We have become aware that once Brexit is completed the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will also be one that separates the United Kingdom from the European Union. It’s an exceptionally winding border, sometimes along country lanes. On occasions the only sign that you have changed states may be the sight of a red or green postbox, or, on a main road, the switch from miles to kilometres and the addition of place names in Irish. Personally, I rather like this diversity – it makes life interesting when, all of a sudden, you are under another jurisdiction – but the border has also been a cause of headaches ever since it was formally established in 1923. 

There are many anomalies, as Garrett Carr points out on this essentially topographical journey. For example, the town of Clones in County Monaghan is in the Republic, but its links with Northern Ireland run deep; the erection of the border did Clones