Ben Nevis the summit only to find "fragments of earthen and glass ware, chicken bones, corks, and bits of paper". It was not until 1847 that Ben Nevis was confirmed by the Ordnance Survey as the highest mountain in Britain and Ireland, ahead of its rival Ben Macdhui. The summit observatory was built in the summer of 1883, and would remain in operation for 21 years. The first path to the summit was built at the same time as the observatory and was designed to allow ponies to carry up supplies, with a maximum gradient of one in five. The opening of
Politics in the British Isles truly integrated enterprises. Pocock proposed the term "Atlantic archipelago" to avoid the contested "British isles". It has since become the commonplace preference of historians to treat British history in just this fashion (e.g. Hugh Kearney's "The British Isles: A History of Four Nations" or Norman Davies "The Isles: A History"). In recent times, Richard Kearney has been an important scholar in this space, through his works for example on a Postnationalist Archipelago. While Kearney's work has been noted by many as important for understanding of modern Irish politics and identity, some have also argued that his approach can be applied