Further reading and websites

General texts

  • Aalen, F.H.A., Whelan, K. and Stout, M. (eds). Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape, Cork: Cork University Press, 1997.
  • Holland, Charles H. The Irish Landscape: a Scenery to Celebrate, Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, 2003.
  • Jebb, Matthew and Crowley, Colm. Secrets of the Irish Landscape. Dublin. 2013.
  • McArdle, Peadar. The Irish Landscape An All Ireland Exploration Through Science and Literature. Dublin, Liffey Press, 2015.
  • Mitchell, Frank and Ryan, Michael. Reading the Irish Landscape, Dublin: Town House, 1997 [earlier versions published as The Irish Landscape (1976) and The Shell Guide to Reading the Irish Landscape (1986)].
  • O'Dwyer, Patrick E.F. The Irish Landscape in photographs and maps, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan (1991; features analyses of Ordnance Survey 1:126,720 'half-inch' maps).
  • Somerville-Large, Peter and Hawkes, Jason. Ireland from the air London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1997.
  • In Brian Lalor (ed), The encyclopaedia of Ireland, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2003, particularly relevant articles are 'Agriculture', pp.11-12 by Paddy Smith, 'Agriculture: changing nature and distribution', pp. 13-14 by James Walsh, 'Geological landscape', pp. 434-5 by Adrian Philips, 'Glaciation', pp. 440-1 by Colman Gallagher, and 'Land', pp.605-6 by Anne-Marie Cunningham.

More specialised texts

  • Feehan, John and O'Donovan, Grace. The bogs of Ireland, Dublin: UCD Environmental Institute, 1996.
  • Heritage Council. Policy paper on Ireland's landscapes and the national heritage, Kilkenny: Heritage Council, 2002.
  • Herries Davies, Gordon L. and Stephens, Nicholas. Ireland, London: Methuen & Co., 1978 [Part of a university-level 'Geomorphology of the British Isles' series].
  • Holland, Charles H. (ed). The geology of Ireland, Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, 2001.
  • Parkes, Matthew P. (ed). Natural and cultural landscapes - the geological foundation. Proceedings of a conference 9-11 September 2002. Dublin Castle, Ireland. Dublin: RoyalIrishAcademy, 2004.
  • Phillips, Adrian. The pre-quaternary evolution of the Irish landscape, Dublin: Royal Dublin Society, 2001.

Ordnance Survey publications

  • Maps produced by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and by the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland offer graphic, and highly informative, depictions of the Irish landscape at a variety of scales. Particularly useful, and widely on sale, are the 'Discovery Map' series at the scale of 1:50,000 (where a one centimetre length represents 0.5 km). These maps cover Ireland in 89 sheets and have contour lines showing relief at ten metre height intervals. They are especially useful for local area studies. The four 'Holiday Maps' at the 1:250,000 scale (where a one centimetre length is 2.5 kilometres) afford broader regional perspectives. For further details see www.osi.ie and www.osni.gov.uk/.

Geological Survey websites and publications

  • The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) maintains an excellent website at www.gsi.ie. Besides providing comprehensive information on GSI activities, this site contains a highly informative 'Geology for Everyone' section.
  • As well as producing a wide range of more specialised maps and other publications, the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland are associated with a range of publications that are aimed at wider, less technically-oriented, audiences. These include the following:
  • Andrew Sleeman, Brian McConnell and Sarah Gatley. Understanding Earth Processes, Rocks and the Geological History of Ireland: a companion to the 1:1,000, 000 scale Bedrock Geological Map of Ireland. Dublin: Geological Survey of Ireland, 2005. {Particularly intended as a teaching resource for second level schools, this 120pp.book comes with a coloured geological map and a CD of the illustrations).
  • Karst Working Group. The Karst of Ireland: Limestone landscapes, caves and groundwater drainage systems. Dublin: Geological Survey of Ireland, 2001.
  • Under the 'Landscapes from Stone' logo, a series of walking and driving guides, focused on geological themes, have been produced for twelve northern counties.
  • Regular updates on Geological Survey of Ireland activities, together with short articles on topical aspects, appear in GSI News (three times a year).

Other relevant works

  • J.H. Andrews. 'The geographical element in Irish history', pp. 1-31 in D. O Croinin (ed), Prehistoric and Early Ireland, Volume 1 of A New History of Ireland. Oxford: University Press, 2005.
  • Samuel Beckett. More Pricks Than Kicks. Republished edition, London: Calder & Boyars, 1970.
  • J.P.Haughton. 'The physical environment', pp. 33-48 in D. O Croinin (ed), Prehistoric and Early Ireland, Volume 1 of A New History of Ireland. Oxford: University Press, 2005.
  • http://earth.google.com/
  • Hambiln, W.Kenneth Hamblin and Christiansen, Eric H. Earth's Dynamic Systems. 10th edition, Upper Saddle River New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004.