The Salmon Leap at Ballyshannon
View of the Salmon Leap at Assaroe, Ballyshannon, on the River Erne. Four salmon are shown leaping the waterfall, while four men contemplate the scene. Two millwheels are set in the water on the far bank, against the wall of a tall building. Beyond it stands a house flanked by a substantial tree. On an islet below the falls are two further buildings, one tall, one low, and what appears to be two rows of posts with nets draped over them. There is a sailing boat nearby and, farther downriver, where the estuary broadens out to the sea, are several ships. Seals can be seen on the shore and in the water near the falls, while cattle graze on a headland to the right. In the distance, on cultivated ground, are two cottages, a covered wagon (or carriage) and a horseman. Beyond that lie mountains.
Inscribed in Image
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Image Details
| Genre | Landscape |
|---|---|
| Technique | Etchings |
| Subject(s) | Nature, Rural life, Transportation |
| Geographical Location |
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| Keywords(s) | Boats, Buildings, Carriages & coaches, Farming, Fishing, Horses, Houses, Islands, Livestock, Men, Mills, Mountains, People, Rivers, Seas, Ships, Trees, Waterfalls |
| Colour | Monochrome |
| Dimensions | 9.7 cm x 17.5 cm |
| Published / created | 1776 |
Bibliographical Details
| Travel Account | A Tour in Ireland in 1775 [Twiss] |
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| Contributor(s) |
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| Note | The falls at Assaroe no longer exist, following the creation of two dams in the 1950s. Among the men depicted, the one reclining may be intended to represent the author, Richard Twiss, who noted that he remained there for hours, drawing the scene. The islet below the falls is Inis Saimer, or Fish Island, where, in the eighteenth century, salmon used to be salted. |
| Print or manuscript | |
| Location of image in copy | frontispiece |
| Source copy | James Hardiman Library, National University of Ireland, Galway Basement Special Collection: 914.15047 TWI |
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Alternative source
This is a link to a digital copy hosted by an external website. |
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433069334849?urlappend=%3Bseq=8 |
| Permalink | https://ttce.universityofgalway.ie/irelandillustrated/?id=ii_image_1306753672&object_type=image&ttce_function=5 |
| Rights | James Hardiman Library, National University of Ireland, Galway |
Related text from travel account
| The next day I arrived at Ballyshannon, and was so pleased with its beautiful situation, that I remained there four days. It is a small town, situated near the sea, with a bridge of fourteen arches, over a river, which a little lower falls down a ridge of rocks, about twelve feet, and at low water forms one of the most picturesque cascades I ever saw. It is rendered still more singular and interesting by being the principal Salmon leap in Ireland. In order to explain this term, it is necessary to relate a few particulars concerning salmon. Almost all the rivers, lakes, and brooks, in this island, afford great plenty of these fish; some during the whole year, and some only during certain seasons; they generally go down to the [p. 91] sea about August and September, and come up again in the spring months. It is said that the females work beds in the sandy shallows of rivers, and there deposit their eggs, on which the male sheds its seed; afterwards they both join in covering the eggs with sand. These in time become vivified, and take their course to the sea, being then of about the size of a finger. After six weeks or two months stay, they return up the same rivers, the salt water having in that short time caused them to attain nearly to half their full growth. They are then caught in weirs, which are formed by damming up the river, except a space of three or four feet in the middle, which the salmon having passed, are caught in a small enclosure, formed by stakes of wood; the entrance is wide, and gradually lessens, so as barely to admit a single salmon at a time. Every morning during the fishery they are taken out, by means of a staff, with a strong barbed iron hook, which is struck into them. [p. 92] But at Ballyshannon, by far the greater number is caught in nets below the fall. The time of the fishery is limited; and after it is elapsed, the enclosure is removed, the nets are laid aside, and the fish are at liberty to stock the rivers with spawn. I was informed that this fishery at Ballyshannon rents for X [digit struck out] 6oo l. per annum, and yet the fish is sold at no more than a penny per pound, and six shillings per hundred weight. Were these fisheries interrupted for a year or two, the fish would considerably increase both in number and size; for by over-fishing a sufficient number cannot escape to stock the rivers. It is the same with lands, which require a certain time to lie fallow, and to recover strength. After the intermission of fishing during the wars in 1641, salmon have been caught near Londonderry of six feet long, and were then sold upon an average at sixpence a piece. [p. 93] The salmon in coming from the sea, are necessarily obliged at Ballyshannon to leap up this cascade; and it is hardly credible, but to those who have been eye-witnesses, that these fish should be able to dart themselves near fourteen feet perpendicular out of the water; and allowing for the curvature, they leap at least twenty. I remained hours in observing them; they do not always succeed at the first leap; sometimes they bound almost to the summit, but the falling water dashes them down again; at other times they dart head-foremost, and side-long upon a rock, remain stunned for a few moments, and then struggle into the water again; when they are so lucky as to reach the top, they swim out of sight in a moment. They do not bound from the surface of the water, and it cannot be known from what depth they take their leap; it is probably performed by a forcible spring with their tails bent; for the chief strength of most fish lies in the tail. [p. 94] They have often been shot, or caught with strong barbed hooks fixed to a pole, during their flight, as it may be termed, and instances have been known of women catching them in their aprons. At high water the fall is hardly three feet, and then the fish swim up that easy acclivity without leaping. Sometimes I have seen at low water fifty or sixty of these leaps in an hour, and at other times only two or three. I placed myself on a rock on the brink of the cascade, so that I had the pleasure of seeing the surprising efforts of these beautiful fish close to me, and at the bottom of the fall porpoises and seals tumbling and playing among the waves; and sometimes a seal carries off a salmon under his fins. Whilst my attention was not engaged to the fish, I took a sketch of the cascade as represented in the annexed plate. Eels are so abundant below the fall, that at certain seasons, the small fry or grigs, [p. 95] which are about the size of a pin, are caught in sieves, baked all together, and thus eaten. [pp. 90-95] |
| The next day I arrived at Ballyshannon, and was so pleased with its beautiful situation, that I remained there four days. It is a small town, situated near the sea, with a bridge of fourteen arches, over a river which a little lower falls down a ridge of rocks, about twelve feet, and at low water forms one of the most picturesque cascades I ever saw. It is rendered still more singular and interesting by being the principal Salmon leap in Ireland. In order to explain this term, it is necessary to relate a few particulars concerning salmon. Almost all the rivers, lakes, and brooks, in this island, afford great plenty of these fish; some during the whole year, and some only during certain seasons; they generally go down to the [p. 91] sea about August and September, and come up again in the spring months. It is said that the females work beds in the sandy shallows of rivers, and there deposit their eggs, on which the male sheds its seed; afterwards they both join in covering the eggs with sand. These in time become vivified, and take their course to the sea, being then of about the size of a finger. After six weeks or two months stay, they return up the same rivers, the salt water having in that short time caused them to attain nearly to half their full growth. They are then caught in weirs, which are formed by damming up the river, except a space of three or four feet in the middle, which the salmon having passed, are caught in a small enclosure, formed by stakes of wood; the entrance is wide, and gradually lessens, so as barely to admit a single salmon at a time. Every morning during the fishery they are taken out, by means of a staff, with a strong barbed iron hook, which is struck into them. [p. 92] But at Ballyshannon, by far the greater number is caught in nets below the fall. The time of the fishery is limited; and after it is elapsed, the enclosure is removed, the nets are laid aside, and the fish are at liberty to stock the rivers with spawn. I was informed that this fishery at Ballyshannon rents for X [digit struck out] 6oo l. per annum, and yet the fish is sold at no more than a penny per pound, and six shillings per hundred weight. Were these fisheries interrupted for a year or two, the fish would considerably increase both in number and size; for by over-fishing a sufficient number cannot escape to stock the rivers. It is the same with lands, which require a certain time to lie fallow, and to recover strength. After the intermission of fishing during the wars in 1641, salmon have been caught near Londonderry of six feet long, and were then sold upon an average at sixpence a piece. [p. 93] The salmon in coming from the sea, are necessarily obliged at Ballyshannon to leap up this cascade; and it is hardly credible, but to those who have been eye-witnesses, that these fish should be able to dart themselves near fourteen feet perpendicular out of the water; and allowing for the curvature, they leap at least twenty. I remained hours in observing them; they do not always succeed at the first leap; sometimes they bound almost to the summit, but the falling water dashes them down again; at other times they dart head-foremost, and side-long upon a rock, remain stunned for a few moments, and then struggle into the water again; when they are so lucky as to reach the top, they swim out of sight in a moment. They do not bound from the surface of the water, and it cannot be known from what depth they take their leap; it is probably performed by a forcible spring with their tails bent; for the chief strength of most fish lies in the tail. [p. 94] They have often been shot, or caught with strong barbed hooks fixed to a pole, during their flight, as it may be termed, and instances have been known of women catching them in their aprons. At high water the fall is hardly three feet, and then the fish swim up that easy acclivity without leaping. Sometimes I have seen at low water fifty or sixty of these leaps in an hour, and at other times only two or three. I placed myself on a rock on the brink of the cascade, so that I had the pleasure of seeing the surprising efforts of these beautiful fish close to me, and at the bottom of the fall porpoises and seals tumbling and playing among the waves; and sometimes a seal carries off a salmon under his fins. Whilst my attention was not engaged to the fish, I took a sketch of the cascade as represented in the annexed plate. Eels are so abundant below the fall, that at certain seasons, the small fry or grigs, [p. 95] which are about the size of a pin, are caught in sieves, baked all together, and thus eaten. [pp. 90-95] |