Nathan Carroll IL is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist based in Illinois who maintains board certification in nonsurgical pain management and is active with the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiologists. His clinical work includes preoperative assessments, individualized anesthetic planning, standard and rapid inductions, airway management with intubation and laryngeal mask airways, and regional nerve blocks. He also performs PICC and central line placements, arterial line insertions, diagnostic lumbar punctures, and image-guided pain interventions for conditions such as migraines, radiculopathy, and cancer-related pain. A traveler who enjoys hiking, skiing, horseback riding, and off-road adventures, Nathan Carroll’s favorite destinations include Scotland, Switzerland, Italy, the Great Smoky Mountains, and Ireland. That affinity for travel frames this look at the Cliffs of Moher, one of Ireland’s most dramatic coastal landmarks.
The Dramatic Cliffs of Moher on the Atlantic Coast of Ireland
Located on Ireland’s sparsely populated Atlantic side, the Cliffs of Moher sit on the coast, near the city of Galway. Dramatically sea-carved, the cliffs take their name from the old Gaelic word “mothar,” which means ruined fort.
The Iron Age fort, known as Hags Head, erected on a promontory in the first century BC, faded into legend by the time Sir Cornelius O’Brien erected O’Brien’s Tower, an observation tower still standing, in 1835, using raw materials from that fort.
Geologically, the cliffs date back 300 million years to the Upper Carboniferous period, as a landlocked area in the center of what became the North American and European plates. During this time, the cliffs formed at the mouth of a massive river delta, similar to today’s Mississippi, where heavy rains brought an accumulation of sand, mud, and silt. This sediment compacted over time, stacking as solid rock in layers of shale and sandstone. In the process, it left behind a geologic record that provides scientists with a glimpse into the past.
Inland from the Cliffs of Moher lies the Burren, a region characterized by barren, exposed limestone. This group of rocks is slightly younger and formed over a period of 20 million years, through the accumulation of fossil crinoids, corals, and brachiopods in a warm, equatorial setting. By contrast, the shale and sandstone of the cliffs formed more rapidly, and remnant fossils are relatively rare. One exception is the Moher flagstones, which feature traces of animals that crawled in the mud a millennium ago.
The Cliffs of Moher have a number of legends associated with them, including one associated with waning Celtic beliefs. Soon after the arrival of Saint Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland, the pantheon of old gods, the Tuatha De Danann, took their leave. The deities turned themselves into horses and hid out incognito in the caves of Kilcornan for generations. Ultimately, seven foals emerged into daylight and, disoriented by the sun’s rays, ran blindly over the cliffs into the sea, known as Aill Na Searrach, the Cliff of the Foals.
Another legend centers on the mermaid of Moher, whom a fisherman happened upon while casting his line off the cliffs to sea. Conversing with the mermaid, the fisherman found her magical cloak, which she required to return to sea, lying on a rock. He took the cloak home, and the mermaid pursued him there. The two married and had two children, but the mermaid still yearned to return to the ocean. Finally, when her husband went fishing, she found the hidden cloak and returned to the watery element. From that day forth, her husband and kids never set eyes on the mermaid again.
The cliffs are also rich in historical incidents. For one, Spanish Armada ships fleeing the English in 1588 dashed upon the rugged coastline, with few sailors escaping with their lives. The British Army initially built a signalling tower at Hags Head in 1808 as a lookout post during the Napoleonic War. Cornelius O’Brien, a local parliamentarian, was behind O’Brien’s Tower. The following year, 1836, civil works crews built a bridge spanning the Inagh River. It brought the first wave of Victorian tourists and also opened up the area to farmers who collected seaweed and sand along the coast.
About Nathan Carroll IL
Nathan Carroll is a CRNA and Illinois nurse anesthetist who practices the full scope of anesthesia and pain management. His experience includes rapid and standard inductions, airway management, labor epidurals, PICC and central line placements, arterial lines, and postoperative evaluations. He performs image-guided nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablations, sympathetic blocks, and joint injections to treat conditions such as migraines, fibromyalgia, radiculopathy, and cancer-related pain. Active with the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiologists, he is also a member of Sigma Theta Tau International and academic honor societies. He enjoys traveling in Ireland and across Europe.