Bogs
Bog of Allen Map, by Richard Griffith, 1810
Map showing part of the Bog of Allen in the Co. Kildare region. This shows the Bog of Allen as it was mapped by Richard Griffith, a Bog Commissioner, in 1810. The Bog Commissioners were responsible for organising the surveying and mapping of Ireland's bogs. Their task was to assess the bogs with a view to their drainage and possible use for tillage.
Bog of Allen Map, by Richard Griffith, 1810
Map showing part of the Bog of Allen in the Co. Kildare region. This shows the Bog of Allen as it was mapped by Richard Griffith, a Bog Commissioner, in 1810. The Bog Commissioners were responsible for organising the surveying and mapping of Ireland's bogs. Their task was to assess the bogs with a view to their drainage and possible use for tillage.
Bogland is a highly distinctive and major feature of the Irish landscape. Produced under particular climate conditions and facilitated by the impeded drainage that followed the last Ice Age, there are two major types: Blanket bogs, which are relatively thin and are widespread in upland areas and in the west, and Raised bogs Bogland near Allenwood Courtesy of Dr. Arnold Horner.Bogland near Allenwood
In parts of east Galway, around Clonfert for example, the raised bogs reach depths of over ten metres. West of Lough Corrib however, much thinner blanket bog makes a thin cover across the rocky, lake-strewn Connemara lowland between Roundstone and Clifden.
Bogland Areas in Ireland
A widely-accepted estimate is that around 15% of Ireland has been covered by one or other of these bog types. Particularly in lowland Ireland, many bogland areas have been drained, cut away or otherwise modified in recent centuries. A continuing debate focuses on the future use of cutaway bog and on the preservation of the relatively-few remaining little-modified bogs such as that at Clara in west Offaly.
The ruins of the early Christian monastery at Monaincha near Roscrea now stand in a landscape quite different to the original setting. As its name implies, this was móin inse Cré 'bog-island of Cré', also known as Loch Cré, and the monastery stood on a small ridge in some isolation. This site may have acted as a retreat for the much larger early Christian monastic complex at Roscrea.
In Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland (1790), a map shows the monastic site set in a lake or marsh, with 'old fish ponds' nearby. This boggy area was drained about 1800. The map says parts of the area were once a wood. To-day the monastic ruins still stand in isolation, but now the surrounds are a grassy field with little sign of the former lake. Across Ireland, many similar landscape transformations have happened, over many centuries and many of them unrecorded in documents.
Bogland Map
The distribution rainfall in the different types bog in Ireland.
Source: The Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape (1997) p. 107.Bogland Map - Source: The Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape (1997) p. 107.
Ruins of Monaincha monastery, near Roscrea, once in a boggy marsh.
The ruins of the early Christian monastery at Monaincha near Roscrea are illustrated here and now stand in a landscape quite different to the original setting.
Courtesy of Arnold Horner 2006.Ruins of Monaincha monastery, near Roscrea, once in a boggy marsh. - Courtesy of Arnold Horner 2006.
Map of Monaincha in 1799.
This map shows the monastic site in a lake or marsh, with 'old fish ponds' nearby.
Map from Antiquities of Ireland by Ledwich 1799Map of Monaincha in 1799. - Map from Antiquities of Ireland by Ledwich 1799
Bogland close to Allenwood
A piece of bogland near Allenwood.
Courtesy of Dr. Arnold Horner.Bogland close to Allenwood - Courtesy of Dr. Arnold Horner.
Templetuohy Bog
A photograph of a raised bog development near Templetuohy, Co. Tipperary.
Courtesy of Dr. Arnold HornerTempletuohy Bog - Courtesy of Dr. Arnold Horner
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