0:00:04 > 0:00:06The Antrim Coast Road,
0:00:06 > 0:00:08one of the biggest civil engineering projects
0:00:08 > 0:00:10ever undertaken in Ireland.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13Innovative in both its design and construction,
0:00:13 > 0:00:17this is a road that defines not only the geography of North-East Ulster,
0:00:17 > 0:00:19but its people.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31This area was once known as Dalriada,
0:00:31 > 0:00:35an ancient kingdom that incorporated parts of East Antrim
0:00:35 > 0:00:37and the West of Scotland.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43The people of the Glens of Antrim and the people of the
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Mull of Kintyre, just over there were, basically, the same people.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48It's not as if the Irish moved to Scotland
0:00:48 > 0:00:50or the Scottish moved to Ireland.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53We were, and in many ways are, the same people.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03Then, in 1832, a remarkable Scotsman changed everything.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12He just fits the character of a Scot.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17At the time, a man of parts - a man o' pairts, as we say.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23William Bald, a cartographer and engineer,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26was commissioned to build a road in the Glens
0:01:26 > 0:01:29and help provide access to this place apart.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35Other engineers proposed complex bridges and structures to tackle
0:01:35 > 0:01:38access into the Glens, but William looked to the coast.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44It must have been a huge job, even to design the new road.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53And one man's vision would shape an entire community.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Early in the 19th century,
0:02:08 > 0:02:12the dangerous mountain pass leading into the Glens of Antrim
0:02:12 > 0:02:15were treacherous, particularly in the winter.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18The Board of Works conceived a great project to build a new road,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21which would give better access for the inhabitants,
0:02:21 > 0:02:25open up the Glens for trade and also provide employment.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31In the early 1800s,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35road-building was a complex and sometimes dangerous undertaking.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39And the unique geography of the East Antrim Coast, with its plunging
0:02:39 > 0:02:43cliffs, steep gradients and broad U-shaped valleys,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46posed a very specific problem.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48It would take a special talent to design a solution.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57William Bald was one of the leading engineers in Ireland at that time
0:02:57 > 0:03:02and the Office of Public Works asked him to come up with a plan.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04The challenge facing William was immense.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09How could he navigate such protruding headlands,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13that daily face to the surging waves of the Irish Sea?
0:03:13 > 0:03:16These were significant obstacles to overcome
0:03:16 > 0:03:18and the Antrim Coast Road project
0:03:18 > 0:03:22would require all of William's skill and ingenuity.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26The core strategy of William's pitch,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30to blast the cliffs into the sea with explosives,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33was a tough sell to a, sometimes cautious, Board of Works.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38But his presentation was successful
0:03:38 > 0:03:44and William was granted £25,000, to build a road 60km long,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47stretching from Larne to Ballycastle.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51In 1832, a ten-year project began
0:03:51 > 0:03:54that would reshape the landscape and the lives
0:03:54 > 0:03:56of the people of the Antrim Coast.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04Civil engineer David Orr is an admirer of William's work,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08having spent a large part of his career on the Antrim Coast Road.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13In the early part of my career I was the maintenance engineer for this
0:04:13 > 0:04:15part of County Antrim
0:04:15 > 0:04:18and that's really what sparked my interest in the Antrim Coast Road
0:04:18 > 0:04:21and the engineer who built it.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25William Bald was a Scot.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29He was born in 1787, in Burntisland, in Fife,
0:04:29 > 0:04:33apprenticed as a map-maker in Edinburgh,
0:04:33 > 0:04:39but he came across to Ireland in 1809 to do the survey,
0:04:39 > 0:04:44the Ordnance Survey of the County of Mayo, which he did.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47But he then became an engineer, as well,
0:04:47 > 0:04:53did some work in Drogheda Harbour, the suspension bridge at Kenmare,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56and then, he was commissioned for his greatest work,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58the Antrim Coast Road.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04In the early 1800s, the Irish commissioners recognised
0:05:04 > 0:05:07that the Glens of Antrim were very isolated.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12They wrote that they were cut-off from any reasonable
0:05:12 > 0:05:16communication by the badness of roads over mountains
0:05:16 > 0:05:17and steep slopes.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21So, the people of the Glens actually found it easier
0:05:21 > 0:05:26to trade by boat with Scotland, than to move inland.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31So, that was the purpose of the road, it was to open up to Glens,
0:05:31 > 0:05:33to give access to the Glens
0:05:33 > 0:05:37and to improve the life of the people of the Glens.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43I, kind of, think William Bald was an unsung hero.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50We've tried to find a portrait of him, without success,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52so there's no portrait of him.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56And really his only memorial is the Antrim Coast Road and the legacy
0:05:56 > 0:05:59that he left to the people of the Glens.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure this morning
0:06:03 > 0:06:08to unveil this plaque in recognition of the men of the Glens,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11under the direction of William Bald,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14and we hope that the many visitors who are coming back
0:06:14 > 0:06:19to Northern Ireland will stop and remember
0:06:19 > 0:06:22the blood, sweat and tears that were shed
0:06:22 > 0:06:24for our convenience in the past.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27It's a pleasure to unveil this plaque.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34APPLAUSE
0:06:37 > 0:06:40It all had to be blasted by gunpowder.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43It must have been a terrific job for ten years.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46One is appalled at the amount of injuries
0:06:46 > 0:06:48and even death that must have occurred
0:06:48 > 0:06:51during the construction of this stretch of road.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55But how do William's achievements stand up,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57when viewed from a modern-day perspective?
0:07:01 > 0:07:05Maintenance engineer Clive Robinson oversees the upkeep
0:07:05 > 0:07:07of the Antrim Coast Road.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11I see my role as just custodian of it.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13I'm one of many engineers that will
0:07:13 > 0:07:15come and go in this job of mine.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17We're custodians of the Coast Road
0:07:17 > 0:07:21and we're trying to keep it safe, reliable and enjoyable,
0:07:21 > 0:07:26more importantly, for everybody who comes from far and near to use it.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29It brings with it a lot of engineering issues,
0:07:29 > 0:07:33a lot of interesting engineering challenges.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36The road's 170 years old now.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38'That's way beyond any of the design life
0:07:38 > 0:07:40'that we would build today.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42'Normally, if we're building a new structure,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45'we'd be looking at, 100 years would be a good return.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48'This is 170 and it's stood the test of time.'
0:07:48 > 0:07:52We'll just check now on the netting at that basalt layers, to see...
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Just above the pillars themselves.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00The biggest challenge of this job of mine is trying to maintain the
0:08:00 > 0:08:03rock faces, because if we have a lot of freeze thaw in the winter time,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05we've more erosion.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08If we've had a lot of rainfall, as we have been having all...
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Summers, winters, autumns, everything's getting wetter,
0:08:11 > 0:08:13it seems, and that gives us big problems
0:08:13 > 0:08:15from an engineering perspective.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18'Where you have stable slopes,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20'which become very unstable and start to slide
0:08:20 > 0:08:24'and then you get landmass movements.'
0:08:24 > 0:08:27This bit here is fairly sound.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30You'll notice that we didn't fit a lot of anchor points in.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32You'll see a few there.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35There's no great bracing required. Everything there we're happy with.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40You know, there's been no major risks posed.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42What we would have had here a lot of is...
0:08:42 > 0:08:44You see the small chippings coming off the limestone wall?
0:08:44 > 0:08:47So, that would be quite typical.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51You'd have quite a lot of smaller fragments chipping away.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53There's no real threat, other than the fact it's coming down
0:08:53 > 0:08:56from the height it's coming down from.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00You've got vital damage more than any great risk
0:09:00 > 0:09:02to the driver, as such.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05But, again, the netting being a fine mesh, that takes care of that,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07that holds everything in.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09It's quite mind-boggling how these men,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11or the men at the time of the Glens,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13and the engineers, William Bald and his colleagues,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17how they even dreamt up this idea of putting the road here
0:09:17 > 0:09:19in the first place.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22From an engineering perspective, some of the features you see,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25very, very innovative.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Whenever you think... This is the mid-1800s.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30We're all very familiar with arches and bridges,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32and the strength that an arch gives you.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34Anyone in building or engineering will appreciate that.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Well, their solution was to put an inverted arch in,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40so the arch goes underneath the road.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43And again it was to give it strength from the side, so it would protect
0:09:43 > 0:09:45against the weight that was coming on it.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48You know, that's fairly innovative.
0:09:48 > 0:09:49If you think back to the mid-1800s,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52someone dreamt this idea up of inverting the arch.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57The limestone blasted by William remained an important
0:09:57 > 0:10:02natural resource in East Antrim into the mid-20th century.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04The white limestone cliffs at this coast
0:10:04 > 0:10:07had been quarried extensively
0:10:07 > 0:10:10and much of this product was exported on small, schooner boats
0:10:10 > 0:10:12to Scotland.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Although most of the local quarries are now closed,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17they gave employment to many,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20as Carnlough man John McNeill remembers.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25It closed on 26th October 1962.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28We walked down the railway
0:10:28 > 0:10:33to the office, to get our last pay
0:10:33 > 0:10:36and some of them were very downhearted.
0:10:36 > 0:10:37Out of the goodness of their hearts,
0:10:37 > 0:10:39they were going to give us £2 a year
0:10:39 > 0:10:41for every year we worked in it.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Then, they changed their mind the last minute and said
0:10:44 > 0:10:46the first five years didn't count.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50So, my friend Robert was in it for 37 years
0:10:50 > 0:10:53and all he got was £64
0:10:53 > 0:10:55for 37 years of work.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01I started for 35 shillings a week, which would be £1.75 now.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06There was an old man who worked down in the mill,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09he started in 1902.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Somebody asked him, "How much did you get whenever you started?"
0:11:12 > 0:11:15"Eight pence a day."
0:11:15 > 0:11:17Eight pence a day.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20That was in 1914, whenever he started.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26And here we are with a bit of the limestone.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Very, very important product around the Antrim and the Glens.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35It was mostly used and sent to a steel firm in Glasgow.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38It is used in the making of steel.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40And it was used, I think, in paint -
0:11:40 > 0:11:43the manufacturing of paint and putty.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Turned into dust down there in the mill.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Bagged into dust, it was sent away and they used it for that purpose.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57There's not much employment here, that's the only thing.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Young people have to travel. There are hardly any employers.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02One employer who employs a lot of men and that's it.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04The rest are all away somewhere else.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09That's not good. That's not good.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12That's just as simple as that.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Young people educated and they get away.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18It's not so bad now, they're taking more education,
0:12:18 > 0:12:19but we didn't in our days.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21They're getting a wee chance to do something else, somewhere else.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25But that was... That's no just nice.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29There's not very much for the young people, that's being quite honest.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31There is not.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36There was plenty of work in the years from 1832 to '42
0:12:36 > 0:12:40when the men of the Glens, under William Bald's supervision,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44blasted, quarried, reinforced and built the Coast Road.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49William's great-great-great-granddaughter
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Andrea Bald, an engineer herself,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56has travelled over 11,000 miles from New Zealand to discover more about
0:12:56 > 0:12:59this fascinating project.
0:12:59 > 0:13:00Just outside Glenarm,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03engineering expert David Orr brings
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Andrea closer to the detail of her ancestor's achievement.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Was part of the brief to do it along the coast,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13or was it just join up these communities however you can?
0:13:13 > 0:13:16I think that most people thought that the new road
0:13:16 > 0:13:19- would be built inland.- Yep.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22But William was wise enough to realise that,
0:13:22 > 0:13:25with the Glens running down to the sea,
0:13:25 > 0:13:30that would mean very steep gradients as the road crossed the Glens.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34So his big idea was to build it right along
0:13:34 > 0:13:37the foreshore and to blast the cliffs.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41They then fell down on to the shore and he constructed the road
0:13:41 > 0:13:44on that foundation.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48And he wrote in his report to the commissioners,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52he said that, "30,000 cubic yards of rock
0:13:52 > 0:13:55"had been hurled down onto the shore,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59"mostly by blasting, which has been executed by skill and judgment."
0:13:59 > 0:14:05- Yep.- So it was a great idea because he didn't need to take stuff out,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09- and he didn't need to bring materials in.- Mm-hm.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12- Using the resources of the... - Using the natural resources.
0:14:12 > 0:14:13- Resources of the area.- Yeah.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17And he had a lot riding on it, because there were sceptics.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20- Yes, I guess.- This was his idea to blast the cliff down.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23And if it didn't work, it was all on his head, as it were.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25Absolutely.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30Bald's method was very sustainable
0:14:30 > 0:14:34because he brought nothing in.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37The road was formed from the material that was blasted down
0:14:37 > 0:14:40from the cliffs, and he took nothing out,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44so he used the materials that he found along the coast.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47And that was the way they had to work in those days because there was
0:14:47 > 0:14:49no powered machinery.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53They were relying on horses, carts and manpower.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01As a civil engineer, and going along the road for many years looking
0:15:01 > 0:15:03after it, are there bits where you thought,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06"Oh, I wouldn't have done that?" Or are there bits were you thought,
0:15:06 > 0:15:07"How on earth did he come up with that?"
0:15:07 > 0:15:10- I think just it is the scale of it.- Yeah.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14When you remember they had no mechanical plants,
0:15:14 > 0:15:18they really just had the explosives,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21horses and carts, and then manpower.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25- Do you know how many men? - We don't know how many men.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29We don't even know whether he employed contractors to do the work.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33- Right.- He was definitely the brains of the operation.- Yeah.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37And whether he employed the men directly or whether he employed
0:15:37 > 0:15:39contractors, we're not quite sure.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43The original estimate for the road was £25,000,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47- which doesn't seem very much. - No, but in those days...
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Actually, it ended up costing £37,000,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55so the commissioners of Public Works in Ireland weren't too pleased.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57But when you think back to the legacy
0:15:57 > 0:15:59and the asset that's been left behind,
0:15:59 > 0:16:01it was really, really good value.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04If you translated that to today's money,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06would you be able to get the same road for it?
0:16:06 > 0:16:10William's road would have been in the £500-million range.
0:16:10 > 0:16:11Which means it wouldn't have happened.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13It probably wouldn't have.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Well, it wouldn't have happened today, because this is an
0:16:15 > 0:16:17Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19That's right, so it would have actually been more difficult.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22You wouldn't have been allowed to have put a road here.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25And yet the irony is that the tourists
0:16:25 > 0:16:27and the people driving up and down the road are able
0:16:27 > 0:16:31to experience the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
0:16:31 > 0:16:32because of your
0:16:32 > 0:16:35great-great-great-grandfather's work.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41William Bald's approach to road building really isn't used today.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45For the simple reason that it wouldn't be acceptable,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49environmentally, to blast the cliffs in that way.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53As we know, it's turned out all right, it's a tourist attraction,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55it's an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59But if you try to do something like that today,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02I don't think it would be allowed.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15We're looking at a fulmar here, up on the rock face here.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18It appears to be on a nest ledge there.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23It should be sitting on one single white egg
0:17:23 > 0:17:24at this time of year.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Wildlife enthusiast Colin Urwin appreciates the unique habitat
0:17:33 > 0:17:38that has resulted from the construction of the road.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40The fulmar is one of those odd species
0:17:40 > 0:17:42that's in the ascendancy, as it were.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Over the last few decades, it has colonised a lot of coastal areas
0:17:46 > 0:17:47around the north coast of Ireland,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49and the west coast of Scotland,
0:17:49 > 0:17:50where previously it was
0:17:50 > 0:17:52confined to one small island
0:17:52 > 0:17:54off the north-west coast of Scotland.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57And so, at the time, of the coast road being built,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59fulmars wouldn't have been here, at all.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08It would have had a huge impact on the local wildlife at the time.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13No doubt it disturbed, probably for years, the whole cycle of life
0:18:13 > 0:18:15around this coastal whole area here.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19But, as you can see, nature's very resilient.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22It only takes a very short time for it to bounce back.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26And if you look at the area now, it's teeming with wildlife, really.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35If you were going to think about constructing a road like this
0:18:35 > 0:18:39nowadays, I think there would be a lot of argument
0:18:39 > 0:18:43around should the environment be disturbed
0:18:43 > 0:18:48by blasting the cliffs back 40, 50 metres away from the sea?
0:18:48 > 0:18:51There would be a lot of disturbance to nesting birds, to wild flowers,
0:18:51 > 0:18:53to insects, all kinds of things.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57It would be a very finely balanced argument whether it will be allowed
0:18:57 > 0:19:01to go ahead or not. If it did go ahead, it wouldn't be without
0:19:01 > 0:19:04a lot of environmental impact studies,
0:19:04 > 0:19:09a very, very long process of bird surveys, wild flower surveys,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13bat surveys, environmental impact studies.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15It would be a very long process,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17and there would be a lot of argument.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24Environmental considerations are an important part
0:19:24 > 0:19:27of any construction project.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30It is a testament to William Bald's genius that his road
0:19:30 > 0:19:34has withstood almost two centuries of onslaught from the Irish Sea.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Certainly nowadays, engineers and designers
0:19:39 > 0:19:43would have to consider closely sea-level rises.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46And it may be that you could still construct it,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49but it would be the cost of the construction to future proof it,
0:19:49 > 0:19:54because we all know that all the predictions are wildly variable
0:19:54 > 0:19:55as to what level of sea-level rise
0:19:55 > 0:19:58we'll see here in Ireland, in particular.
0:19:58 > 0:20:03But to factor that into your design would make it so expensive.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05I would say that coastal roads
0:20:05 > 0:20:08would become very much a thing of the past.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41The hardest part of my job on the coast road is dealing with nature,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44it's dealing with the changes that are coming to the coast.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49We are now seeing the sea level rise, even along the east coast.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53And that places a challenge on us, because we're finding now that,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56during the winter time, during winter storms,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58we have waves breaching in places
0:20:58 > 0:21:00they would never have breached before.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02We've increased damage to our sea defences,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05just because of the sheer power of the water itself.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09An important feature of the road
0:21:09 > 0:21:13is the use of what are known as revetments.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16These are solid, sloping structures, which absorb the power of the sea,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19and guard against coastal erosion.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Yeah, 22 metres of revetment, with reinforcing.
0:21:26 > 0:21:31And if you could also put in ten metres of additional height
0:21:31 > 0:21:34on to the tow, on to the existing new tow.
0:21:36 > 0:21:41The crucial parts of the sea defence is the revetment.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44If you lose the revetment, the next thing to go
0:21:44 > 0:21:47is the parapet wall, and then the road itself.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50In essence, its role is two-fold.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52One is to take the energy of the waves,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55whenever the waves are crashing in on the road.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58And secondly, it's to provide side support for the road itself.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01So, it's your retaining structure.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09This is one of the very few remaining original revetments.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14You can see the stone blocks that would have been built at the time
0:22:14 > 0:22:16and tied in together.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19It's amazing, whenever you think about it,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22170 years old, and it still can take the worst of the storms
0:22:22 > 0:22:24at Garron Point.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26But again, very, very labour-intensive.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29You can imagine how long that would have taken to set the individual
0:22:29 > 0:22:33limestone blocks in and then pointed it in with lime mortar.
0:22:34 > 0:22:35Amazing.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38You know, 38km of road to do.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44A lasting legacy of the road being built here is,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46we're standing on a sea defence.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48This road is a sea defence.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Can you imagine if this road hadn't have been built here,
0:22:51 > 0:22:56how many acres of land we'd have lost to coastal erosion?
0:22:56 > 0:23:01So, the road and the revetment has served to protect the land
0:23:01 > 0:23:02on the landward side.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05So, something that people don't fully appreciate -
0:23:05 > 0:23:07this road has protected this coastline.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10It may be a hard engineering solution,
0:23:10 > 0:23:12but it has protected the coastline,
0:23:12 > 0:23:14and that's a massive legacy.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18Andrea Bald has marvelled at the engineering prowess
0:23:18 > 0:23:20of her great-great-great-grandfather,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23but remains frustrated in her discovery to find out more
0:23:23 > 0:23:25about the man himself.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28Who was William Bald?
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Andrea travels to the Scottish island of Islay,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35to meet William's biographer, Margaret Storey,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37with the faint hope of establishing a personal connection
0:23:37 > 0:23:40with her elusive relative.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45- So, that's Rathlin...- Yeah. - ..with the hills behind,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48and the Antrim Coast Road.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53And sometimes, you can see lighthouses all the way down,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56- the whole way round...- Oh, wow. - ..on the Antrim Coast Road there.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01I mean, it really is very close.
0:24:06 > 0:24:12At home, I have a nasty, half-sized photocopy of this.
0:24:12 > 0:24:13MARGARET LAUGHS
0:24:13 > 0:24:15At home in New Zealand.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20It's extremely special to me. It started us on the track of...
0:24:20 > 0:24:22- Of your ancestor.- Ancestor, yeah.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Because this is what my dad found on the internet,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29when he first started following that little path of,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32"Do I have an ancestor that did the Antrim Coast Road?"
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Dad's done much of the research from New Zealand on it,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40and I have got quite obsessed with it in recent months,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44in preparation for this trip, and I just find it fascinating,
0:24:44 > 0:24:46but SO frustrating.
0:24:46 > 0:24:52You know, when you look up Bald on the internet,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55William Bald, on the internet, and you find hundreds of thousands
0:24:55 > 0:24:59of entries to Prince William's bald patch, which isn't terribly helpful.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Yeah, I've noticed this!
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Yeah, everything seems to be...
0:25:03 > 0:25:07There's enough to make a fascinating and enough to try and follow a path,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10but come to these dead ends.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15It's so frustrating, because it must be there, but maybe it...
0:25:17 > 0:25:21- No, it's partly, of course, because it's Ireland, as well.- Yeah.
0:25:21 > 0:25:22Because the records, you know,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25lots of the census records and everything, went in Ireland.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28- Well, I'm really interested in the family side of it.- Mmm.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30What his characteristics were,
0:25:30 > 0:25:34because you want to see whether there's any continuation of that.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38What bits can I see in myself, or in my father or in my son,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41of what we know about William?
0:25:41 > 0:25:47I think he was slightly stroppy, slightly impetuous.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48Erm...
0:25:48 > 0:25:54- He just fits the character of a Scot...- Yeah.- ..at the time.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58A man of parts - "a man o' pairts," as we say -
0:25:58 > 0:26:01- who could turn his hand to many things.- Yeah.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06He was one of the very important people in Ireland
0:26:06 > 0:26:10who contributed 30 years of work to the infrastructure.
0:26:10 > 0:26:16He designed and built roads, piers, harbours, drainage...
0:26:16 > 0:26:18- Latterly, railways and so on. - Mmm-hmm.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20And the whole time he was doing this,
0:26:20 > 0:26:25he was actually interested in the intellectual side of it, as well.
0:26:25 > 0:26:31He gave papers to the then-leading scientific organisations
0:26:31 > 0:26:33in Europe at the time.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40It's exceeded my expectations.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44The sense of connectedness, being on the Antrim Coast Road,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48the environment, the beauty of the Coast Road,
0:26:48 > 0:26:50and how the Glens look,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52and being able to pick up rocks off the shore,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54to take home to Dad, to say,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57"Here's a little piece of William Bald's road.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59"Here's a little bit of rock that William Bald might have just
0:26:59 > 0:27:01"blasted down off the cliffs"!
0:27:01 > 0:27:04And that'll, you know, take pride of place on the bookshelf.
0:27:07 > 0:27:13William Bald's iconic road hugs the coastline along East Antrim,
0:27:13 > 0:27:15connecting the Glens and protecting the coastline
0:27:15 > 0:27:17from the power of the ocean.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21But how big an impact has it had on everyday life?
0:27:21 > 0:27:24We've got a wee bit of a tailback, probably about two miles,
0:27:24 > 0:27:25in the North Coast direction,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28and a mile heading back down the coast there.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30So, I think we are going to be
0:27:30 > 0:27:34looking at at least 25,000 people plus through Glenarm today.