Introduction
When you think of the ‘Irish Landscape’, what comes to mind?
It may be an image of rolling green hills, conjured up from descriptions of landscapes in famous Irish traditional songs, or from different postcards, posters, and media that circulate images of Ireland abroad to many diasporic communities and interested travellers alike.
This textbook explores intersections of the Irish landscape in relation to (1) physical geography; (2) cultural geography; and (3) human geography. In doing so, the different case studies will ask you to consider how physical landscapes shape people’s socioeconomic lives and the cultures they engage with, but also how people play a role in changes to the physical landscape (for better or worse), playing a role in the sustainability and vibrancy of the land for future generations.
In this textbook, we unpack the Irish landscape in its many forms: rural, urban, and suburban landscapes. We ask how these landscapes have changed over time, including environmental changes. For example, we will learn about Ceide Fields, where a farming community evolved into to a bog, and again into the tourist site found in county Mayo today. We will look at the development of Dublin as a viking settlement, and also learn about the contemporary redevelopment of Dublin’s urban centres, such as Dublin’s docklands.
The textbook asks how people have both shaped the Irish landscape past, present and future, as well as how people influence ideas, policies, and histories of the Irish landscape. Likewise, this textbook explores how the Irish landscape shapes people’s lives economically, culturally, socially, and politically.
While this textbook focuses on the Irish landscape, many of its takeaways are pertinent to the reader’s perceptions and understandings of their own environments, irregardless of where you are reading this textbook from. As such, I encourage you to make links and applications of some of the core themes in this textbook (such as environmental issues, gentrification, land and power, and the cultural meaning of space and land) to your own regional context, whether in Ireland or abroad.
The Book
Each chapter in this book presents two case studies connected by a core theme. The chapters reveal a myriad of insights on the physical, cultural, and human experiences and changes relating to the Irish Landscape. These case studies will ideally inform readers’ future understandings and imaginings of the Irish Landscape:
Chapter 1 explores the ‘making of the Irish landscape’ over time through two case studies. First, the chapter explores the coming together of two land masses to create the island of Ireland as we know it today, focussing on the site of Clogherhead. Second, this chapter details the discovery of an ancient farming system under a bog, detailing the extent of history buried beneath Ireland’s contemporary landscape.
Chapter 2 explores the makeup of the Irish map through details about provinces, counties, and county towns. It also provides information on the province of Ulster and the country of Northern Ireland, UK; this is relevant contextual information required for a full in-depth understanding of subsequent case studies in this textbook.
Chapter 3 is all about Dublin! This chapter explores urban development historically over time (thinking about Dublin’s transitions from Anglo-Normany settlement, to Medieval Dublin, to Georgian Dublin, to present day Dublin). We explore major systems that relate to money, power and land, such as colonialism and gentrification in Dublin in both historical and contemporary contexts.
Chapter 4 looks at environmental changes to the North and South of the island, starting with Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland and moving on to Drummin Bog in County Carlow, Republic of Ireland. We will look at factors that have caused environmental crises in both of these locations, and how these factors relate to human geography (as they pertain to economic, political, and sociocultural aspects). At the same time, this chapter looks at the important work of environmental activist and community workers who are fighting to implement changes for the future sustainability of these landmarks and their surrounding regions’ inhabitants, wildlife, and landscape.
Chapter 5 explores Ireland’s waterways through two case studies: The River Shannon that runs north-to-south on the western side of the island, and the Grand Canal, that spans east-to-west from Dublin to the River Shannon across the middle of Ireland. These two case studies reveal the important intersections of waterways with human settlement, migration, employment, trade, and culture. What is unique in this chapter is the juxtaposition of natural and man-made waterways: both reveal insights about Ireland’s changing landscape over time.
Chapter 6 examines Irish mountains, looking at two mountain landscapes to the east and west of the Republic of Ireland: Wicklow Mountains and McGillycuddy reeks. Along the way, this chapter shows the relationship between mountains and economic, religious, cultural, agricultural, and environmental life on the island, past and present.
Chapter 7 is the final chapter, that looks at how people create from the landscape through two case studies: first, the making of Aran sweaters from sheep wool, and second the production of butter from cows’ milk on the island. In both instances, we learn about cultural life through creation from the landscape, as well as environmental impacts of these practices. We further explore the global circulation of these creations and how this circulation shapes ideas of what the Irish landscape is in a global context.
