|
THE RIVER LAGAN - DOWNSTREAM
As the Lagan flows across flat land towards Lisburn it curves in
large bends. These bends are called meanders and the word Lagan
means a flat plane, so it is this part of the river that gives the
Lagan its name.
The meanders explain how the river can be over 50 miles long when
the source is only 16 miles from Belfast in a straight line.
As we follow the river towards the mouth from the source we can
see several things happening to the river and activity on it’s
banks.
 |
Click to see how the river and the
countryside it flows through changes. |
The river becomes deeper, wider and more polluted. The pollution
comes from human activity on the banks.
At first the land the river flows through is used for farming,
but later as we travel further and further downstream this land
use changes with many more houses and factories on the banks.
The settlements along the river also increase in size. A settlement
is simply a place where people live. The smallest type of settlement
is a hamlet. The first settlement on the Lagan, Finnis, is a hamlet.
The next settlement is Dromara, which is a village. Later the Lagan
flows past Dromore, a town, and then on through Lisburn , a small
city and finally into Belfast, a larger city. You can see that as
the Lagan flows towards it’s mouth, the settlements get bigger
and bigger.
|
