Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Ireland" to "Isabey, Jean Baptiste" / Volume 14, Slice 7

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IRELAND, an island lying west of Great Britain, and forming with it the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It extends from 51° 26′ to 55° 21′ N., and from 5° 25′ to 10° 30′ W. It is encircled by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the east is separated from Great Britain by narrow shallow seas, towards the north by the North Channel, the width of which at the narrowest part between the Mull of Cantire (Scotland) and Torr Head is only 13½ m.; in the centre by the Irish Sea, 130 m. in width, and in the south by St George’s Channel, which has a width of 69 m. between Dublin and Holyhead (Wales) and of 47 m. at its southern extremity. The island has the form of an irregular rhomboid, the largest diagonal of which, from Torr Head in the north-east to Mizen Head in the south-west, measures 302 m. The greatest breadth due east and west is 174 m., from Dundrum Bay to Annagh Head, county Mayo; and the average breadth is about 110 m. The total area is 32,531 sq. m.

Ireland is divided territorially into four provinces and thirty-two counties:—( a ) Ulster (northern division): Counties Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, Monaghan, Tyrone. ( b ) Leinster (eastern midlands and south-east): Counties Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, King’s County, Longford, Louth, Meath, Queen’s County, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow. ( c ) Connaught (western midlands): Counties Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo. ( d ) Munster (south-western division): Counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford.
Physical Geography. —Ireland stands on the edge of the European “continental shelf.” Off the peninsula of Mullet (county Mayo) there are 100 fathoms of water within 25 m. of the coast which overlooks the Atlantic; eastward, northward and southward, in the narrow seas, this depth is never reached. The average height of the island is about 400 ft., but the distribution of height is by no means equal. The island has no spinal range or dominating mountain mass. Instead, a series of small, isolated clusters of mountains, reaching from the coast to an extreme distance of some 70 m. inland, almost surrounds a great central plain which seldom exceeds 250 ft. in elevation. A physical description of Ireland, therefore, falls naturally under three heads—the coasts, the mountain rim and the central plain.