Early in , Walter de Huntercombe, by Edward's order, surrendered the island to John Balliol, reserving, however, not only his Edward's rights as lord paramount, but those " of any other whomsoever. She again, at this time, brought forward her claim before Edward, who told her that she should apply to the King of Scotland, " in that the said land was at that time held of the said King. As to the other claimant, Aufrica, who asserted that she was heiress of Magnus, King of Man, Edward appears to have given her the same advice, since, in her appeal to him, she complained that Balliol had refused to listen to her In consequence of this, a writ commanding the appearance of Balliol "to answer upon an appeal to the King of England" 22 was issued.
It is not known whether Balliol obeyed the summons, but these claims were not again heard of till twelve years later, in , when John de Waldeboef, grandson of Maria, probably taking advantage of the temporary disgrace of Antony de Beck, Bishop of Durham, who was then owner of Man, petitioned Edward to hear his claim.
Edward, consequently, referred the petition to the justices of the King's Bench. In the following year, Aufrica granted all her right in the Isle of Man to " the noble and potent man Simon de Montecuto. In , Balliol entered into an alliance with Norway and France, and revolted against his over-lord. Upon this, Edward, after the capture of Berwick, marched into Scotland, when Balliol at once surrendered himself.
Scotland was then treated as a forfeited fief, and, doubtless, Man was taken over in the same way. Indeed there is indirect confirmation that this was the case from a summons addressed by Edward to Mark, Bishop of Sodor, to do homage, 26 and from a letter of protection given by him to one who is " about to set out for the parts of the Isle of Man on the service of the Venerable Father A [ntony de Beck], Bishop of Durham. During this year we find Edward asking the men of Bristol to " despatch in all haste to the Isle of Man. Sir Simon de Montagu, whom we have made admiral of our navy, to go from thence with our English navy against our enemies in Scotland.
In , King Edward granted the island to Pete' de Gaveston 35 and issued a writ in which he en joined his sheriffs, bailiffs and faithful subjects it the counties of Chester, Lancaster, Cumberland and Westmoreland to afford assistance to the seneschal 36 of Man against Robert Bruce, who as the King had heard, intended to despatch al his navy to the Isle of Man "for the purpose of destroying it and of establishing a retreat there.
But English rule in Man was now to be interrupted for a time by the Scots, who took possession of the island. The Chronicle gives the following account of this occurrence: On the 20th of December, in the same year, Bruce granted the island to Thomas Randolf, 42 Earl of Moray, " to have and to hold to the said Thomas and his heirs, of us and of our heirs, in fee and heirship, and for a free royalty, without any restraint, freely, peaceably, fully and honorably, with the advowsons of churches and monasteries.
As well as over all men of the Bishopric there. So that no minister of ours may from henceforth enter upon the premises within the aforesaid islands. Save and except to us and our heirs, the patronage of the episcopal See there, and its government in all other respects. Finding for us and our heirs. In took place the Battle of Bannockburn, which resulted in the consolidation of Bruce's power.
The new ruler of Man, however, had to fight the English there in that year; 45 and, on Ascension Day, in , Richard de Mandeville " with his brothers and others of note," and a body of Irish freebooters, disembarked at Ronaldsway and demanded either a grant of land or a supply of provisions, cattle, and money. The Manx replied " that they would give nothing, but were prepared to resist them in the open field; the Irish messengers returned, and reported the answer they had received; upon this the Irish, roused to anger, immediately set up their war-song, prepared for the contest, and advanced in two bodies against the Manxmen till they came along the side of Wardfel, 46 to an open spot, where was the residence of one John Mandeville.
Here the hostile parties met and fought. At the first onset the Manxmen turned and fled, leaving nearly forty men dead on the field. The Irish pursued, some on foot, and others on horseback, killing end wounding great numbers, plundering the country of its valuables, and discovering at leisure much money that had been long concealed in various places.
They came afterwards to the Abbey of Rushen, which they plundered, seizing both the furniture and the herds and flocks, leaving absolutely nothing. When they had spent a month in this fashion they loaded their ships with the choice plunder of the country and returned home. It is quite impossible, then, to say whether it was the English or the Scots who were in possession of Man between and , 48 but, in the latter year, it was evidently the English who were its masters, seeing that, on the 6th of July, Edward II. In , there was a truce between England and Scotland, and, judging by the fact that when, in , the independence of Scotland was formally acknowledged the King of England gave an undertaking not tc assist any enemies of the Scots to dispossess their of Man, 51 it is probable that Man had before that date reverted to Scotland.
On the 30th of May, in that year, after the battle of Halidon Hill, which re-established English supremacy, Edward gave orders that possession should be taken of Man. Edward's orders were evidently carried out, since, on the 8th of June following, he granted the custody 55 of the island to Sir William de Montacute, 56 and, further, on the 9th of August, he gave it to him as his absolute possession-in the words of the grant - he " remitted, surrendered, and. But Sir William, who was created the first Earl of Salisbury in , seems to have been unable or unwilling to protect the island 58 against the Scots, who, profiting by England having become involved in war with France in , again threatened it.
Consequently, in , " the men of the community of the Isle of Man " 59 paid a fine of three hundred marks in order " to enjoy a certain sufferance of peace with them for the period of one year; " 59 and, In the same year, Edward permitted "honest men " 60 of the Isle of Man to treat with the Scots provided that they did not afford them assistance with " arms or provisions. This state of affairs must necessarily have been put an end to by the battle of Neville's Cross, in , when King David of Scotland was defeated and captured, and from henceforth, though the Scots had by no means given up the idea of recovering Man, they never again made any formidable attempt to enforce their claim to its possession.
Nothing is now heard of Man till , in which year, if Capgrave's information be correct, "the Frenschmen took the Ilde of Man, al save the Castel whech Ser Hew Tyrel manfully defended: All adverse or opposing claims having then expired, the island came into the absolute con of the English Crown, and was granted by Henry to Henry de Percy, Earl of Northumberland, subject to the service of carrying, " on the coronation days of us and our heirs," the sword, " called the Lancaster Sword.
The earl himself, who was not present at the battle, being detained by illness at Berwick, submitted to the king and was pardoned. But it seems that, although he was not then attainted, his property, or, at any rate, the Isle of Man, was seized to the king's use, and was not restored to him on his submission, because, in , the King ordered John Stanley and William Stanley, when they had taken "the Castle and Island," to hold the same in his name.
Later on in the same year, he granted the island to John Stanley, " Chivaler," for life, 68 and, in the following year, he cancelled this grant and gave the island with its castles and royalties, " not exceeding four hundred pounds per annum," 69 with the patronage of the bishopric, to Sir John Stanley, 70 his heirs and assigns, on the service of rendering two falcons on paying homage and two falcons to all future kings of England on the day of their coronation.
In there ends a dismal period of Manx history, during which the unfortunate island changed its rulers so often that they could have taken but little interest in it. Indeed, it is probable that they confined themselves to taking all they could out of it, while doing as little as possible for it. Under such circumstances it would seem that the condition of the people must have been a miserable one; as regards four definite periods, there is positive proof that it was so. Thus, in , the island was described as being " desolate and full of wretchedness; " 72 in , the country was " plundered of all its valuables," 73 and, in and , the people were compelled to buy corn in Ireland for their relief and support.
But, though most of the people were probably in a position of dependence, it would seem, judging by the fact that Edward III. The governing classes to whom this independence of action was permitted probably consisted mainly of the ecclesiastical barons, representing the abbeys of Furness, Rushen, Bangor and Sabhal, and others. It is, as has already been stated, the increase in the power of these barons, who seem to have taken the place of the secular freeholders, together with the growing ascendancy of the popes, which is the most striking fact characteristic of this period.
The freeholders having disappeared, the land became the demesne of the king, who, whilst granting a portion of it to the barons, retained the rest in his own possession, to be occupied by tenants-at-will 76 paying rent. The degradation of the social position of the Manx would be accompanied by a like change in their constitutional position, this being probably the period " since King Orryes Dayes " , during which the Keys ceased to be " in certainty " and could not even exist " without the Lord's will. We will now turn to the affairs of the Church, which steadily grew in power and authority during this period.
The first steps she took in this direction were to increase her income and to make her discipline more severe, and these objects were attained by the enactment of thirty-four canons at a diocesan synod held at Kirk Braddan, under the presidency of Bishop Mark in By these canons the various tithes were enumerated with much greater precision than they had been in the canons of Bishop Symon, and several new ones were added. Thus, a fish tithe is found for the first time, also a tithe upon merchants and traders, smiths and other artificers.
The offences to be followed by the penalty of excommunication were set forth, and the duties of the archdeacon in his visitation, together with rules of a very strict character concerning the conduct of priests, and the nature of their vestments, were laid down. Laymen and clergy were prohibited from bearing arms in church and from holding courts for the pleading of lay cases on the Lord's day in churches or churchyards, 78 an enactment which affords an insight into the state of society at the time.
In , visitation dues are first mentioned, each church in Man being compelled to pay twenty shillings on such occasions. The herring tithe was in full operation, and strangers were obliged to pay it as well as natives. In , Bishop Russell's synod passed several canons, which, though chiefly relating to the duties of the clergy, contained stringent penalties for being absent from church and regulations for the repairs of churches by the parishioners and of chancels by the rectors. Another increasing influence was that of the popes, as is seen from several cases of papal interference with the affairs of the diocese during this period.
Thus, in , Pope Urban V. A certain William of Cockerham had attained this position, either by election, or, if the papal bull is to be believed, by force. The Pope, therefore, declared, in accordance with a decree of Innocent VI.
Moliwe Malew by " John Ford of the territory of Isla," 87 whom he states to be " the true patron of the said parochial church, in peaceful possession [of the right 88 ] or of the quasi right of presenting the rector to the said church. We must also bear in mind, in estimating the power of the Pope and monks in Man at this period, that it was free from the legal restrictions which had been imposed upon it in England. There were no "Constitutions of Clarendon" which kept the privileges of the clergy within bounds; no " Statute of Mortmain," by which so much property was prevented from passing into the hands of the Church; no " Statute of Provisors," which ordained that " Kings and all other Lords are to present unto benefices of their own or their ancestors' foundations, and not the Pope of Rome; " and no " Statute of Praemunire," which declared that all who sued for redress in the papal courts should not have the protection of the law of England and should forfeit their goods to the State.
It was possibly, too, owing to the power of monks that, till , no attempt seems to have been made to introduce their rivals, the Franciscan friars, for it is certainly a singular fact that the foundation of an oratory of these friars in that year is the only trace of the extension to Man of that great movement which was so powerfully felt all over Europe. The Earl of Salisbury had assigned a site for this foundation in the village of St.
Columba Arbory , and he had granted to the provincial prior and brethren of the order in the Province of Ireland permission to erect buildings there. They did so at a. These buildings consisted of " a church or oratory, with a bell-tower, cemetery, houses, and other necessary offices; " 89 but they were only to be built " provided that twelve brethren of the said Order can be fittingly and properly maintained at the place; without infringing, however, on the rights of the parochial church, or of any other in any respect.
The only bishops of any note at this period were Mark, William Russell, and John Donkan, the last two of whom were designated as " Manxmen. Mark, a Galloway man, was appointed, in , by King Alexander, who ignored the ordinary procedure and set aside the Abbot of Rushen, whom the clergy and people of Man 91 had unanimously elected. He then sent him, with letters from himself and with such as he had been able to extort from the clergy, to the Archbishop of Drontheim for consecration. The first of these was a mission to Norway, probably in This last action seems to have been; called in question, since he protested that these appropriations were " by consent of our clergy.
It was perhaps in consequence of these appropriations, and of the increased ecclesiastical exactions, that Mark was, about this time, expelled from the island by the Manx, who suffered for their temerity by being placed under interdict for three years. At the end of this time, he was recalled, 98 and, in consideration of the interdict being removed, the Manx submitted to a tax of one penny on every house with a fireplace. The Chronicle tells us that Mark " was a liberal and courteous man," and that " he died at a good old age when he had become blind; and was buried in the church of St.
German in the island of Holm. But Pope Clement wrote, at the same time, to the Archbishop of Drontheim, stating that no prejudice to his metropolitan rights was intended by this election. In , he held a synod. It is satisfactory to learn, from receipts for the payments to the Apostolic Chamber given to him by Stephen, Archbishop of Toulouse, that the bishop was able to pay oh the mortgage on his see in a few years. Oak , elm , ash and beech are amongst the most common trees in England. In Scotland, pine and birch are most common. Natural forests in Ireland are mainly oak, ash, wych elm , birch and pine.
Beech and lime , though not native to Ireland, are also common there. Farmland hosts a variety of semi-natural vegetation of grasses and flowering plants. Woods, hedgerows , mountain slopes and marshes host heather , wild grasses, gorse and bracken. Many larger animals, such as wolf , bear and the European elk are today extinct. However, some species such as red deer are protected. Other small mammals, such as rabbits , foxes , badgers , hares , hedgehogs , and stoats , are very common and the European beaver has been reintroduced in parts of Scotland.
Wild boar have also been reintroduced to parts of southern England, following escapes from boar farms and illegal releases. Many rivers contain otters and seals are common on coasts. Over species of bird reside permanently and another migrate. Common types are the common chaffinch , common blackbird , house sparrow and common starling ; all small birds. Large birds are declining in number, except for those kept for game such as pheasant , partridge , and red grouse.
Fish are abundant in the rivers and lakes, in particular salmon , trout , perch and pike. Sea fish include dogfish , cod , sole , pollock and bass , as well as mussels , crab and oysters along the coast. There are more than 21, species of insects. Few species of reptiles or amphibians are found in Great Britain or Ireland. Only three snakes are native to Great Britain: In general, Great Britain has slightly more variation and native wild life, with weasels , polecats , wildcats , most shrews , moles , water voles , roe deer and common toads also being absent from Ireland.
This pattern is also true for birds and insects. Notable exceptions include the Kerry slug and certain species of woodlouse native to Ireland but not Great Britain. Domestic animals include the Connemara pony , Shetland pony , English Mastiff , Irish wolfhound and many varieties of cattle and sheep. Elsewhere in Great Britain and Ireland, high density of population is limited to areas around a few large cities. The largest urban area by far is the Greater London Built-up Area with 9 million inhabitants.
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Other major population centres include the Greater Manchester Built-up Area 2. The population of England rose rapidly during the 19th and 20th centuries, whereas the populations of Scotland and Wales showed little increase during the 20th century; the population of Scotland has remained unchanged since Ireland for most of its history had much the same population density as Great Britain about one third of the total population.
However, since the Great Irish Famine , the population of Ireland has fallen to less than one tenth of the population of the British Isles. The famine caused a century-long population decline, drastically reduced the Irish population and permanently altered the demographic make-up of the British Isles. On a global scale, this disaster led to the creation of an Irish diaspora that numbers fifteen times the current population of the island. The linguistic heritage of the British Isles is rich, [59] with twelve languages from six groups across four branches of the Indo-European family. The Insular Celtic languages of the Goidelic sub-group Irish , Manx and Scottish Gaelic and the Brittonic sub-group Cornish , Welsh and Breton , spoken in north-western France are the only remaining Celtic languages —the last of their continental relations were extinct before the 7th century.
A cant , called Shelta , is spoken by Irish Travellers , often to conceal meaning from those outside the group. At the end of the last ice age , what are now the British Isles were joined to the European mainland as a mass of land extending north west from the modern-day northern coastline of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Ice covered almost all of what is now Scotland, most of Ireland and Wales, and the hills of northern England. From 14, to 10, years ago, as the ice melted, sea levels rose separating Ireland from Great Britain and also creating the Isle of Man.
About two to four millennia later, Great Britain became separated from the mainland. Britain probably became repopulated with people before the ice age ended and certainly before it became separated from the mainland. It is likely that Ireland became settled by sea after it had already become an island.
At the time of the Roman Empire , about two thousand years ago, various tribes, which spoke Celtic dialects of the Insular Celtic group, were inhabiting the islands. The Romans expanded their civilisation to control southern Great Britain but were impeded in advancing any further, building Hadrian's Wall to mark the northern frontier of their empire in AD. At that time, Ireland was populated by a people known as Hiberni , the northern third or so of Great Britain by a people known as Picts and the southern two thirds by Britons.
Anglo-Saxons arrived as Roman power waned in the 5th century AD. Initially, their arrival seems to have been at the invitation of the Britons as mercenaries to repulse incursions by the Hiberni and Picts. In time, Anglo-Saxon demands on the British became so great that they came to culturally dominate the bulk of southern Great Britain, though recent genetic evidence suggests Britons still formed the bulk of the population.
This dominance creating what is now England and leaving culturally British enclaves only in the north of what is now England , in Cornwall and what is now known as Wales. Ireland had been unaffected by the Romans except, significantly, for being Christianised —traditionally by the Romano-Briton, Saint Patrick. As Europe, including Britain, descended into turmoil following the collapse of Roman civilisation, an era known as the Dark Ages , Ireland entered a golden age and responded with missions first to Great Britain and then to the continent , the founding of monasteries and universities.
These were later joined by Anglo-Saxon missions of a similar nature.
United Kingdom
Viking invasions began in the 9th century, followed by more permanent settlements, particularly along the east coast of Ireland, the west coast of modern-day Scotland and the Isle of Man. Though the Vikings were eventually neutralised in Ireland, their influence remained in the cities of Dublin , Cork , Limerick , Waterford and Wexford. England, however, was slowly conquered around the turn of the first millennium AD, and eventually became a feudal possession of Denmark. The relations between the descendants of Vikings in England and counterparts in Normandy , in northern France, lay at the heart of a series of events that led to the Norman conquest of England in The remnants of the Duchy of Normandy , which conquered England, remain associated to the English Crown as the Channel Islands to this day.
Though initially intended to be kept as an independent kingdom, the failure of the Irish High King to ensure the terms of the Treaty of Windsor led Henry II, as King of England, to rule as effective monarch under the title of Lord of Ireland. This title was granted to his younger son, but when Henry's heir unexpectedly died, the title of King of England and Lord of Ireland became entwined in one person.
CHAPTER VII
A similar situation existed in the Principality of Wales , which was slowly being annexed into the Kingdom of England by a series of laws. During the course of the 15th century, the Crown of England would assert a claim to the Crown of France, thereby also releasing the King of England from being vassal of the King of France. His response was to place the King of England as "the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England ", thereby removing the authority of the Pope from the affairs of the English Church.
Ireland, which had been held by the King of England as Lord of Ireland, but which strictly speaking had been a feudal possession of the Pope since the Norman invasion was declared a separate kingdom in personal union with England. Scotland, meanwhile had remained an independent Kingdom. In , that changed when the King of Scotland inherited the Crown of England , and consequently the Crown of Ireland also. The subsequent 17th century was one of political upheaval, religious division and war.
English colonialism in Ireland of the 16th century was extended by large-scale Scottish and English colonies in Ulster. Religious division heightened and the king in England came into conflict with parliament over his tolerance towards Catholicism. Ireland, largely Catholic was mainly loyal to the king. Following defeat to the parliaments army, large scale land distributions from loyalist Irish nobility to English commoners in the service of the parliamentary army created a new Ascendancy class which obliterated the remnants of Old English Hiberno-Norman and Gaelic Irish nobility in Ireland.
The new ruling class was Protestant and English, whilst the populace was largely Catholic and Irish. This theme would influence Irish politics for centuries to come. When the monarchy was restored in England, the king found it politically impossible to restore the lands of former land-owners in Ireland. The " Glorious Revolution " of repeated similar themes: The king's army was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne and at the militarily crucial Battle of Aughrim in Ireland. Resistance held out, eventually forcing the guarantee of religious tolerance in the Treaty of Limerick. However, the terms were never honoured and a new monarchy was installed.
Following an attempted republican revolution in Ireland in , the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain were unified in , creating the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands remaining outside of the United Kingdom but with their ultimate good governance being the responsibility of the British Crown effectively the British government.
Although, the colonies of North America that would become the United States of America were lost by the start of the 19th century, the British Empire expanded rapidly elsewhere. A century later it would cover one third of the globe. Poverty in the United Kingdom remained desperate, however, and industrialisation in England led to terrible condition for the working classes. Mass migrations following the Irish Famine and Highland Clearances resulted in the distribution of the islands' population and culture throughout the world and a rapid de-population of Ireland in the second half of the 19th century.
There are two sovereign states in the isles: Ireland, sometimes called the Republic of Ireland , governs five sixths of the island of Ireland, with the remainder of the island forming Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, usually shortened to simply the United Kingdom , which governs the remainder of the archipelago with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. They exercise constitutional rights of self-government and judicial independence; [64] responsibility for international representation rests largely upon the UK in consultation with the respective governments ; and responsibility for defence is reserved by the UK.
The United Kingdom is made up of four constituent parts: Of these, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have " devolved " governments, meaning that each has its own parliament or assembly and is self-governing with respect to certain areas set down by law. For judicial purposes, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England and Wales the latter being one entity form separate legal jurisdiction, with there being no single law for the UK as a whole. Ireland, the United Kingdom and the three Crown dependencies are all parliamentary democracies , with their own separate parliaments.
All parts of the United Kingdom return members to parliament in London. In addition to this, voters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland return members to a parliament in Edinburgh and to assemblies in Cardiff and Belfast respectively. Governance in the norm is by majority rule, however, Northern Ireland uses a system of power sharing whereby unionists and nationalists share executive posts proportionately and where the assent of both groups are required for the Northern Ireland Assembly to make certain decisions.
In the context of Northern Ireland, unionists are those who want Northern Ireland to remain a part of the United Kingdom and nationalists are those who want Northern Ireland to join with the rest of Ireland.
SCOTTISH AND ENGLISH RULE
The British monarch is the head of state of the United Kingdom, while in the Republic of Ireland the head of state is the President of Ireland. The Crown dependencies are not a part of the EU, but do participate in certain aspects that were negotiated as a part of the UK's accession to the EU. However, since the partition of Ireland , an informal free-travel area had existed across the region.
This area required formal recognition in during the course of negotiations for the Amsterdam Treaty of the European Union, and is now known as the Common Travel Area. Reciprocal arrangements allow British and Irish citizens full voting rights in the two states. Exceptions to this are presidential elections and constitutional referendums in the Republic of Ireland, for which there is no comparable franchise in the other states.
In the United Kingdom, these pre-date European Union law, and in both jurisdictions go further than that required by European Union law. In , a UK Ministry of Justice report investigating how to strengthen the British sense of citizenship proposed to end this arrangement, arguing that "the right to vote is one of the hallmarks of the political status of citizens; it is not a means of expressing closeness between countries". In addition, some civil bodies are organised throughout the islands as a whole—for example the Samaritans , which is deliberately organised without regard to national boundaries on the basis that a service which is not political or religious should not recognise sectarian or political divisions.
The Northern Ireland peace process has led to a number of unusual arrangements between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Book 1 chap 7 - History of Isle of Man,
For example, citizens of Northern Ireland are entitled to the choice of Irish or British citizenship or both and the Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom consult on matters not devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive. These arrangements were made following the Good Friday Agreement. Another body established under the Good Friday Agreement, the British—Irish Council, is made up of all of the states and territories of the British Isles.
Originally it comprised 25 members of the Oireachtas , the Irish parliament, and 25 members of the parliament of the United Kingdom , with the purpose of building mutual understanding between members of both legislatures. The Council does not have executive powers, but meets biannually to discuss issues of mutual importance. Similarly, the Parliamentary Assembly has no legislative powers but investigates and collects witness evidence from the public on matters of mutual concern to its members. Reports on its findings are presented to the Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom.
During the February meeting of the British—Irish Council, it was agreed to set up a standing secretariat that would serve as a permanent 'civil service' for the Council.
The United Kingdom and Ireland have separate media, although British television, newspapers and magazines are widely available in Ireland, [71] giving people in Ireland a high level of familiarity with cultural matters in the United Kingdom. Irish newspapers are also available in the UK, and Irish state and private television is widely available in Northern Ireland.
A few cultural events are organised for the island group as a whole. The Mercury Music Prize is handed out every year to the best album from a British or Irish musician or group. Many globally popular sports had modern rules codified in the British Isles, including golf , association football , cricket , rugby , snooker and darts , as well as many minor sports such as croquet , bowls , pitch and putt , water polo and handball. A number of sports are popular throughout the British Isles, the most prominent of which is association football.
While this is organised separately in different national associations, leagues and national teams, even within the UK, it is a common passion in all parts of the islands. Rugby union is also widely enjoyed across the islands with four national teams from England , Ireland , Scotland and Wales. The British and Irish Lions is a team chosen from each national team and undertakes tours of the Southern Hemisphere rugby-playing nations every four years.
Ireland play as a united team, represented by players from both Northern Ireland and the Republic. These national rugby teams play each other each year for the Triple Crown as part of the Six Nations Championship. Also, since , the professional club teams of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy compete against each other in the Pro From onwards this was expanded to include the whole of Europe.
London Heathrow Airport is Europe's busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic, and the Dublin-London route is the busiest air route in Europe collectively, [72] the busiest route out of Heathrow, and the second-busiest international air route in the world. The English Channel and the southern North Sea are the busiest seaways in the world. The idea of building a tunnel under the Irish Sea has been raised since , [74] when it was first investigated.
Several potential Irish Sea tunnel projects have been proposed, most recently the Tusker Tunnel between the ports of Rosslare and Fishguard proposed by The Institute of Engineers of Ireland in British Isles, the geography A geographical not political or constitutional term for Engliand, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland including the Republic of Ireland , together with all offshore islands. A more accurate and politically acceptable term today is the British-Irish Isles.