Haulbowline is the name of an island in
Cork HarbourCork Harbour is a natural harbour and river estuary at the mouth of the River Lee in County Cork, Ireland. It is one of several which lay claim to the title of "second largest natural harbour in the world by navigational area"...
off the coast of
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
.
At a strategic and deepwater position in the harbour, the island has long been a military base. The island was first fortified in 1602, and initially an important base for the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
. Later, the British Army moved to nearby
Spike IslandSpike Island is an island of 42 hectares in Cork Harbour, Ireland.It was significant in the French intervention following the Glorious Revolution, and was later purchased by the British government in 1779 – becoming the site of Fort Westmoreland...
, and the fortifications were handed over to the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
. The Navy established a large arsenal on the island, and a naval dockyard was built during the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
.
Unlike the other fortifications in
Cork HarbourCork Harbour is a natural harbour and river estuary at the mouth of the River Lee in County Cork, Ireland. It is one of several which lay claim to the title of "second largest natural harbour in the world by navigational area"...
, which formed part of the
treaty portsFollowing the establishment of the Irish Free State, three deep water Treaty Ports at Berehaven, Queenstown and Lough Swilly were retained by the United Kingdom as sovereign bases in accordance with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6 1921...
, the dockyard was handed over to the
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
in 1923.
Haulbowline Island now houses the headquarters of the Irish Navy.
Irish SteelIspat may refer to:* Ispat English Medium School* Mittal Steel Company...
was previously based on the island; however, the plant closed in 2002.
Haulbowline is the name of an island in
Cork HarbourCork Harbour is a natural harbour and river estuary at the mouth of the River Lee in County Cork, Ireland. It is one of several which lay claim to the title of "second largest natural harbour in the world by navigational area"...
off the coast of
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
.
History
At a strategic and deepwater position in the harbour, the island has long been a military base. The island was first fortified in 1602, and initially an important base for the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
. Later, the British Army moved to nearby
Spike IslandSpike Island is an island of 42 hectares in Cork Harbour, Ireland.It was significant in the French intervention following the Glorious Revolution, and was later purchased by the British government in 1779 – becoming the site of Fort Westmoreland...
, and the fortifications were handed over to the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
. The Navy established a large arsenal on the island, and a naval dockyard was built during the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
.
Unlike the other fortifications in
Cork HarbourCork Harbour is a natural harbour and river estuary at the mouth of the River Lee in County Cork, Ireland. It is one of several which lay claim to the title of "second largest natural harbour in the world by navigational area"...
, which formed part of the
treaty portsFollowing the establishment of the Irish Free State, three deep water Treaty Ports at Berehaven, Queenstown and Lough Swilly were retained by the United Kingdom as sovereign bases in accordance with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6 1921...
, the dockyard was handed over to the
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
in 1923.
Haulbowline Island now houses the headquarters of the Irish Navy.
Irish SteelIspat may refer to:* Ispat English Medium School* Mittal Steel Company...
was previously based on the island; however, the plant closed in 2002. Much radioactive contamination remained in the soil after the steel making process was terminated. In July 2006, it was announced that the former site of Irish Steel would be developed with apartments, offices, a hotel and a marina planned for the site
http://www.entemp.ie/press/2006/20060728.htm. The site is also contaminated with Chromium 6 .
On 11 March 2008, one of the historic 19th century storehouses on Haulbowline Island was destroyed by fire.
Etymology
The island's name may derive from
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
ál-boling or similar = "eel dwelling" ("area where there are
conger eel"Conger" or "conger eel" is a vernacular term used for a number of different species of fish, mostly eels of the family Congridae, and especially the genus Conger.Likely possibilities include:* Anguilla reinhardtii* Ariosoma balaricum...
s"). The 17th and 18th-century spellings end in "-ing"; there may have been nautical influence on the spelling later.
Another explanation for the origins of the name is from a nautical expression "Haul the Bow Line". As ships entered shallow waters, or were due to cross a shallow bank, in the early days, a crewman would stand at the bow of the ship with a line for depth sounding. This would typlically be a light rope with a lead weight attached. The bottom of the weight would, sometimes, have a recess which may have been filled with tallow or grease. This was to cause a sample of the material on the bottom to adhere to the weight, to be retrieved so the type of sea bed could be identified. The line was generally marked with knots and tags of different material; leather, canvas, string etc, to allow the various depths to be identified in the dark.
It is suggested that the depth sounding, on approaching the up-river passage to Cork port, would have commenced at what is now known as Haulbowline.