I S S N 1393 - 0966

No. 3 Autumn 1994EDITORIAL

With the appearance of this, the third issue. yourNEWSLETTERhas grown from six (No. 1) to eight (No. 2) and,now to sixteen pages. In the course of this expansion it hasbecome somewhat more than a newsletter while not quite ajournal: perhaps 'Newsletter and Journal' best describes itspresent state of evolution. This steady progression, which owesmuch to members who have contributed articles and reviews,has, nevertheless, been accomplished on the basis of a limitedpaid-up membership and has entailed some depletion of thosefunds accumulated during the period 1984 to 1993 whenpublication of the previously published Bulletin had ceased.

The publication of a regular twice-yearly Newsletter/Journalcan only be sustained if the paid-up membership of the Groupis expanded and if annual subscriptions are renewed. This canbest be done by completing a bank standing order. If.therefore. you are not already a member of the Group for theStudy of Irish Historic Settlement or if you have not renewedyour annual subscription for 1994-95. due on 1st. May. 1994,continued receipt of the Newsletter cannot be guaranteed afterthe current issue. You can ensure receipt of issue No. 4(Spring, 1995). to be published in March 1995, by completingthe enclosed subscripted renewal form and forwarding itimmediately to the Hon. Treasurer. I hope the contents of thepresent issue will encourage you to do so.

EDITOR

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CONTENTS

Graham & Proud foot. UrbanImprovement In ProvincialIreland, 1700-1840

Patrick O'Flanagan11

Shee-Twohig & Ronayne. PastPerceptions: The PrehistoricArchaeology of S. W. Ireland

Tadhg O'Keeffe12

Collins (Ed). Decoding theLandscape

P. J. DuffY13

Hyde, Building on the Past:Urban Change and Archaeology

P. J. DuffY14

Hill, Fire And Sword: Sorley BoyMac Donnell and The Rise ofClan Ian M6randOhlmeyer, Civil War andRestoration in the Three StuartKingdoms: The Career of RandalMacDonnell, Marquis of Antrim

:Harman Murtagh 14

Notice Board

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Committee 1994-95

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Group Publications

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Annual Conference, 1995

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Subscription Notice

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Annual Conference, 1994 Editor************

'The Irish Sea Province": A Pleafor Academic Co-operation

C. Phythian-Adams2

The Year of the Bronze Age

Billy O'Brien3

News from the Irish HistoricTowns Atlas Office

Mary Davies3

Articles:Economy, Growth and Settlementin Medieval Ireland

A. F. O. Brien4

Bronze Age Settlement in Ireland- The Contribution of AerialPhotography

Tom Condit7

Doing Local History

Raymond Gillespie8

Heritage and 'Authenticity'- A Reply to Patrick DuffY

David Brett9

Reviews:Graham & Proudfoot. An HistoricalGeography of Ireland

Amold Homer10ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 1994

The outstandingly successful 1994 annual conference was heldin Youghal, Co. Cork (Devonshire Arms Hotel) from Friday 13thto Sunday 15th May. After an address of welcome from thechairman of Youghal Urban District Council, Councillor JerryRussell, the participants were introduced to the history ofSettlement in Youghal and its Hinterland by Kenneth Nicholls(University College Cork), from whom we leamed that Youghalwas at the centre of an extensive coastal area stretching fromwest of Cork harbour, from Clear Island to Waterford harbour,which was early settled and which was very open to externalinfluences. It had close links with the Roman empire and withRoman Britain and was christianised before 400 - before thearrival in Ireland of St. Patrick.

A. F. O'Brien, also of University College, Cork, got the Saturdaymorning programme off to an early start with his paper on'Medieval Youghal: town, port and economy'. T. C. Barnard(Hertford College, Oxford) on 'The Boyle Family and theDevelopment of Youghal and its hinterland' and LindsayProudfoot (Queen's University, Belfast) on 'Eighteenth andnineteenth century settlement transformations' completed the

Saturday morning programme of lectures.

Also included in the Saturday morning programme was theformal launch of No. 4 in the Group's monograph series, IrishSettlement Studies: Urban Improvement in Provincial Ireland.1700-1840, jointly authored by Brian J, Graham and LindsayProud foot, both of whom were present. Brian Graham, who isa former president of the Group, outlined the scope of thestudy which, he explained, seeks to establish economic, socialand cultural contexts for urban improvement in eighteenthand early nineteenth century Ireland, and to determine thescale and scope of the process.

Saturday aftemoon proved ideal for the field trip which firstvisited the Romanesque cathedral and round tower atArdmore, Co. Waterford, where archaeologist, Tadhg O'Keeffe,(University College Dublin) acted as guide. Particularlymemorable was his description of the Romanesque figuresculpture decorating the west gable of the cathedral (anyoneinterested in the site should read his 'RomanesqueArchitecture and Sculpture at Ardmore' in 'Waterford: Historyand Society'; Geography Publications, 1992)

From Ardmore the coach took us inland to Lismore, whereDean Weekes warmly welcomed us to St. Carthage's Cathedralon what was, by coincidence, the saint's feast day. DeanWeekes took great pleasure in sharing with us his pride in theCathedral's treasures of church silver and early printed books.while Tadhg O'Keeffe described the early inscribed slabs (9thto 11th centuries).

After a foreshortened tour of the town, guided by LindsayProudfoot, and a visit to Lismore Castle to view a Romanesquearchway dating from circa 1120 and, which, we learned fromTadgh O'Keeffe, came from one of three churches built byCormac MacCarthy and which he described as one of the mostsignificant Romanesque survivals in Ireland, we retumed toYoughal and the Devonshire Arm's Hotel for the annual dinnerwhich, this year, celebrated the silver jubilee of the foundationof the Group in 1969.

On Sunday morning, after the business of the annual generalmeeting was quickly and efficiently accomplished, lanO'Connell (University College, Cork) presented a paper entitled"Nineteenth Centwy Youghal: property and people" based onhis M.A. dissertation (U.C.C.: 1993). He was followed by ourdistinguished visitor from the University of Leicester, CharlesPhythian-Adams, speaking to the subject, "The Genius of

Place: local history as an academic discipline". ProfessorPhythian-Adams initiated a lively symposium by proposingthat "the significance and importance of local history was asan absolutely vital antidote to national history, which", heargued, "constructs itself at a level of generalisation withoutactually thinking what the process of generalisation involves."Professor Phythian-Adams paper was responded to by PatrickO'Flanagan. (University College, Cork).

The conference concluded on Sunday afternoon with awalking tour of the town conducted by Youghal localhistorian, David Kelly. This included visits to St. Mary'sCollegiate Church (13th century) and Myrtle Grove, theunfortified sixteenth century house associated with Sir WalterRaleigh, through the gracious generosity of Mrs ShirleyMurray and her daughter, Iona, whose home the Tudor manorhouse is.

Thanks are due to our lecturers, our guides on the field trips,Dean Weekes, Shirley Murray, our hosts at the DevonshireArms Hotel. Step hen and Helen O'Sullivan and their staff, andto the British Council, who provided financial support. They,each in their separate ways, contributed to a memorablysuccessful 1994 annual conference.

EDITOR

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"THE IRISH SEA PROVINCE": A PLEA FORACADEMIC CO-OPERATION

For this English visitor, the 1994 conference at Youghal wasimmensely stimulating because of the new awareness itprovided of complementary fields of historical interest thatspan the Irish Sea. On that occasion, however, it was onlypossible for me to outline some of the concems of those of usinvestigating "cultural" divisions on the English side ascontexts for the understanding of the inter-connected societiesinhabiting them. One crucial element in defining such culturalareas has, however, to be the direction in which each one"faces" and, in the case of Western England - fromCumberland southwards to Comwall - the degree to which thecomponent provincial divisions look separately not onlytowards Wales and south-west Scotland, but above all to theeastem coast of Ireland. The English impact on that littoralwas clearly very different from the Irish influence on the

western edge of Britain, but theformer problem has obviouslyreceived far more systematichistorical attention than the latter.

What then, more precisely, werethe interconnections between allsides of the wider Irish Sea? Howshould we seek to categorize suchconnections and cross-influencesin cultural terms? Can we evenagree on defmable regions aroundall its shores and identify(especially for periods before thenineteenth century) the variabledensities of settlers mutually"foreign" to each (for surely, suchan investigation must concernpeople on the ground for the mostpart rather than the fleetingconnections established by trade).Do the immigrant families tend tocluster (on or near the coastlines)

Annual Conference, 1994: Tadhg O'KeeJfe[right]describes Romanesque archway at Lismore Castle.

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thus creating small "liminal" societies which (but for howlong?] pass relatives through them on to further destinationsand. in so doing. conserve and develop cultural traitsconnected with. but increasingly divergent from. the mothercountry? How are such traits to be measured. and do differenttraits predominate according to the nationalities of themigrants? To what extent, fmally. are they assimilated by thehost cultures?

When related to a huge geographical area and for all historicalperiods. such questions are daunting. That said. they surelycomprise a central programme of inquiry without which agenuine understanding of the shared destinies of Ireland.Scotland. Wales and England would be impossible. Such aprogramme. moreover. would be quite unthinkable withoutinter-national co-operation. Is there then some way in which.initially through interested individuals and then through theirinstitutions. we might be able to create some sort ofconsortium of interest focusing perhaps on a long-termprogramme of well-spaced conferences? As it happens, theDepartment of English Local History at Leicester. for instance.will be celebrating its fIftieth anniversary in 1998 with a majorintemational conference devoted naturally. in this particularcase. to the impact on the English regions of the culturessurrounding the country on all its sides (including. therefore.European influences). It would be highly appropriate were agoodly proportion of that Conferences to be devoted to theissues sketched out above. Similar conferences centering oneach of the Celtic nations concemed could take place in tum.Perhaps when I attend the 1995 conference. therefore. it maybe possible for me to contact anyone even vaguely interested ingetting some sort of scheme off the ground. It would be helpfulto all of us working on the separate national shores of the IrishSea. I suggest. not to be operating in quite such glorioushistorical isolation from one another in the future.

CHARLES PHITHIAN-ADAMSUNIVERSI1YOF LEICESTER.

ENGLAND

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THE YEAR OF THE BRONZE AGE

Following a ministerial agreement in Malta in 1992. theCouncil of Europe has decided to launch a campaign on thetheme of The Bronze Age: The first golden Age in Europe.Beginning in 1994 and running until 1996. individual stateswill organize a programme of events and activities. designed topromote a greater public awareness of our rich Bronze Ageheritage. 1995 has been chosen as the focal year for the Irishcampaign and a committee. chaired by Professor GeorgeEogan. is presently making plans in this direction.

The Bronze Age Campaign will be overseen by the Office ofPublic Works. in collaboration with the Northern Irelandauthorities. O.P.W. have plarmed an important conservationinitiative as part of their contribution. whereby one or moreimportant Bronze Age sites or landscapes will be taken intoState care. It is hoped to organise a major academic conferenceon recent research in the Irish Bronze Age. together with aprogramme of public lectures by local societies across thecountry. The conference will be held in Dublin Castle on theweekend of 21-23rd April. 1995 and will include contributionsfrom both Irish and overseas researchers.

In addition to reviewing the state of academic research on theBronze Age. an important object of the Campaign is to raisepublic awareness of this important period of our prehistoricpast. To this end. a photographic exhibition covering all majorthemes of this period is plarmed. Beginning in October 1994.

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this exhibition will be displayed in county museums andlibraries in both the Republic and in Northern Ireland. Anumber of other museum exhibitions and media promotionsare planned and the Committee would welcome anysuggestions in this area. Any person wishing to obtain furtherinformation on the Bronze Age Campaign may write to BillyO'Brien. Department of Archaeology. University CollegeGalway.

BILLYO'BRIEN

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NEWS FROM THE IRISH HISTORICTOWNS ATLAS OFFICE

Irish historic towns atlas no. 6 Athlone, by Dr HarmanMurtagh. has now been truly launched in two separatefunctions. The first was in July immediately after publication.when the Royal Irish Academy. temporarily homeless due torenovations. held its launch in Dublin Castle. courtesy of theOffice of Public Works. Such an historic venue might havebeen hard to match for the local launch in many of our townsbut not. of course. in Athlone. The Athlone launch in Octoberwas held in Athlone Castle's heritage centre. a glass and metalconstruction snuggled inside the castle walls and framingviews of the surrounding thirteenth-century structuresAthlone Regional Technical College. with the support of tlt:,Old Athlone Society. provided a warm welcome. and MinisterMary O'Rouke - who modestly forbade to admit that she hadbeen bom in one of the buildings listed in the topographicalinformation (the old Ranelagh School] - was verycomplimentary about the work of the towns atlas.

Athlone sold briskly at this local launch. and is doing wellgenerally. Indeed the whole series is selling well. and somefascicles may soon be totally out of print - would-bepurchasers will then have to wait for the first bound volume.

"Downpatrick" (Dr Ronnie Buchanan and Mr Tony Wilson) and"Maynooth" (Dr Amold Horner) are now fully in the editors'spotlight, and both should appear during the first half of 1995- the fIrst north-south pair since Kildare and Carrickfergus. MrJohn Bradley is still paying regular visits to the towns atlasoffice - when he can find it. that is. since we are now in oursecond temporary quarters this year - to work on Kilkenny.Dublin. Belfast and Limerick are all claiming attention. and DrAvril Thomas is biting deep into the work for Derry. We havemore towns making good progress now than we have ever had- long may this continue!

MARYDAVIES

Irish Historic Towns Atlas: editors J.H. Andrews. AnngretSimms. H.B. Clarke and Raymond Gillespie. No. 1 Kildare. no.2 Carrickfergus. no. 3 Bandon. no. 4 KeUs. no. 5 Mullingar, no.6 Athlone are available from the Royal Irish Academy or frommain booksellers. price £15 (l and 2) and £18 (3.4.5 and 6).

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ARTICLES

ECONOMY, GROWTH AND SETTLEMENT INMEDIEVAL IRELAND

'Linguistic evidence. and. to a lesser extent. that ofarchaeology. shows Ireland to have been a Celtic country;untouched by Roman conquest it retained Celtic culture andpolity. and classical accounts of the continental Celts arereflected to a remarkable degree in Irish literature and

historical documents. Almost every chapter in Caesar'snarrative of the Gallic war could be illustrated by Irishparallels .. .' 1 Early Irish society was not subjected to the rangeof political and economic forces which, in the early medievalcenturies. produced feudalism in much of western Europe.Kindred organization survived in early Ireland. Accordingly,early Irish society has been described as 'tribal. rural.hierarchical. and familiar' in the sense that 'every free manbelonged to a fine (an agnatic kindred or family group!'. 'Thisinstitution', it has been said, 'recalls the Germanic comitatus'.Nevertheless, this society was far from static and, as on thecontinent. a combination of economic and social forcesproduced some bonds of clients hip and, by the twelfthcentury, the famulus or bond man had appeared in Irishsociety.2 Thus, the traditional bonds of kindred society werebeing seriously modified. These bonds were slackened also, ifnot in some cases completely undermined, by contemporaryeconomic developments. These included, notably, a significantincrease in population. The monasteries and their estatesplayed a key role in this complex of socio-economic changes.

The tempo of trade increased in line with population growthand burgeoning international trade affected internal exchangealso. The growth and development of both internal andexternal trade in Ireland reflected the quickening pace ofcommerce and the trend towards a greater market economywhich Europe as a whole witnessed in this period. In thesecircumstances, the monasteries assumed an importanteconomic function and formed part of a growing marketinfrastructure necessary for the distribution and exchange ofmerchandise and this process was further promoted by theexample of Norse markets and trading towns. It has, therefore,been argued that 'from the tenth century onwards it isreasonable to describe the major church sites as monastictowns. Although these proto-urban sites were centres ofreligion, education, industrial activity and local trade theywere also at the hub of a redistributive system'.s The majormonasateries 'harboured a rather mixed population on theirfringes. It is probably the existence of this aspect of thepopulation that stimuated the need for local exchange. Fromthe late eighth century onwards we get references to marketson manastic sites'.4 This was a development of majorimportance and, particularly after the coming of the Norsewho stronlgy promoted the slave trade, 5 the monastic townsbecame important in overseas trade in general and theeconomics of slavery in particular. 'They were exploited byboth the Norse and the Irish for the slave trade from the ninthcentury onwards. The resultant trade, augmented by raids inEngland and the continent, brought a massive influx of goldand more particularly silver into Ireland'. 6 The provenance ofmuch of the silver bullion imported into Ireland by the Vikingswas the Harz region. 7

The eleventh and twelfth centuries, therefore, saw a markedgrowth in Irish overseas trade. However, it must beemphasized that 'from the earliest period foreign trade seemsto have been considerable. The earliest map of Ireland, that ofPtolemy, is undoubtedly a trader's map based on informationfrom merchants. Tacitus says that the harbours andapproaches to Ireland were well known to traders.' 8

This raises an important issue. Far from being a barrier, thesea in history has been a means of communication betweendifferent regions. Seaborne transport has facilitated culturalinteraction and trade. Thus, it has been pointed out that'archaeologists ... no longer speak of the Irish Sea completingthe 'insulation' of Ireland ... For the student of early westerncultures no longer does the sea divide and the land unite; onthe contrary, the seas unite the lands around their shores,while the mountains and the boglands of inland territoriesdivide one culture from another.' 9

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Access to Ireland by sea facilitated the Viking invasions whichbegan at the end of the eighth century. Therafter, the Irish Seabecame a major artery in 'a network of trade routes stretchingfrom Ireland. via centres such as Birka in Sweden and Hedebyin Denmark, to Constantinople and Baghdad' created by theScandinavian peoples between the ninth and the eleventhcenturies. 10'It seems that the (Viking) Atlantic traffic tendednot to be directed along the western coast of Ireland butrather up the Irish Sea via Dublin ... The Irish Sea seems tohave been a veritable ''Viking Lake" from the ninth to theeleventh centuries. It was dominated by Dublin, which lookedeastwards to the Isle of Man. north-western England andacross the Pennines to Northumbria and York. Dublin tradedextensively with Chester ... until 980, when ... trade withChester declined and swung round to emergent Bristol in thesouth-west. This tilt southwards in Dublin's main trade axiscould have had as much to do with the decline of direct Norsecontacts and of trade routes to the north as with the politicaleclipse of Chester.' 11Accordingly, 'the archaeological evidenceat Dublin suggests an increasing shift southwards of the tradeaxis towards south-western Britain and towards France in theeleventh century ...' 12

The Viking contribution to the development of the economicinfrastructure and the promotion of Ireland's trade in generalfrom the tenth to the twelfth centuries was one of the greatestimportance. Small Ostman colonies 'centred on the tradingtowns of Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford and Cork' wereestablished. IS The foundation or development of these townsand proto-towns, such as Youghal. added considerably tourban growth in Ireland. 'Dublin became an important centrein the eleventh century, It was well situated both for taking ashare of the long-distance trade which linked the northernlands with western France and the Mediterranean, and forconducting business across the Irish Sea. English coins hadbegun to circulate in the tenth century; towards the end of thecentury Dublin struck its own, exact copies of the currentEnglish silver pennies obviously primarily for use in England... Wexford and Waterford also conducted a busy trade acrossthe channel so that communications of all kinds becamemuch more regular.' 14

Reference to overseas trade raises the question of thecommodities traded through the developing Irish port towns.Early Ireland has been described as 'mainly a cattle country'but one with some variation in agricultural practice 'accordingto conditions throughout the island'. 15Since cattle dominatedthe economy of medieval Ireland, hides constituted theprincipal export. although wool was important a1s0.16Winebecame a staple import in Irish trade and remained suchthroughout the middle ages and beyond, Not only was itconsumed by kings and nobles but also it was a commodity ofgreat liturgical importance, Seventh-century documentsindicate that 'the Biscay ports (particularly Nantes andBordeauxl engaged in an extensive wine trade with Ireland'. 17The trade continued through the Norse period and beyond andthe testimony of Gerald of Wales in the twelfth century couldsuggest that it was very extensive, 'Imported wines ...conveyed in the ordinary commercial way (to Ireland). are soabundant that you would scarcely notice that the vine wasneither cultivated nor gave its fruit there, Poitou out of its ownsuperabundance sends plenty of wine, and Ireland is pleasedto send in return the hides of animals and the skins of flocksand wild beasts.' 18By that time not only Poitou but 'Rouenwas also involved' in trade with Ireland, 19The slave trade wascentral to this development 'and it is likely that Rouen was animportant slave market well into the middle of the eleventhcentury.' 20 Reciprocal trade between Ireland and Normandysurvived the demise of the slave trade and continuedthroughout the remainder of the medieval period. wine andother commodities (in the late middle ages these included

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cereals) being sent to Ireland from the Port of Rouen. 21

In the medieval period as a whole Ireland needed to importtwo other staple commodities. iron and salt. In the earlymedieval period the latter was imported principally fromCheshire. although. certainly by the later middle ages, thesesupplies were supplemented from the Bay of Bourgneuf, Theprincipal source of iron was the Iberian peninsula. Spanishiron was imported into Ireland either directly or indirectly,principally through the major ports of south-western England.notably Bristol. 22

In addition to these staple commodities. Ireland importedluxury goods and manufactures. Excavations in Viking Dublinhave shown that imports 'range from finished articles. such ascloth. glass vessels. pottery' and the like ·to raw materials thatwere brought in bulk to be manufactured locally.' 23 Theselatter include particularly amber and lignite. The range andquality of these imports testify 'to the wealth of tenth- andespecially eleventh-century Dublin. Some. such as silk. camefrom Byzantine or Islamic centres.' 24 'Ireland was largelyaceramic until the Anglo-Norman period, except for the north­east', Viking Dublin, therefore. was a major pottery importer,importing particularly 'late Anglo-Saxon pottery (whichl camefrom the western parts of England, especially from theCheshire region and possibly through the port of Chester.' 25

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries this was supplementedby Norman and Saintonge ware from south-west France.Dublin's trade with Chester and its hinterland was well­established before the Anglo-Norman invasion of the of thelate twelfth century: 'in the later Viking period of the tenthand eleventh centuries Chester had been Dublin's main pointof contact with England'. 26 However. it is not correct to saythat Chester's role in this regard 'passed to Bristol with thecoming of the Anglo-Normans'. 27 On the contrary, Dublin'strade with Chester received a renewed boost, certainly fromthe thirteenth century onwards. 28 while Bristol's Irish tradewas directed mainly to the ports of southern and south­eastern Ireland, viz. Cork, Kinsale. Youghal, Waterford, NewRoss. and Wexford.

The Anglo-Norman invasion profoundly affected not only thepolitics and racial composition ('the fact remains that Irelandwould never again be Gaelic in the sense that it had beenbefore 1169') 29 but also the economy of medieval Ireland.While some of the changes which occured in the twelfth andthirteenth centuries were due to factors other than theinvasion, not the least of which was the deomographicrevolution and economic growth which Europe as a wholewitnessed in this period, there is no doubt that the invasionand settlement. quite apart from its political consequences,brought pronouned social and economic innovation. Thisincluded the introduction into Ireland of the feudal socio­economic system. Part of this process was the establishmentof the manorial economy in the conquered areas. Thus, aninflow of settlers increased the population of Ireland,undermined finally in the conquered and settled areas thetraditional bonds of kindred society, and contributed greatlyto the considerable growth which thirteenth century Irelandwitnessed. An increased population also made available tolords the labour services necessary to sustain the labourintensive. arable farmillg, manorial economy. Moreover, thesteady increase in agricultural prices. particularly cerealprices, combined with the continuing decline in labour costsill real terms. as inflation eroded the value of money wages.greatly illcreased agricultural profitability and encouraged thegrowth of demesne farming. 30 This, ill turn, made availablethe vast surplus of corn for export which was so pronounced afeature of agricultural production in thirteenth and earlyfourteenth century Ireland. 31

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Political developments in the period also had importanteconomic consequences. With the creation of the Englishlordship of Ireland by Henry 11, Ireland became part of thedomillions of the crown of England. This illtensified existingtradillg and cultural links with England, especially Chester.Bristol and (later) other developillg ports ill the English westcountry, notably Millehead, Ilfracombe. Barnstaple. Pad stow.St. Ives. Fowey, Plymouth, Dartmouth, Exeter, and Poole. andwith Gascony (for long a source of wine supply for Ireland) andNormandy which, likewise, had an established pattern of tradewith Ireland. 32 The political connection with England hadeconomic effects in other ways also. Irish commerce wasfurther promoted. particularly ill the later thirteenth and earlyfourteenth centuries. by an influx of Italian merchant bankerswho acted as tax collectors for the English crown. In thiscapacity, they collected in Ireland. as ill England. the Great orAncient Custom. which was imposed by Edward I on theexport of wool. woolfells and hides in 1275. Quite quickly theyextended their activities beyond tax gathering and engaged inlarge scale, not least speculative, tradillg ventures. 33

Irish overseas trade extended beyond the domillions of theEnglish crown and, in the course of the thirteenth centurypaticularly. an extensive tradillg network linking Ireland withimportant commercial centres in continental Europe wasdeveloped. The basic tradillg area on the European mainlandextended from the Low Countries to south-west France.although activity appears to have been more concentrated onthe latter region. 34 Irish trade, however. was not unknown inthe Baltic region, if only exceptionally extendillg to such portsas Danzig, but it is very doubtful that direct trading wasextensive ill that region. 35 Trade with Spain and Portugaldeveloped appreciably in the fourteenth century andintensified ill the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.3$ Although Irish trade with southern Europe was principallywith the countries of the Iberian peninsula. at least onoccasion, Irish wool was exported to northern Italy. 37

In response to these buoyant economic conditions, whichbrought about a remarkable growth in trade, there wasconsiderable growth in settlement, both agrarian and urban.ill thirteenth century Ireland. 38 Particularly important ill thisconnection was a striking urban growth and expansion.Existing towns flourished and expanded and many new oneswere founded. This was particularly so in the case of theseaport towns of Viking origin, but growth was by no meansconfined to them. In general, it can be said that political.demographic and economic factors combined in Ireland topromote urban growth. This was accompanied by thedevelopment of an extensive network of weekly markets andyearly fairs which. apart from their local tradillg significance,acted as poillts for the distribution and marketing of importedgoods and the collection for export of goods produced ill theirlocalities. Thus. together the boroughs, markets (some but notall of which were associated with boroughs) and fairsconstituted an impressive commercial infrastructure.

Most of these markets and fairs were established ill the courseof the thirteenth century, very many of them ill the first half ofthat century. Thus, in 1234. markets were established atYoughal, Buttevant and Carrigtohill, Co. Cork, and Buttevantalso acquired a yearly fair. In 1242, Dungarvan. Co.Waterford, was given the right to hold a yearly fair, while, bymid-century. Innishannon, Co. Cork. had both a market and afair.

Other examples of yearly fairs established before 1230 areLimerick, Waterford, Dublin (apparently established by Henry11and confirmed in 1204, Dublin being again confirmed ill1214, 1215 and 1229), the archiepiscopal liberties of Dublin(1226) and Swords (1213), Co. Dublin, Naas (1226). Co.

Kildare. Fems and Enniscorthy (1226). co. Wexford, Tipperary(1226), Athassel (1224). Clonmel (1225) and Cashel (1228).Co. Tipperary, Adare and Knockainy (1226). co. Limerick,Ballymore (1204). Athlone (1221) and Mullingar (1207 and1226), Co. Westmeath, Trim and Kells (1204). Nobber (1227)and Dunboyne (1229), Co. Meath, Drogheda (1221), Dundalk(1230). the royal manor of Louth (1221) and Carlingford(1227). Co. Louth. By 1230 also weekly markets existed, forexample, at the archiepiscopal liberties in Dublin (1226).Clonmore (1226, 1230). Co. Louth. Dunboyne (1226) andRathkenny (1229). Co. Meath, Enniscorthyand Fems (1226).Co. Wexford, Bray (1213), Co. Wicklow, Emly (1215). Co.Tipperary and Mungret (1225), Co. Limerick. 39

By the end of the thirteenth century, in County Cork alone atleast 37 market towns were known to the English govemmentin Ireland. These were the city of Cork and the towns ofTimoleague, Carrigtohill, Buttevant. Ballyhay, Midleton,Castlemartyr, Cloyne. Mogeely, Tallow, Corkbeg, Glanworth,Castlelyons, Shandon. Mallow, Bridgetown, Ballynamona,Carrig, Kilworth, Mitchelstown, Ballynoe, Carrigrohane.Ballinacurra, Doneraile, Dunbulloge, Innishannon, Grenagh,Ballyhooly, Kinsale, Ringrone, Ringcurran, Ovens, Castlemore,Ballinaboy, Carrigaline, Douglas, and 'del Fayth', which waslocated in the bishop's town in the present Barrack St./DeanSt. area of Cork city. 40

It will be noted that all the markets and fairs set out abovewere located in the areas most densely settled and heavilymanorialized by the Anglo-Normans in the late twelfth andthirteenth centuries,

By the fourteenth century, the English lordship of Ireland wasclearly in crisis. The malaise which now affected it was'produced by both political and economic factors' notably the'political dislocation resulting from the decline of the authorityin Ireland of the crown of England ... and the generalfourteenth-century economic malaise agrravated especially bythe Black Death which affected Europe as a whole.' 41 Acombination of political turbulence and lawlessness inIreland, particularly in the fourteenth century, 'contributedgreatly to economic dislocation also. Intemal trading routeslinking particularly the seaport towns ... with the network ofmarket towns and markets in the interior (the development ofwhich had been such a striking feature of the growth of theeconomy and polity of Ireland in the thirteenth century)became more difficult and hazardous to traverse, at least forso long as the hinterland lacked govemment by some firm onauthority.' 42 That situation was compounded by incessantattacks on shipping and disruption of maritime trading routesin the course of the Hundred Years War and, indeed,afterwards. Finally, economic contraction in Ireland, it hasbeen argued, 43 was due also to deteriorating climaticconditions. The consequential decline in population and thecontraction of settlement produced marked agriculturaldecline paticularly in arable farming. As a result, cerealproduction sharply declined. Accordingly, Ireland ceased to bea major cereal exporter and, in particular, the south andsouth-east regions needed to import substantial quantities ofcom to meet their needs.

The polity of late medieval Ireland was exceedingly complex.By the fifteenth century, 'English' Ireland consisted essentiallyof (1) a relatively small area centred on Dublin under thedirect control of the royal administration and commonly calledthe Pale and (2) the great Anglo-lrish feudal lordships whichowed nominal allegiance to the English crown but which, inpractice, were autonomous. The remainder of the island wasin the hands of various Irish rulers. Between the two races,however, there was considerable interaction, including strongtrading contacts, which was reflected in the pattem of Irish

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overseas trade.

In late medieval Ireland economic conditions also varied.Although towns existed in Gaelic Ireland and overseas tradewas conducted with all the Irish coastal regions, the seaporttowns of 'English' Ireland were the most developed sociallyand economically. Subject only to the ultimate authority of thegreat feudal lords, these towns were governed by urbanpatriciates who controlled the bulk of the overseas trade of thetowns. These merchants became increasingly wealthy astrade, internal and external. recovered in the course of thefifteenth century. Economic recovery continued into thesixteenth century and produced sufficient wealth to financeincreasing imports of manufactured and luxury goods. Quiteapart from the staple commodities of wine, iron and salt,Ireland needed to import manufactures, for the most partgoods of high or relatively high unit value. By contrast, Irishexports, whether from Gaelic or 'English' Ireland. consistedlargely of primary commodities (principally hides, skins andfish, especially salmon. hake and herring), that is to say goodsof low unit value. 44

The economic recovery which late fifteenth- and earlysixteenth-century Ireland witnessed was reflected not least ina significant urban revival and renewal. This resurgence oftown life and a burgeoning economy increased the wealth ofthe ruling urban patriciates and strengthened their position. Astriking feature of the new conditions was a marked revival ofthe seaport towns. 45 Not only did the major ports prosper, butso also did ports like Dungarvan which never rose above thethird rank because it was overshadowed by Youghal, on theone hand, and New Ross and Waterford, on the other. 46

Moreover, ports such as Ballyhack, Co. Wexford, for the firsttime featured in overseas trade, if only on a limited scale, andBallyhack was not unique as can clearly be seen from anexamination of the records concerning Irish trade withBordeaux in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.The Irish ports mentioned in regard to that trade, a trade byno means confined to wine, were the following: Youghal.Waterford, Kinsale, Cork, Dublin, Drogheda, Galway,Limerick, Dingle, Dungarvan, Baltimore, Sligo, Lough Foyle(Derry) , Skerries (Co. Dublin). Dundalk. Ballinskelligs, andValencia Island. 47

At the end of the middles ages, therefore, although culturallydivided, politically fragmented and economicallyunderdeveloped, Ireland experienced some measure ofeconomic revival, and urban renewal and growth and.certainly by Irish standards, it enjoyed a modest prosperity.

A. F. O'BRIENUNIVERSITYCOLLEGE, CORK

Notes:1. F. J. Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings (London 1987) 11-122. C. Doherty, 'Some aspects of hagiography as a source for Irish

economic history', Peritia I (1982) 300-328 (hereinafter cited asDoherty, 'Hagiography).

S. Ibld, 303.4, C. Doherty, 'The monastic town in early medieval Ireland', British

Archaeological Reports Intemotional Series 255 (2 vols Oxford1985) 145-75: 66-7 (hereinafter cited as Doherty, 'Monastictown').

5, P. Holm, The slave trade of Dublin ninth to twelfth centuries,Peritia 5 (1986) 317-45

6. C. Doherty, 'Exchange and trade in early Ireland', Journal oJthe

Royal Society oJAntiquaries oJ Ireland 110 (1980) 67-89: 80-83(hereinafter cited as Doherty, 'Exchange and trade').

7. P. Wallace, The archaeology of Viking Dublin', Br Archaeol Rep IntSer255I103-45: 131

J

8. D. 0 Corrain, Ireland before the Normans (Dublin 1972) 71-2.There is evidence of Roman trade with Ireland (J, R. S. PhiUips,The Medieval Expansion of Europe (Oxford 1988) 3.

9. E. G. Bowen, 'Britain and the British Seas'. D, Moore (ed), The Irish

Sea Province inArchaeology and History (Cardiff 1970) 13-28: 14.10. Phillips, op. cit. 26.n. Wallace, op. cit. 132.12. Ibid.

13. L. de Paor, The Peoples of Ireland: from Prehistory to ModernTimes (London 1986) 81.

14. Ibid. 82.

15. Doherty, 'Exchange and trade', 72.16. Ibid. 72-3,78; 0 Corrain, op. cit. 71-2.17. 0 Corrain, op. cil. 72; Doherty, 'Exchange and trade', 77-8. This

point will be further developed in Jean-Michel Picard (ed),Aquitaine and Ireland in the Middle Ages (Dublin 1995).

18. J. J. O'Meara, Gerald of Wales: the History and Topography of

Ireland {Harmondsworth 1982) 35.19. Doherty, 'Exchange and trade', 78.20. Hol, op. cil. 344.21. A. F. O'Brien, 'Commercial relations between Ireland and France

c. 1000 to c. 1550', Picard, Aquitaine and Ireland 35-87 (hereaftercited as O'Brien, Franco-Irish commercial relations1. for latermedieval Irish overseas trade see also idem, 'Politics, economyand society: the development of Cork and the Irish south-coastregionc. 1170 toe. 1583', P. O. Flanaganand C. G. Buttimer(ed),Cork: History and society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History

of an Irish County (Dublin 1993) 83-154 (hereafter cited asO'Brien, 'Politics, economy and society1, W. Childs and T. O'NeiU,'Overseas trade', A. Cosgrove (ed), A New History of IreI.aru:l,iiMedieval Ireland 1169-1534 (Oxford 1987) 492-524 and A. K.Longfield,Anglo-Irish Tade in the Sixteenth Century (London,1929).

22. Childs and O'Neill, 'Overseas trade'.23. Wallace, op. cit., 135-6.24. Ibid.25. Ibid.

26. P. Wallace, The archaeology of Anglo-Norman Dublin', Br ArchaeolRep Int Ser 255ii 379-410; 395

27. Ibid.

28. K. P. Wilson, The port of Chester in the later middle ages',unpublished Ph. D, thesis (University of Uverpool 1965).

29. C. A. Empey, ' Conquest and settlement; patterns of Anglo­Norman settlement in north Munster and south Leinster', Irish

Economic and Sociol History 13 (1986) 5-31:5.30. Ibid. 25,

31. O'Brien, 'Politics, economy and Society'32. O'Brien, Franco-Irish commercial relations', idem, 'Politics,

economy and society', Childs and O'Neill, 'Overseas trade',Longfield,Anglo-Irish trade.

33. M, D. O'Sulllvan, Italian Merchant Bankers in Ireland in the

Thirteenth Century: a Study in the Social and Economic History of

Medieval Ireland (Dublin 1962),34. O'Brien, Franco-Irish commercial relations'.35. Childs and O'Neill, 'Overseas trade'.36. Ibid.; Longfield, Anglo-Irish trade.

37. M. E. Mallett, 'Anglo-Florentine commercial relations, 1465-1491',Economic History Review, 2nd ser., XV (1962).

38. For what follows see O'Brien, 'Politics, economy and society'86-95.

39. Calendar of Documents relating to IreI.aru:l, 1I 71-1251 nos. 226,229,230,471,475,510,573,577,587,597,618, 1010, 1221,1262, 1310, 1351. 1354, 1381. 1387, 1389, 1397, 1415, 1428,1429, 1544, 1639, 1673, 1693, 1697, 1829, 1830.

40. O'Brien, 'Politics, economy and society', 93-4.41. A. F. O'Brien, 'Medieval Youghal; the development of an Irish

seaport trading town, c. 1200 to c. 1500', Peritia 5 (1986) 346­378; 357, 377.

42. Ibid. 359.

43. M. C. Lyons, 'Manorial administration and the manorial economyin Ireland, c. 12oo-c. 1377', unpublished Ph, D. thesis (University

7

of Dublin 1984).44. O'Brien, 'Politics. economy and society'; ChUds and O'Neill,

'Overseas trade'.

45. A. F. O'Brien. The royal boroughs, the seaport towns and royalrevenue in medieval Ireland' JRSAI1 118 (1988) 13-26,

46. A. F. O'Brien, The development and evolution of the medievalborough and port of Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, c. 1200 to c.1530', J Cork HistArchaeoI Soc 92 (1987) 85-94.

47. O'Brien 'Franco-Irish commercial relations' 68.

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BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT IN IRELAND:THE CONTRIBUTION OF AERIAL

PHOTOGRAPHY

For many years now archaeologists have relied on excavationsto provide the information necessary to reconstlUct aspects ofprehistoric settlement in Ireland. Excavations provide us withsignificant insights into the function and economy ofindividual sites, However,questions concerning the extent ofsettlement throughout prehistory still remain.

The systematic use of aerial photography is a relativelyrecentdevelopment in archaeological research in Ireland. Projectssuch as the Sites and Monuments Record Office of theArchaeologicalSurvey of Ireland, OPW, have maximised theuse of existing aerial photography, in particular the verticalstereoscopic collections of the Army Air Corps. the GeologicalSurvey of Ireland and the Ordnance Survey. To date, fewvertical surveys have been carried out for specificallyarchaeological purposes. The Cambridge Collection of aerialphotographs still forms the principal source of obliquephotography and contributes much to our knowledge ofsubsurface archaeological remains through cropmarks andsoilmarks.

At its simplest. the evidence to date for the development ofBronze Age society indicates a ceremonial focus in the EarlyBronze Age through to what appears to be a more secularsociety in the Late Bronze Age, with an emphasis on hillfortsand prestige artefacts which indicate a high degree ofmaterial wealth, The funerary background also reflects thechanging view of the landscape in the Bronze Age, withwidespread use of burial mounds and barrows in the EarlyBronze Age, the less obvious secondary burials and ringditchcomplexesof the MiddleBronze Age,and an apparent absenceof burial rite in the Late BronzeAge.

Aerial photography can make an obvious contribution totracing Bronze Age settlement across the landscape.Significant sites and complexes have been recognisedthroughout the country; for example, the identification of acomplex of barrows and earthen embanked enclosures in thevicinity of Boyle, Co, Roscommon, has highlighted animportant Early Bronze Age ceremonial focus in the heart ofthe ancient territory of Moy Lurg. These large, community­built monuments provided a focus for the barrow complexeslocated to the south of the River Boyle. Aerial photographyultimately provides the dryland evidence of sustainedprehistoric settlement for the crannogs in Lough Garaexcavated by the late Dr Joseph Raftery in the 1950s. At theGiant's Ring, just outside Belfast, Barrie Hartwell, QUB, hasused aerial photography to discover a significant number ofpreviously unknown subsurface remains, includingceremonial post pit circles, in the vicinity of the well knownembanked enclosure there.

The MiddleBronze Agesites are not as easily identified in thelandscape, but aerial photography in the SE Limerick regionhas highlighted the existence of a large number of ringditch

cemeteries. low visiblity sites best appreciated from the air.which date to this period. Of greater interest in terms ofsettlement are the remains of field systems and enclosuresoften found in close association with these cemeteries. Similarploughed-out sites have been identified as cropmarks on aerialphotographs in the Nore and Barrow valleys in CountiesKilkenny and Carlow.

Hillforts. which display increasing evidence of Late Bronze Ageorigins. have been one of the most singularly significantmonument types to be identified on aerial photographs. Manyof the sites are so large as to be missed on the ground; indeed.identification of spectacularly large sites and their groupingindicate the significance of. for example. the Baltinglass areain the later prehistoric period. More recent discoveries madeas part of the North Munster Project of the DiscoveryProgramme highlight the existence of two large hillforts in thegeneral vicinity of Killaloe in Counties Clare and Tipperary. Inthese cases fragmentary evidence of the hillforts has beenfollowed up by a programme of oblique aerial photography.which in the case of the Fermoyle hillfort has aided in theidentification of the other half of the monument.

In a sense the identification of these spectacular sites is (withhindsight) a relatively easy task. Much more difficult. however.is the assessment of the significance of these monuments interms of the development of the Bronze Age landscape. Again.the evidence of aerial photography can sharpen ourappreciation not only of the sites themselves but also of thelandscape in which they are located.

Current research in the North Munster Project is addressingthe question of the overall development of the landscape in theprehistoric and early historic periods in order to understandthe few visible indicators of late prehistoric activity. Thisinformation is being combined with the records of finds ofarchaeological artefacts. in particular Late Bronze Age hoards.with interesting results even at this stage of preliminaryassessment.

Some of the information emphasises the historical value of theaerial photographs as a record of the landscape. Fragments ofco-axial field systems and nucleated field sustems have beenidentified on the images; many of these are no longer visible inthe field because of recent reclamation. Thus the aerialphotograph is the only evidence for the existence of the fieldpatterns which must have formed the backbone of theprehistoric landscape. The exposed karst of the Burren regionis well known for the palimpsest of prehistoric field systemswhich survive there. Recent results have shown similarsurvival in the grassland areas of SE Clare. barely visible atground level even under the optimum lighting conditions.

Current research has been looking in detail at what could betermed the 'provincial royal capitals' of Navan. Co. Armagh.Dun Aillinne, Co. Kildare, Rathcroghan, Co. Roscommon, andTara. Co. Meath. Significant parts of these landscapes areBronze Age. for example the hillfort known as Haughey's Fortand the and the ritual man-made pond known as the King'sStables at the Navan complex. Because of the scale, diversityand even the individual characteristics of the monuments inthese complexes it is clear that they were of immensesignificance throughout the prehistoric period. clearly linkedeven in the Iron Age to ceremonial and kingship, Recently,similar sites have been identified on aerial photographs in theKnockainy /Bruree region, Co. Limerick, which indicate 'royal'associations at least in the Early and Middle Bronze Age,While these sites are not concentrated on a single location likethe remains at Tara, their presence most likely indicates a'royal' focus in at least one part of Munster which may be the'Mumu' equivalent of the other better known provincial centres.

8

In summary. aerial photographic research is having asignificant impact on our knowledge of the Bronze Agelandscape. and in a sense what we get from the photographsdepends on our agenda of questions. Indeed. one of the mostexciting contributions is the identification of large Bronze Agecomplexes which, in the absence of documentary evidence.challenges those interested in Irish historic settlement studiesto reconstruct the 'politics' of the period based on theemerging, apparently territorial. significance of these remains.

TOM CONDIT.SENIOR RESEARCH ARCHAEOWGIST,

NORTH MUNSTER PROJECT.THE DISCOVERYPROGRAMME.

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DOING LOCAL HISTORY

At first sight the question "What do local historians doT'seems a silly one. The term itself seems self explanatory: it isthe writing of history using one locality as a unit of studyrather than the nation. a continent or even the world. A welldefined sense of place. or. as Estyn Evans described it.'personality'. constitutes the appeal of local history for many ofits practitioners. Yet. that very strength may also be a fatalweakness in the practice of the study of the local past. Thework of the Ordnance Survey in the nineteenth centuryproduced a geography of townlands. parishes. baronies andcounties all defined with precision and used as a basis for thecollection of much of the data which historians use. Unitssuch as counties were reinforced in the popular mind by therise of the provincial press and the G.A.A. Under theseinfluences place becomes our organising principal and thebasis of the questions which we ask about the past. Webecome absorbed with place to the exclusion of other moreimportant ways of looking at the past.

Impressed by the spatial organisation of the evidenceproduced by govemment since the seventeenth century. localhistorians have often forgotten the origin of those units. Theywere created and maintained by people who found it useful todivide the landscape into blocks for taxation, legal.ecclesiastical or other purposes. Sixteenth and seventeenthcentury land disputes were resolved, not by consulting maps.but by calling together the oldest inhabitants of the area torecall what they had remembered or been told of theboundaries of a particular territory. Where they foundboundaries and land units useful they remembered them butequally the boundaries of redundant or unoccupied land werequickly forgotten. The Irish landscape. as much as its Englishcounterpart. was made by people and it is the shapers of thatlandscape which should lie at the centre of the world whichlocal historian should strive to recreate for his or her readers.

To shift the attention of the local historian away from aparticular place towards the people in it complicates the localhistorians task. It expands the options for study away fromthe traditional townland, parish or county to a wider range ofunits which were relevant to people in the past. A river valley.such as the Nore or the Suir. may have created as great asense of shared identity as the more traditional parochial orcounty communities and the landed estate certainly providedenough commonalties to make it as significant in the lives ofpeople as the county was. Thinking in this way quickly makesit clear that people in the past, living in a restrictedgeographical area, belonged, not to one communitydetermined by geography. but to a network of communities.The same individual might belong to a religious group(meeting in a parish). be a farmer or trader (doing business ata market or fair)and a politicalactivist (meetingin various societies).

i

~~.

II.

I

I

~r

In this way the distinction between local and national historydisappears. The people of one region (whatever that might be)were linked by a network of contacts into sub-regional andregional groups and finally to a national level. What isimportant about the local dimension is how ideas formulatedat national level were adopted and adapted in the localities. Anineteenth century parish priest was almost certainly trainedcentrally at Maynooth and armed with the penny catechismbut what did his flock make of that figure? Only a study of thefolklore of religion at local level will answer this sort ofquestion. Again. national figures. such as Daniel O'Connelland Charles Stewart Parnell, might have well-articulatedpolitical ideas but we need to know who were the brokersbetween the national and local worlds who organised localsupport. What did such local political groups perceive to bethe end they were working towards. Again. landlords whovisited Dublin for the season and sat in parliament werebrokers. bringing new ideas of social order. agriculturalimprovement and the latest fashions into the local world.

Beginning a local study by asking questions about peoplerather than places opens up a number of well definedquestions: how many people were there and how were theydistributed throughout the locality: what were their contactswith the outside world through, for example. travel andemigration; how did they distribute the resources of thelocality. such as land. among themselves and what happenedwhen disputes arose over the distribution of those resources;what was the role of the landlord in the locality and so on.

One fruitful area for exploring local mentalities is that ofsociability. Clubs and societies, such as the Orange Order. theFreemasons. the fenians and the AO.H .. all provide evidenceof how society worked at a local level. More informally.pattems of marriage and visiting provide evidence of the sortof worlds in which different social groups moved and helpedin building up a picture of the cultural regions which made upIreland to complement the pattem of administrative divisions.

Sociability. of course, does not take place ill some anonymousworld but rather the actors play out their roles on a familiarstage of the local landscape both natural and man made. It isvitally important to understand this setting. Since houses areessentially man made spaces for living. the way in whichhouses are laid out can often provide important clues as torelations within families. The material culture of the pastprovides an indication of wealth and social stratification andan understanding of agricultural technology and how itchanged helps us to understand the limits which constrainedpeople in exploiting their resources. Even topography andarchaeological monuments rarely exist in isolation but aresurrounded by folklore and explanations of their use andfunctions. This is important in interpreting how peopleunderstand their world and how they attempted to explain itto themselves and others.

To illustrate the importance of this approach of trying to viewthe local past through the eyes of people it is useful to look atthe case of parish history or the history of a church. To beginby focusing on a building or a territorial unit is to riskconcentrating excessively on the fabric of the building. lists ofthe clergy who officiated there or the services. such aseducation. which were provided by the parish. All these areimportant but they are by no means the whole story of whatthe people who worshipped in that building at different timesthought and how they acted. To think of the parish or churchnot as an institution but rather as a place of religioussociability is to broaden the range of our understanding.Worship in the church becomes only part of the story andother occasions of religious sociability. such as visits to theholy well or other local centre of pilgrimage. and also what

9

happened at these venues. become important. Otheroccasions of religious sociability such as Sunday-schools,sodalities and other religious assemblies also need to bestudied. Moreover. looking at the church through the eyes ofthe people in it forces us to take seriously the issue of whatthese people believed. In particular this raises the question ofwhat beliefs were shared within the local religiouscommunities and which ideas divided them. To write thehistory only of one religious group in an area is to miss animportant part of the story. To write the history of a group ofpeople in a parish from the point of view of the pulpit isequally misleading. The ideas of people in the past were notdictated by the clergy. Ideas drawn from formal theology werecertainly important in shaping views of the supernatural but,equally. tradition. experience. and stories about fairies. ghostsand banshees played a part. To understand what people in thelocalities of Ireland really believed about the supernaturalworld is one of the biggest challenges facing the local historiantoday. It requires a sophisticated approach with the ability tobe equally at home with the folktale and the sermon.

Writing local history is not an easy task. Ireland has a finetradition of local history from the medieval annalists onwards.That is a tradition we need to foster and develop. In particular.we need a great deal more work to be done on primarysources. Much less was destroyed in the 1922 fire in thePublic Record Office than is generally believed and much moreexists in untapped treasures. such as estate papers. theValuation Office. the Registry of Deeds. the FolkloreCommission. nineteenth century novels and the newspapers.We need to be more creative in our use of sources but I haveno doubt that the local historians of Ireland will rise to thechallenge.

RAYMONDGILLESPIEST. PATRlCK'S COLLEGE.

MAYNOOTH

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HERITAGE AND 'AUTHENTICITY'a reply to Patrick Duffy.

In the first issue of this Newsletter. Patrick Duffy raised thelarge. complicated and difficult issue of conflict in andbetween tourism and heritage. Large. because large sums arebeing spent. complicated. because both these two conceptsare like boxes containing other boxes. and difficult becausethe concepts are the focus of sharp problems of identity,history and modernity. At the conclusion he asks whether ornot a scholarly body such as The Group for the Study of IrishHistoric Settlement might not be able. with some changes. toundertake a more active role in promoting a greaterunderstanding of the nature and effects of tourism and ·theheritage illdustry' on our understanding of the landscape andother major features of Ireland's cultural environment. Thisarticle both criticises and supports his contentions.

It is certain that public debate on these issues needs to beinformed if not led by academic debate. because it is onlythrough close study that one can understand what ishappening. Part of this must be a questioning of terms. andhere I want to move the debate forward. by arguing thatProfessor Duffy uses 'heritage' as if it were an unproblematicterm. This emerges clearly in his treatment of 'landscape'.

What we call landscape is not something given. natural or (inhis terms) 'authentic'. It is an artefact produced over centuriesboth by design and default. It is, amongst other matters. theproduct of concepts of ownership, rights and tenantry, just assurely as the engine of a car is the product of (and almost a

diagram of) formulae for the expansion of gases. It is just assurely the product of forms and methods of agriculture. and ofthe exploitation of natural resources. My understanding of theUlster planatations (for example) is that they were driven asmuch by the insatiable demand for oak products. as bypolitical or military pay-offs. Oak was as essential to the 17thcentury- as oil and steel to the 20th; necessary- as the primary­material for shipbuilding and timber-frame housing,necessary- as a medium of iron-smelting. necessary- as thesource of barrel staves and (possibly even more important)fish packing boxes. Lastly, green oak bark was necessary- fortanning. Ulster contained the last great resources of oak in allthe islands ... ergo ... Antrim, Derry (1) and Tyrone show thesigns of deforestation to this day. The small field pattems, socommon in Ireland, the poor quality of drainage, the amountof waste ground etc. are the product of a history- that, whereland ownership and use are concerned, has been poisedbetween criminality and disaster.

Of course, with cultural expectations formed around the ideasof the Picturesque and the Sublime, we find the resultsdelightful and celebrate it as 'scenery'. But 'authentic' it is not;and, with more space, I would argue very strongly that thenotion of 'authentic', linked as it is to ideas of unspoilt,virtuous nature v. vicious and exploitative civilization, isactually a device whereby the disadvantaged are persuaded tocollude in their own subordinate status. 'Scenery' and'landscape' are aesthetic categories, not natural realitities, andthey are created and designated as part of a system of power.

So also with the tourist's 'sight-seeing'. As a form of socialbehaviour, it is decidely odd. Its origins lie with the eighteenthcentury- custom of viewing the world through the frame thatone carried about on country walks, as a sort of non-recordingcamera. One 'framed' nature (preferably wild and 'authentic'nature with ruined abbeys and castles and cottages), thendiscussed the picturesque qualities. One composed one's ownpictures. The relation of this to the postcard and the holidaysnapshot is clear enough. A process of appropriation is atwork. First. a site is objectified by framing; that framing leadsto its commodification either as a photograph or (more subtly)as an 'experience'- which is then removed from its context andas it were assimilated into the life of the visitor. Looked at inthis way, the primal process of consumer capitalism has itsorigins in the romantic concept of the picturesque. Modemtourism can be regarded as the mechanisation of thepicturesque.

But the picturesque, though it may hark back to old,forgotten, far-off things, and battles long ago, is essentiallydefined by taste, not substantial history. It reduces theproblems of the past to an aesthetic pleasure.

'Heritage' too may be part of an ideology that presents the pastto us as something given and unproblematic. The 'statelyhomes and gardens' which two thirds of Ireland's touristvisitors frequent are a case in point. How are they experiencedby our visitors? How do they understand what they haveseen? To what degree do they come away comprehending theambivalence of the 'big house' culture.? And if they then goacross to Britain, do they interpret great houses and estates inthe same way?

On a larger scale, and taking off our hats to the 'peaceprocess', what is this 'Ireland' whose 'heritage' they inspect?Is it a political or a geographic entity; or some kind of thingexisting only in the mind? Robert Hewison argues that theBritish 'heritage industry' has to be understood against aclimate of national decline; but against what background canan Irish heritage industry be studied? Certainly not decline.There is much that might be said about contemporary- Ireland,

10

but decline would not be high on the list. Perhaps a movementtoward an indigenous modernity. There is certainly someprocess of self-definition and reassessment at work, bothpolitically and culturally, and a study of heritage has somepart to play in it. And a major element in this process is thelaying open of problems, contradictions and plain lies.Heritage, looked at in this way, becomes a site on which thepresent is being defined.

It is here that close academic work can be of real assistance,because it continually reveals the provisional and problematiccharacter of historical knowledge. It is precisely because thepast is always found to be more complicated than we thought.that academic history- can act as a corrective to the simplified- and frequently tendentious - 'histories' of the heritage parksand interpetive centres. Somewhere, between the academicand the populist/commercial. lies a common history (ordomain of histories) which can be told both directly andcritically, which allows each visitor or listener or reader toparticipate in the judgements made. There are signs that thisopen-ended strategy of interpretation is being attempted. insuch locations as Strokestown.

And this leads on to the second main point raised by PatrickDuffy; the tension between 'heritage' developed and broughtinto consciousness through local efforts, and that which isdriven by tourist agencies and interests. If I am right insupposing that heritage is a site on which the present is beingdefined, then this tension really matters. Who is making thedefinitions, and in whose interests? What is happening whenAmerican, British and German consultants are brought in toadvise local inititatives? What sort of process is at work when,at the Navan Fort Centre, the multi-media presentation(devised by a Manchester firm) takes us through the Tffinwithout once hinting at the political implications it has northof the border? And following on that, what are the real andlasting economic benefits of a thriving tourist trade? What arethe qualities, skills and status of the jobs created; are theyany better than those provided by a 'big house'?

At the moment these questions can only be posed in arhetorical fashion, because of the lack of an over-archingtheory that would enable us to balance economic, ecolOgicaland cultural arguements within the same frame of reference.The answers to these questions must begin with closeacademic study, and they need to lead toward that broadtheoretical picture within which such varied questions can berelated constructively one to another.

The relations in and between tourism and heritage, and howthey relate to the broader picture of history and self-definition,touch on the nerve centres of a modem life. This is why studygroups are important.

DAVIDBRE1TUNIVERSITI OF ULSTER

AT BELFAST

***+t-+******

REVIEWS

AN HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF IRELAND, byB.J, Graham and L.J, Proudfoot London:Academic Press, 1993. 454pp. £24.50stg.

ISBN 0-12-294881-5,

The twelve chapters in this book are arranged in a broadchronological sequence and offer a series of perspectives onthe development of Ireland between, roughly, AD.500 and thepresent century. Eight of the chapters are by persons based at

university geography or environmental studies departments,while the remaining four are contributed by persons with abackground in history or economic history. For readers of thisNewsletter. there is the particular interest that the three"medieval" chapters are contributed by two of the earlystalwarts of the Group for the Study of Irish Historicsettlement, namely Brian Graham and Terry Barry.

Any major initiative that contributes to the understanding ofIreland's complex past should be given a welcome. and thereis no doubt that this book will have its value. For example, aswell as a good analysis of the post-famine rural economy andtwo strikingly-clear descriptive chapters on Irish emigrationoverseas, the concluding chapter by Professor Willie Smyth ofu.e.e., entitled "The making of Ireland: agendas andperspectives in cultural geography" pulsates with interestinginsights that one only wishes had been given more sustainedscrutiny by some of the other contributors. Another strongpoint is that this book cuts across disciplines. with some ofthe early modem chapters in particular providing extensivefootnote references to the work of economic historians. At afairly loose level of generalisation, the book affords usefulperspectives on some of the social, economic and politicalstructures and processes that my be relevant tounderstanding historical geography. In contrast, the physicalstructures, the landscape and the "feel" of the country,characteristics that might have been highlighted bygeographers in the past, are here played down. and it is onlyin the final chapter that we are offered a map to show us thelocation of one of the major limitations to settlement, namelythe distribution of boglands.

However. although I found the book a worthwhile andinteresting read, I would have reservations over its claims tobe "a comprehensive assessment. .." and "an essential textbookfor students of Irish historical geography and economichistory". Indeed, reservations might also be expressed aboutthe additional claims to "synthesise recent research" and"present it within an explicit theoretical framework". The flagis raised that "the empirical world is a succession ofideological representations, constituted by ever-changingforms of social order" (pAl. but - perhaps fortunately - thecontributors follow it with decidedly-variable degrees ofenthusiasm.

A textbook, it seems to me, should describe and explain muchin the manner of the two chapters on emigration. But in someof the other chapters I feel the emphasis moves too rapidly toa highly selective discussion of views. There are over sixtyfigures and illustrations, yet a more generous provision ofbasic distribution maps (adequate in the medieval sectionsbut thin in the early modem chapters) might have allowedreaders make their own assessments of regional variation.Despite copious footnotes, many chapters give only a limitedlmpression of the range of relevant past literature. Space doesnot permit much expansion of these comments, but, putbroadly, it seems to me that too much proceeds by assertionand that too much has been assumed away. These problemsstand out particularly starkly in the extraordinarily patchyand uneven introductory chapter which asserts (p.12) that"traditional modes of explanation are vested ... within [theltraditional nationalist model". The "empiricism" and"insularity" of past work is vigorously attacked, but it is themanner of the attack which rankles. for here we have a seriesof fairly bald assertions that reduces the distinguished work ofearlier scholars such as Evans and Jones Hughes to amisleading caricature. There are important and interestingideas in this chapter, but to be credible they require muchmore systematic exploration. The editors, it seems to me,protest too much as to the significance of their "new"approach and the corresponding limitations of earlier

11

contributions. To appreciate better the ideas which are lurkingbut only partly elucidated in this chapter, readers will have toexplore some of Brian Graham's other writings of recent years,most notably his thought-provoking " No place of the mind:contested Protestant representations of Ulster", Ecumene. I,1994, 257-282. 2nd his more comprehensive critique of Evansin "The search for the common ground: Estyn Evans'sIreland", Transactions oJ the Institute oJ British Geographers,New series 19, 1994, 183-201.

Quite apart from this, however, I feel this book may disappointgeographers. Put simply, I feel there is too much history,particularly economic history, and not enough geography.This is particularly the case for several of the early modernchapters covering 1500 to around 1900. If you want to fmdout where things happened and how significant were regionalvariations, these chapters are often extremely coy about tellingyou. For example, the demographic chapter, which isunapologetically entitled "...history", is a clear (if in placesflorid, e.g. "a less than providential Mother Ireland" on p.175)read, but gives little sustained attention to regional and localvariation; its 108 references include less than half a dozenworks by geographers. The contributions by Gillespie andProudfoot likewise offer some important perspectives on thebroad context but become very patchy about particular places.The title to one of Proudfoot's chapters "Regionalism andlocalism ..." seems especially inappropriate given its extensivechunks of frequently-aspatial social history, while its sub­theme "religious change and social protest" is surelyincomplete without, for example, an assessment of thedevelopment of the religious orders or a reference to TomGarvin's strongly-geographical work on underground politicalnetworks (Past & Present, 96, 1982).

For a geographer too, it can be puzzling to see so little beingmade of some of the more potentially relevant worksundertaken by geographers. For example, the complexmessages embedded in the extensive work of J.H. Andrewsreceive only fleeting analysis, while Willie Nolan's The shapingoJ Ireland (1986) gets just a couple of isolated references.Willie Smyth's comparative work on the early modernexperiences of Ireland and America (Irish geography 11, 1978)is ignored by Gillespie although a similar theme is beingpursued. Most puzzling of all is the way in which T.W.Freeman's Pre-Jamine Ireland (1957) has been virtuallyeliminated. A single map, redrawn and generalised, isreproduced, but there is otherwise scarcely a reference to thismasterpiece. It is ignored, both in the introduction purportingto discuss Irish historical geography and in the crucialchapter on population history. Yet the meticulous detail andthe pervasive sense of local variety that were hall-marks ofFreeman - indeed, dare one say it, his empiricism - arequalities that would have enhanced the present book. Insummary, readers may find themselves using An historicalgeography oJ Ireland more for some of its worthwhile generalperspectives than as "an essential text." Surely there is morevariety and life in Irish historical geography than my besuspected from much of this book?

ARNOLD HORNER.DEPARTMENTOF GEOGRAPHY,UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE DUBLIN

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1_~I;llt~(.llt~I.I~111~li~~1~1

I,

URBAN IMPROVEMENTIN PROVINCIALIRELAND 1700 - 1840, By B.J. Graham and L.J.Proudfoot. Irish Settlement Studies, No. 4. The

Group for the Study of Irish Historic Settlement,1994. 60pp IR£6.00 pb.

Since there are fewavenues in Ireland for publishing researchresults whose remit and scale fall above and beyond thelength of an article but remain considerably shorter thannormal book length. it is indeed appropriate that the Groupfor the Study of Irish Historic Settlement has provided thiskind of launching pad for works of this kind. It is then apleasure to welcome the appearance of another thought ­provoking monograph under the imprint of this Group. It isthe fourth in their series of monographs but for whateverreasons notice of the preceding ones in this series are notmentioned anywhere. This volume is the fruit of cooperationbetween two now well know scholars and. besides theinterpersonal cooperation involved. it is fitting to record theassistance of a trust which sponsored the research. as well asthe contributions of a number of supportive individualsbesides the editorialwork of Dr. KevinWhelan.

The piece is organised under six main chapter headingsbesides a brief introduction. The colour cover illustration ofRamelton. County Donegal adds an appealing dimension tothe work. no doubt making it a more attractive proposition forthe book browser and likewisea series of attractive plates ofdifferent settlements make for a welcomeaddition. The maps.however,are another question. There are eighteen of them butmany are small, extremelyselectiveon detail and perfunctoryin design. This renders the purpose of some of them unclearand, more troublesome is the fact that they do not carry datesor sources. In one or two instances a page size reproductionmight have been more advisable giventhe clutter of detail andthe significanceof the contents.

"Improvement" is then addressed under six main headingsnamely, morphology, social context. spatial incidence, thelandowning instigators, the dimensions of the processes ofimprovement and. finally, a chronological framework issuggested. Some might feel that there is a certain loosenessrelating to the manner in which the conception ofimprovement is handled and, the bounded time periodselected might be felt by some to be arbitrary. in that thetransformations they discuss were not neatly envelopedwithina century. The authors correctly question the validity andcurrency now given to the term "landlord town". given theenhancement of settlements was not solely the result ofinitiatives launched by an individual magnate. Towns likeMacroomin county Cork, for instance, benefited at differenttimes from the activities of three separate individuals. two ofwhich could be considered as magnates and the other as adeveloper-speculator. But rentiers and legions ofundertenants also participated in improvement schemes ofone kind or another. In other cases corporate bodies alsosponsored improvements in towns, particularly those wherethey held substantial property portfolios.A broader and morecomprehensivediscussion of the issue of improvement and itsdiverse manifestations and the conceptual baggage thatsustained it might have sharpened the rather brief overallintroduction to this crucial topic. A glance at any of the urbanmaps prepared. for instance. by the so-called "French Schoolof Surveyors" illustrates other no less obvious dimensions ofindividual enterprise. namely the exquisitely laid-out gardensattached to many often unpretentious domestic residences.The minute books of corporate authorities might also beanother useful source worthy of mining. Deeds. depositionsand wills might provide additional material specifying theactivitiesof the more comfortableelements of urban society.

12

The first chapter which addresses morphology derivesinferences from the layout of the settlements regarding theconcepts and idealism that inspired their creators. The role ofthe Englightenment is especially noted as a majorconsideration. In the case of many Irish improvedsettlements,the authors stress that there is frequently a strangejuxtaposition between grandiose planning principles andmuch more pedestrian domestic buildings forms. though someof the public buildings. such as churches, are often a cutabove the residential buildings.

Arguingagainst a reductionist vision of landlord involvementby placing too much emphasis upon a small number of largescale examples. they claim that centres which display aconsiderable degree of morphological coherence areexceptional. At street level too, they argue. architecturalvariety is more common than uniformity. In addition theycorrectly stress that an army of individuals besides majorlandlords were activelyengaged in improvement schemes butthey do not have much to say about this important dimension.

The social context of improvement forms the substance of thesecond chapter which is mainly devoted to a critical gloss ofthe literature on this topic. It is examined under the followingheadings. namely; the landowning elites in eighteenth andnineteenth century Ireland; landlords and tenants andlandlords. estates and their management. They argue that thisclass was by no means monolithic, nor was it uniform. hencetheir capacity to expedite change was often severelyencumbered.

The third chapter deals with the difficulties of arriving at anacceptable definition of settlement improvement which couldcommand support. Some 750 settlements fall into the"improved" category c.1840 on the basis of a checklist oftraits. Strangely this important catalogue is relegated to anappendix at the end of the work. The employmentof a f1lterofthis kind. the authors admit. raises its own problems becausechange was often incremental and. or. sponsored by differentagents. It is a pity then that there is no inventory ofsettlements so the reader could assess the logic of theirclassificationbut space constraints impose obvious problems.For these reason the classification procedure on figure 13could do with more explanation, and. as this is an importantmap. would not a full page reproduction have been better?Finally their useful map (Fig. 18), which depicts the ratio ofimproved towns to cultivated areas raises interestingquestions. one of which might be. the ratio of plannedsettlements to all other urban settlements per county.

Motivations for improvement are the concern of the nextchapter and here political. social and aesthetic considerationare singled out for attention. Chapter five examines theprincipal processes claimed by the authors to be responsiblefor propelling the ethos of improvement into built realities. Aconsideration of the chronologyof improvementcompletes theanalysis and here the role of tenurial practise and the agencyof institutions are evaluated.

On balance then the authors deserve to be congratulated forthis addition to the literature. but it is clear that they have yetto make available a more detailed report on their ongoingresearch on settlement improvements in Ireland.

PATRICKO'FLANAGANDEPARfMENTOFGEOGRAPHYUNIVERSI1YCOLLEGE.CORK.

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PAST PERCEPTIONS: the Prehistoric Archaeologyof South-West Ireland, E.Shee-Twohig and M.

Ronayne (eds), Cork University Press 1993 183ppIR£17.95 pb.

ISBN 0-902561-89-8

This volume contains sixteen papers presented at a conferenceheld in University College Cork in February 1992, and twoadditional papers outlining the results of research projects inthe region. South-west Ireland is defined by the editors ascounties Cork. Kerry and Limerick. although South Tipperaryand Clare are included in some of the contributions.

The contents are divided into three sections of which the firstand largest. Interpreting the Past, has thirteen papers rangingfrom period surveys (Mesolithic to late Bronze Age) to in-depthstudies of individual sites. site-types and chronology. Thesecond section, Surveying the Past, which has three papers onthe process of making archaelogical surveys, would have beeninconceivable little more than a decade ago when surveys weresecond-fiddle to excavations in the profession. The finalsection of the book. Perceptions of the Past, contains tworeflective papers that seek to direct our thoughts to what weneed to do next.

Settlement historians will find comparatively little to interestthem in this volume: only one paper - that by Doody - dealsexplicitly with settlement. although articles on the sites atFerriter's Cove and Lough Gur, and on the evidence for earlyfarming in the south-west. are among a number relevant tothe subject. Much of the record for the prehistoric south-westis comprised of artefacts and so-called "ritual" monuments,and settlement patterns can only be guessed at from thedistributions of these two bodies of material; early prehistoricdomestic sites in Ireland are generally found by chance ratherthan by design: thus. for example, the two sites described byDoody in his paper only became known when the Cork-Dublinnatural gas pipeline was being laid a decade ago.

If there is a weakness in the book it has to do with thecontextualisation of the data presented. Nobody coulddisagree with the editors in their assertion that "considerationshould be given to local. regional, national and intemationaltrends when examining the prehisotry of a particular area"(p156). But there is a tendency among the contributors. and itis particularly noticeable among those dealing with the EarlyBronze Age, to treat the south-west in isolation when theymove from the description of material into analysis. At worstthe narrow geographical perspective is misleading to the non­specialist because it wrongly gives the impression that certainclasses are confined to. or are most numerous in, the south­west; at best it is simply a missed opportunity to put theregional record in a context that allows us assess itssignificance. O'Brien, for example. who makes available anddiscusses radiocarbon dates from wedge tombs in the south­west. barely acknowledges the existence of such tombselsewhere in Ireland in his discussion of the origins of thistype of monument. Walsh makes use of the evidence of surveyrather than excavation in his account of stone circles andalignments, but again. if discussion of date and context is tobe of value. it requires some allusion to the presence of thesemonuments elsewhere in Ireland. O'Sullivan and Sheehanclaim that Rock Art is "predominantly a phenomenon ofpeninsular Kerry" (p75); what about the concentrations ofRock Art in places as far flung as Carlow. Kilkenny.Louth/Monaghan and Donegal?

The Hnal two papers in the volume actually bear out this pointabout broader context: that by the editors. entitled of "A NewAgenda: the South-West and Beyond," provides a summary ofsorts, and raises questions that the editors might have asked

13

their contributors to address in their papers. The other paper.by Bradley. is explicitly about questions; in a short essay ofabout 2,500 words, he asks no less than 17 questions. manyof which, again. have to do with broader, contextual.interpretation.

This criticism apart, there is much of value here, and wemight not only congratulate the editors but marvel at theirsuccess in extracting texts from contributors and getting theminto print so soon after the conference. The retail price of£17.95 is steep for a small format (I8.5cm x 24.5cm)paperback of only 183 pages, but it is what we have come toexpect of new books. One quibble with the publishers:margins less than lcm wide are unattractive and unwieldy.

TADHG O'KEEFFEUNIVERSITYCOLLEGE.

DUBLIN.

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DECODING THE LANDSCAPE, edited by TimothyCollins, Galway: Centre for Landscape Studies,

University College, Galway, 1994. 170pp.IR£12.00 pb ISBN 0-907775-70-5

As the editor of this collection suggests, the landscape holdsout the promise of forming a true integrating object of study ina world fragmented by specialisms. This book presents thework of scholars in various disciplines, all of them sharing acommon interest in the landscape in its visible, cultural,literary and metaphysical dimensions. There are geographers,an anthropologist, a landscape specialist. a map maker,English and Irish literary scholars, a broadcaster. a poet andan army officer. This review will focus on a selection of thepapers. which vary in quality reflecting in some cases a rathereccentric editorial policy with not a few typographical errors. Acouple of the papers. for example, appear to have beenpublished as they were spoken which gives them a somewhatdisjointed feel.

Leersen's paper examines the emergence of the Celtic fringe asa chronotype of a peripheral, rural. sublime and timelessworld on the westem edge of civlilisation - "a transitional zonebetween the historical reality of the mainland and the etemaldreamscape of the ocean". This is an interesting analysis of awider European intellectual tradition which emerged in the18th century Romantic movement and which was furtherdeveloped by the late 19th century Celtic revivalists. Thesewere the landscapes celebrated by Synge and Paul Henry inpen and paint which continue today in the images of tourismand the imagination of the City. This interesting theme isfurther elaborated in a provocative paper by Sheeran whichlooks at the narrative construction of place - especially asrepresented by WE Yeats. Sheeran looks at landscapes astexts: "land and place are made up of language as much as, ifnot more than. they are made of earth and buildings". Heexamines the intertextual implications of landscapes where"the boundaries between fiction and reality blur and scriptsand simulations of the real become more real than realityitself". Innisfree means little without Yeats and Lough Gill onlybecomes meaningful as the location of the hazel wood wherethe wandering Aengus caught the silver trout! It is appropriatefor a literary scholar to emphasise the significance oflandscape as a locus of stories. fables. texts. narratives, amode of representation which. the author notes. continues tosee the west of Ireland as a timeless holy place.

These sentiments on the west of Ireland are echoed in KevinWhelan's essay rejecting Estyn Evans' preoccupation with thisregion as a timeless refuge of settlement patterns and ways of

life. The rundale settlements can be seen more clearly when"the Celtic twilight has been dispersed". Whelan distinguishesbetween the 'old' and the 'new' west - the latter representingmarginal landscapes reclaimed late in the 18th century in faceof demographic explosion and the non-intervention oflandowners with no commercial interest in the land. Thehouse clusters with their rundale agricultural practices and"the extraordinary lazy-bed landscapes" were. he says,landscapes of necessity and a triumph of demography overdeterminism. John Andrews is quoted with relish tomemorably explain once more the preoccupation with the westof Ireland as the truly Irish region: many scholars "longed tofind. back there at the end of the historical rainbow, a crock oftwenty-four carat genuine Irish gold", which has led manygeographers. in Whelan's view. to seek "a will-o·-the-wisp ...amyth of the west". The paper by Cawley and Ni Scannliiin. is adescriptive analysis of the evolution of just the kind of regiondiscussed by Whelan. looking at settlement. population andlandholding patterns in Connemara before and after theFamine.

Tim Robinson gives an account of one man's attempt to mapthe depth and diversity of the landscape as he experienced it.literally - in its physical, topographical manifestation. His is alandscape of quartzites. brown peats and plants, slippery wetwith rain and intimately named by the local community. But"such knots of significant place can hardly be conveyed in amap alone" and so Robinson's maps are supplemented bytexts designed to convey the comprehensiveness of hislandscapes. And so the pursuit of his "Connemara fractal"continues, visiting every nook and cranny in an endlesspursuit of ultimate completeness. Marie Bourke examines therole of landscape painters from the 18th century romanticlandscapes of Roberts to the rain-laden skies and yellowthatch of Paul Henry in the 20th century. 0 Madagiiin's paperlooks at an under researched area in Irish landscape studies ­the picturesque in Gaelic tradition. Merriman is given as anexample, but presumably the fairly sudden eclipse of thenative language meant that such a landscape tradition nevermatured.

Collins' account of the Clare Island survey by Praeger and hisnaturalist colleagues for the RIA in the early years of thiscentury is a classic example of an early field study involving arange of disciplines. They sought an island in the western sea,a sort of naturalists' Elysium - the kind of place the GSIHS isconstantly seeking as a venue for its annual conferences! As afollow-up field study is currently underway on Clare Island,which has broadened the study to take account of culturaland social patterns, perhaps this would be a good choice!

Decoding the landscape is a stimulating mixture of papers,occasionally marred by variations in quality and in editorialcontrol. Hopefully the UCG Centre for Landscape Studies willcontinue to produce material like this.

PJ DUFFYST. PATRICK'SCOLLEGE,

MAYNOOTH.

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DOUGLAS HYDE, BUILDING ON THE PAST,Urban change and archaeology, Environmental

Institute, University College, Dublin, 1993,124pp. IR£12,OO pb.

This is very practical book. written in response to the needs ofthe growing heritage movement. It will be of use to students,planners, developers and also to the many action groupsaround the country who are involved in promoting

14

conservation or opposing occasional destructive developmentprojects in towns. Its author is an experienced town planner.currently Senior Planner with south Dublin County Council.who has lectured in UCD and TCD for many years.

Among other things. this book's well laid out chapters look atthe law as it relates to urban renewal and archaeology ­discussing the scope and purpose of Development Plans. themeaning of terms like "proper planning and development" andcompensation. the law relating to EIA and the Urban Renewallegislation of the 80s - all given with examples from case law.Discussion on policy in relation to urban renewal in Irishtowns and cities will be especially useful. He looks at thepractice of planning and urban renewal and the currentavailability of an increasing amount of information forplanners (and the public) in contrast to the early days ofplanning in the 60s. Policy and practice in our nearestneighbours, Great Britain and Northern Ireland. are detailedbecause we have a lot to learn from experience there, wheremany of the lessons in urban renewal and its implications forurban heritage emerged earliest.

Many things have changed about attitudes to Irish townstoday. This contrasts with Frank O'Connor's caustic commenton the dullness of Irish towns in the fifties. when he said thatthey all seemed to him "to be exactly alike .. with the samepessimistic-looking Protestant church and the same optimisticCatholic one. the same market-place and the same monumentto some national hero whom nobody ever heard of'. There isnow a much greater awareness of the diversity of our townsand the value of their archaeological heritage. Although thereare occasional examples of philistinism on the part ofauthorities or developers, there is now a greater alertness tothe dangers to the fabric of our towns.

Douglas Hyde's book will prove to be a valuable contributionto urban conservation and his clear and crisp writing style.with not one redundant sentence, will make it easilyaccessible to everyone.

PJ DUFFYST. PATRICK'SCOLLEGE,

MAYNOOTH.

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FIRE AND SWORD: SORLEY BOY MacDONNELLANDTHE RISE OF CLAN !AN MOR, 1538-90. ByJ. Michael Hill. Pp xiii, 321. London: the Athlone

Press. 1993. £32.00 Stg.

CIVILWAR AND RESTORATION IN THE THREESTUARf KINGDOMS: THE CAREER OF RANDALMacDONNELL, MARQUIS OF ANTRIM, 1609-83.By Jane H, Ohlmeyer. Pp xxiii, +357. Cambridge:

University Press. 1993 £45.00 Stg.

Any traveller along the spectacular Antrim coast road cannotbut be made deeply conscious of the close proximity ofScotland which is so clearly visible to the east across theNorth Channel. It was across this narrow strait that the firstsettlers came to Ireland 8,000 years ago to initiate a pattern ofmigration, backwards and forwards, that in one form oranother has endured to the present day. One aspect of thatmovement of peoples was the fifteenth - and sixteenth ­century expansion to the Glynns and the Route of northAntrim of the MacDonnell Lordship of the Isles. the majorpower on the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland atthe time.

Professor J. Michael Hill's Fire and sword is a straight forward

account of the details of the successful achievement of thatpenetration and its consolidation in the face of oppositionfrom all sides between the years 1538 and 1590. He attributesmuch of the credit for this success to Sorley Boy Macdonnell.a shrewd sibling of the Lord of the Isles. who was entrustedwith management of the MacDonnells' Irish affairs throughoutmuch of this crucial period of the clan's history. Theculmination of Sorley's long career was the securing of royalrecognition to the MacDonnell claims in the Glynns and theroute. The footnotes suggest that the author has worked longand hard on the contemporary state papers. His book isstrong on the military. diplomatic and political aspects of theMacDonnell penetration, but beyond a brief acknowledgementof the importance of MacDonnell sea power in the form of theHighland galleys. he has little to say on the details ofmigration or settlement.

While the fortunes of the Scottish side of the family declined.Sorley Boy's son and successor Randal Arranach. later firstearl of Antrim. skilfully maintained the position at the time ofMacDonnells in Ireland by adapting well to change at the timeof the Ulster Plantation and placing the economy of thesettlement on a firm foundation. This base enabled his sonand successor. Randal. the second earl and first marquis ofAntrim, to become an important player on the royalist side inthe upheavels which led to the overthrow and death of KingCharles I, a dramatic series of events which convulsedScotland and Ireland as much as England, and continues tobe a major preoccupation of historians of the seventeenthcentury. A Scottish army crossed to Ireland at this time. whilean Ulster army went to Scotland. Randal was adept atsurviving it all, dying peacefully in his bed near Dunluce in1683. His descendants are still honourably represented in theAntrim Glynns to this very day.

CLARE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANDHISTORICAL SOCIETYANNUAL CONFERENCE

7th, to 9th. April. 1995Theme: 'Prehistoric Ireland'Venue: Queen's Hotel. Ennis

Programme and booking: Mr John Culliney (Hon. Sec.)Ballyalla. Ennis

ROSCREA SPRING CONFERENCEFriday 21st. to Sunday 23rd. April. 1995

Theme: 'Christianity and The Environment inthe Early Middle Ages'

Venue: Mount St. Joseph Abbey. Roscrea. Co. TipperaryProgramme and full particulars from: Mr George

Cunningham. M. Litt.. Parkmore. RoscreaCo. Tipperary. (0505/21619)

GROUP FOR THE STUDY OF IRISHHISTORIC SETTLEMENT

ANNUAL CONFERENCE 1995Friday 5th. to Sunday 7th. May 1995

Theme: 'Settlement in the Antrim Coast and Glens andthe influence of the narrow sea on Irish and

Scottish settlement patterns'Venue: Londonderry Arms Hotel. Carnlough. Co. AntrimLecturers will include Or. Cahal Dallat (Glens of Antrim

Historical Society); Or. Sean Duffy (Trinity College Dublin); Dr.T. E. McNeill (Queen's University. Belfast); Dr. Raymond

Gillespie (St. Patrick's College. Maynooth); Or. W. H. Crawford(Institute of Irish Studies. Queen's University. Belfast) ­

programme to be completed.

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GROUP NEWS

COMMITTEE 1994-95

Following the 1994 Annual General Meeting, held on Sunday15th. May. 1994, in conjunction with the annual confrence inYoughal, the Committee elected for the year 1994-95 was asfollows:-

Jane Ohlmeyer's biography of Randal, the second earl. placeshim firmly in his turbulent times, analyses his importantpolitical career, and assesses his character and attitudes withmore sympathy and comprehension than most scholarsheretofore. Her study is based on an exhaustive combing ofcontemporary sources - the accompanying bibliography is justshort of fIfty pages long! But. besides being, scholarly, herbook is a thoroughly good "read". Although her concern is notprimarily with settlement. she does have a certain amount tosay on that subject in relation to such matters as the earl'sprogressive management of his estates, his improvements atDunluce Castle. his relations with his kinsfolk and clansmen,and the movements of displaced people during hostillities.

Civil war and restoration in the three kingdoms may be ratedan outstanding contribution to Irish historiography, not aloneas the definitive treatment of its subject. but as a standardagainst which to measure all future biographies of otherseventeenth-century Irish personalities. Together withRaymond Gillespie's Colonial Ulster: the settlement oJ eastUlster 1600-1611 and Philip Robinson's The plantation oJUlster. the books under review would make an excellentpreparation, in respect of the early modem period, for theGroup's planned conference in County Antrim next May.

HARMANMURTAGH************

NOTICE BOARD

BALLYVAUGHAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL GROUPBURREN WEEKEND

Friday 3rd, to Sunday 5th. February. 1995Theme: 'Castles on the landscape, with particular

reference to the Burren'.Venue: Hyland's Hotel. Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare.

Secretariat: Mrs Mary Hawkes 065/77200 & 77091

15

President

Hon. Secretary

Hon. Treasurer

Hon. Editor

Committee

Dr. Anngret Sirnms, MRlAAssociate Professor ofGeography. UniversityCollege Dublin.

Mr. Michael O'Hanrahan.Kilkenny Archaeological Society.Kilkenny

Ms. Niamh Crowley. WaterfordTeachers' Centre, Waterford.

Or. Harman Murtagh. AthloneRegional Technical College.Athlone, Co. Westmeath.

Or. Kevin Whelan. BicentennialScholar. Royal Irish Academy.Dublin.

Dr. Patrick J. DuffyAssociate Professor ofGeography. St. Patrick's College.Maynooth. Co. Kildare.

Mr. Charles Doherty,Dept. of Early Irish History,University College. Dublin.

Mr. Niall McCullough.partner McCullough and MulvinArchitects, Dublin.

Mr. Tadgh O'Keeffe,Dept. of ArchaeologyUniversity College, Dublin.

GROUP PUBLICATIONS

With the launch. at the 1994 annual conference in Youghal. ofUrban Improvement is Provincinl Ireland, 1700-1840 by BrianJ. Graham and Lindsay Proud foot. the Group now has twomonographs in its series Irish Settlement Studies in printsimultaneously. The other is No. 3. The Geography andPractice oJEnglish Colonisation in IrelandJrom 1534 to 1609 byRolf Loeber. No. 1. Anglo Norman Settlement in Ireland, also byBrian J. Graham {l985} and No. 2. Irish Tower Houses - aCounty Tipperary case study. by Conrad T. Cairns (1987), arenow out of print.

The joint authors of Urban Improvement in Provincinl Ireland,1700-1840 are Brian J. Graham of the University of Ulster atColeraine. a former president of the Group. and LindsayProudfoot of the School of Geosciences at the Queen'sUniversity. Belfast. The latest monograph deals with themorphology and social context of urban improvement between1700 and the middle of the nineteenth century. the natureand distribution of small-town and village foundation andimprovement. the role of the landowning elite and theprocesses and chronology of urban improvement during theperiod.

Both No. 3 - The Geography and Practice oJ EnglishColonisation in Ireland, 1534-1609 and No. 4, UrbanImprovement in Provincinl Ireland, 1700-1840, are availablefrom the Hon. Editor. Or. Harman Murtagh. Mount View,Athlone at IR£6.00 including postage and packaging, and fromselected bookshops.

Matthew Stout. Department of Geography, Trinity College,Dublin. is at work on No. 5 in the series. which will have as itssubject Ringforts in Ireland, and will be published as soon asthe costs of No. 4 have been recouped. This is now likely to bepublished in 1996 in conjunction with the annual conference.

In the meantime Or. T. B. Barry is busy overseing thepublication of the much awaited review of twenty-five years ofIrish Settlement Studies to be published by Routledge.hopefully in 1995.

EDITOR

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ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 1995

The 1995 annual conference (5th to 7th May) will be held inthe Glens of Antrim at Carnlough. The conference venue willbe the Londonderry Arms Hotel. built in the mid-nineteenthcentury by the Marchioness of Londonderry, probably as aninn for visitors whom she did not wish to entertain at GarronTower. and subsequently inherited by her great-grandson, SirWinston Churchill. who sold it in1926. Carnlough nestles onCarnlough bay. at the foot of Glencloy; after Glenarm thesouthernmost of the nine 'Glens of Antrim', on the coast roadbuilt between 1832 and 1842, by The Men oJ the Glynnes'under the supervision of the Scottish engineer. William Bald.(At the time of its construction it was the biggest civilengineering project in Ireland costing £37.000). Bald's roadwas a military road designed to open up the Glens. whichwere perceived as disaffected. Despite the arrival of the roadand. later in the century, the railway, the Glens retained theirown identity and Irish was spoken here into the last quarter ofthe nineteenth century. Hurling remains a popular sport andthere are hurling clubs in Glenarm, Glenariffe, Cushendall.Carey and Ballycastle.

The Scottish coast is visible from north east Antrim with. onclear days, views of the Mull of Kintyre and Ailsa Craig. At

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Torr head. the narrowest crossing point, the sea is only twelvemiles wide. From Fair head the islands of Arran. Islay andJura may be seen. It is not surprising. therefore, that thehistory of this area is closely bound up with that of south­western Scotland. From 495 A.D., when Angus. Loarne andFergus, the sons of Erc, King of Dalriada. crossed the narrowsea and established themselves in what is roughly modernArgyle to institute the Scottish Dalriada. and long before, closeties have existed between Antrim and Scotland. Irishmissionaries are known to have crossed the narrow seaincluding St. Ciaran. who is commemorated in Kilkeeran inKintyre and, of course. St. Columba (Colum Cille) whojourneyed to Iona in 563.

In the thirteenth century the direction of migration wasreversed when, following their murder. in 1242. of the Earl ofAtholl. the Bisset family were banished from Scotland. but.instead of undertaking a penitential crusade to the Holy Land.crossed the narrow sea to Antrim. There they acquired, fromRichard de Burgo. Earl of Ulster. the territory of the Glens andRathlin island and built their first stone castle five miles northof Carnlough. at Red Bay. on the site of an earlier Normanmotte. Following his defeat at the battle Metheun. RobertBruce found refuge with the Bissets on Rathlin. from where hereturned to Scotland to defeat the English at the battle ofBannockburn. In 1306 Hugh Bisset suffered a temporary lossof his estates on Rathlin and in the Glens. to which he wassubsequently restored. These estates continued in Bissethands until John M6r MacDonnell, Lord of the Isles, marriedMargery Bisset. the sole heir to the Bisset patrimony inAntrim. in 1399. beginning a long period during which thehistory of north-east Antrim was to be bound up with theMacDonnells and their interactions with the McQuillans andO'Neills. Field trips. planned as part of the conferenceprogramme, will include visits to MacDonnell castles atDunluce (6th May) and Glenarm (7th May), the seat of thepresent Earl of Antrim.

The archaeological evidence bears witness to 9,000 years ofsettlement in the Antrim coast and glens. Flint implementshave been found on beach sites along the coast, while there isevidence of flint workings at Ballygalley and porcelain axefactory sites at both Tievebulliagh and on Rathlin island.There are significant court tombs at Glenaan ('Ossian's Grave')and at Glenmakeeran. Raths. cashels, crann6gs andsouterrains survive from the early christian period (5th. to11th centuries). Remains of medieval churches are to befound at Layd (near Cushendall) and Bunamargy Frairy(Franciscan: near Ballycastle) built in 1485 by Rory McQuillanand paradoxically, the resting place of Sorley Boy MacDonnell.All that remains of another Franciscan friary, built at Glenarmby Robert Bisset in 1465. are a few carved stones preserved inthe Church of Ireland parish church.

Full particulars of the conference programme of lectures andfield trips and including accommodation list. conference fee,etc. will be sent to paid-up members in early March 1995

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SUBSCRIPTION NOTICE

The annual subscription for 1994-95 (IR£5; students IR£3)was due on 1st. May. 1994. This may be sent direct to theHon. Treasurer or paid by Bank Standing Order. Asubscription renewal form incorporating a standing ordermandate, is included with this Newsletter.

Members who have not amended their bank standing order totake account of the increased subscription should nowcomplete a new standing order for the amended rate.

Copy for the next Newsletter should be sent to the:­Editor, Mr. Michael O'Hanrahan,

12 Oak Road, Duke's Meadows, Kilkenny,before 28th. February 1995.