bed below.
Construction began in 1853 and was completed in 1855 and at 155 metres it was the longest
of its kind in the world.
In the 1930s the cast iron lattice was replaced by steel and the railway was converted to
a single track.
Located at the southern tip of County Wexford is Hook Head Lighthouse.
It may look like any other lighthouse but it’s special as it claims to be the oldest
operating lighthouse in the world, as well as this one in Spain.
Marking the eastern entrance to Waterford Harbour, it was constructed in 1172 by Strongbow’s
son-in-law William Marshal.
However, it is believed that there has been a beacon on the headland since the monk Dubhán
in the 5th century.
Made of local limestone and whitewashed with lime, the tower is 35 metres high with walls
up to four metres thick.
Over the centuries, the light transitioned from coal fire to oil lantern to gas lights
to the remote controlled electrical light of today, operated from Dun Laoghaire in County
Dublin.
In the mid 1800’s, the wired telegraph using Morse Code was taking off as a new form of
long distance communication so American businessman Cyrus West Field took it upon himself to build
the first line across the Atlantic Ocean, a distance of over 3,000 kilometres.
After multiple failed attempts, the first successful cable was completed on August 5th
1858 between Newfoundland in Canada and Valentia Island in County Kerry.
It broke after 3 weeks but another permanent one via Valentia was finished in 1866 with
a new system made by Belfast native William Thomson who because of his work on the cable
was knighted as Baron Kelvin.
The Kelvin temperature scale is named after him.
For the next 100 years Valentia served a vital role in global communication until the station
there was finally closed in 1966.
Unfortunately only a plaque remains on the site today.
Continuing on in communications history, Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi is well known for
the creation of his radio based wireless telegraph system, sending the first transatlantic signal
from Cornwall to Newfoundland in 1901.
He later decided to move his European station further west and he chose a location at Derrigimlagh
Bog near Clifden in Connemara, Ireland.
His station here opened in 1907 with signalling commencing between here and Nova Scotia in
Canada.
The massive site has a power house with 6 boilers and a system of 8 wooden masts over
60 metres high.
In 1922 during the Civil War the station was destroyed by anti-Treaty forces and only ruins
remain today.
This bog is also the same spot where Alcock and Brown completed the first successful Transatlantic
flight in 1919.
Alcock decided to land, ok crash here after recognising the masts of the Marconi Station.
Today Derrigimlagh Bog is a signature discovery point on the Wild Atlantic Way.
Standing in the grounds of the elegant Birr Castle in County Offaly is the Leviathan of
Parsonstown.
The Newtonian style reflecting telescope was built for William Parsons, Third Earl of Rosse
in 1845 and until 1917, it was the largest telescope in the world.
Supported by two 12 metre high walls on each side, the telescope weighed 12 tonnes with
the mirror weighing 3 tonnes.
With this telescope he tried to figure out what nebulae were, discovering that it was
a spiral of stars he called the Whirlpool Nebula.
By the early 20th century it was becoming redundant and falling apart but it was reconstructed
in the 1990’s.
However, this wasn’t the end for astronomy in Birr.
Today the I-LOFAR radio telescope stands in the castle grounds, a node in a European wide
network which can observe the universe in unprecedented detail at low radio frequencies.
Located just north of Limerick City but in County Clare is the Ardnacrusha Hydroelectric
Power Station.
Constructed by German firm Siemens-Schuckert, it was completed in 1929 at a cost of one
fifth of the newly independent Irish state’s annual budget.
The Shannon scheme allowed for the electrification of rural Ireland by generating twice as much
electricity as the state needed.
Constriction included creating channels to divert the mighty river, ladders to allow
fish to swim upstream and the Parteen Weir which controls the flow to the station.
When it was completed, it was the largest hydroelectric plant in the world and was described
as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
It has directly inspired the Hoover Dam in the USA and gave confidence to many developing
nations around the world to go ahead with similar schemes.
The 85MW plant could once power 90% of Ireland’s energy needs, today it's only around 2% but
the legacy of the social and economic benefits it brought remains to this day.
Before revealing number 1, here are seven honourable mentions;
Rose-Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge, Samson and Goliath Cranes, Shakey Bridge, Bray-Greystones
Railway, Fastnet Lighthouse, the Walls of Derry and the Lartigue Monorail.
So what is Ireland’s greatest wonder of engineering?
Located beside the River Boyne in County Meath, the passage tomb of Newgrange is a marvel
of ancient engineering.
Dating from around 3200 BC in the Neolithic period, the structure is older than Stonehenge
and the Pyramids of Egypt and dates from around the same time as the final extinction of the
woolly mammoth.
The inner chamber of the mound is aligned with the rising sun of the Winter Solstice,
meaning that every year, the sun shines through the roof box and floods the chamber with light,
an incredible feat of engineering for over 5000 years ago.
Some of the material to build the 80 metre in diameter megalith came from Louth and as
far away as Down and Wicklow.
Megalithic art can also be found around the monument such as the highly decorated Entrance
Stone.
It’s still a mystery what exactly the site was used for.
Human and animal bones were found here so it’s likely to have a burial as well as
a ceremonial or religious function.
Today the complex of Bru na Boinne which includes neighbouring megalithic tombs such as Knowth
and Dowth is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
So they’re my Seven Engineering Wonders of Ireland.
Do you agree with these or would you rather see other places included in the list?
What other 7 wonders lists could I make?
Answer in the comments below.
Finally, I want to recommend the book “Ingenious Ireland” by the late Mary Mulvihill which
was republished a few years ago.
It takes a county by county look of Irish mysteries and marvels ranging from geographic
and geological oddities, engineering and archaeological wonders, scientific and industrial advances
and historical and social curiosities.
An encyclopaedia slash travel guide about anything and everything in Ireland.
I randomly stumbled across it in my local Easons and if you like the Irish content I
make on this channel, you’ll love this book.
I hope you learned something about each of the seven sites and are maybe even inspired
to visit them.
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