This chapter describes, how, in contrast to the slow growth of yachting in the United Kingdom during this period, there was a more rapid diffusion of the sport in Ireland and the colonies.

The Development of Yachting in Ireland

The number of yacht clubs in Ireland formed in the first part of the nineteenth century is remarkable, as it is almost as great as the number in England.

Ireland, till its independence in 1922, was, of course, part of the United Kingdom. Yet, if we equate colonising with occupation, Ireland, with its desire for independence and its frequent, albeit unsuccessful, revolts, was effectively a colony. Rebellion in Ireland was feared throughout the nineteenth century and Ireland had to be heavily occupied by garrisons and patrolled by the Navy. Ireland could not be given independence, partly because of the fear that it might welcome a foreign power, and because it proved impossible, towards the end of the nineteenth century, to get ‘Home Rule’ through the two houses of Parliament.

The need for the Crown to defend Ireland led to the building of the road from London to Holyhead (the A5), a remarkable feat of pioneering engineering across the Welsh mountains, by Thomas Telford. The road was completed by the building of the Menai Suspension Bridge in 1826. The breakwater at Holyhead, begun in 1845 and completed in 1871, is 1.7 miles long, thereby providing excellent shelter. The early dates of the founding of the Royal Dee at Chester, 1815, guarding the entrance to North Wales and a route to Holyhead, and the Royal Welsh at Caernarfon, 1847, may be, at least in part, due to the need for local suppliers and contractors.