Post-medieval upland settlement and the decline of transhumance: a case-study from the Galtee Mountains, Ireland

Hill farmers, habitats and time: the potential of historical ecology in upland management and conservation

“…Producing surpluses for these growing but fluctuating markets during an unpredictable Little Ice Age, while also trying to maintain adequate reserves of food at a local level, meant that farmers in the past had every reason not to manage the landscape in a stable way. The regional pollen record from Ballygisheen Bog just west of Glencar indicates a gradual increase in herbaceous pollen at the expense of trees beginning in the 16 th century, with grasses rising particularly strongly (Cole & Mitchell, 2003, Figure 4). Moreover, the rise in grass was not steady and some interruptions may relate to instances of strategic abandonment of land or reduced grazing in the surrounding hills, for instance, in reaction to some of the Little Ice Age's more severe events, like the 1740 Great Frost.…”

Liminal learning: Social practice in seasonal settlements of western Ireland

“…Nonetheless, in oral history, booley sites and the hills, bogs, and mountains to which cattle were typically brought during summer (see Costello, 2015; Gardiner, 2012; McDonald, 2014) are often portrayed as strange and even slightly dangerous cultural spaces. This “liminality” was rooted in the uncertainty which many people felt towards such landscapes.…”

“…They range in size from house-like structures with internal dimensions of 5.5 m by 3 m (in the Galtee Mountains) to relatively small huts measuring only 2 m by 1 m internally (the latter being most common in south Connemara). While Gardiner (2012) and Costello (2015) have both tentatively argued that square and rectangular high-walled structures post-date low-walled structures with curved walls, it is clear that the physical environment in which they were built is an equally if not more important factor in their appearance. As we have seen, the terrain of summer pastures is usually much rougher than that of improved farmland around home settlements.…”

“…And it had very significant impacts on contemporary land-use and settlement. In the Galtee Mountains, up to 4000 ha of what had been common pasture was encroached upon by tenant farmers and enclosed with landlord encouragement (Costello, 2015). Similar, albeit more organic expansion into uplands took place in Connemara and Donegal.…”

“…Distinguishable from booley sites due to their larger houses and surrounding improved land, these farmsteads were established on summer pastures during the early 19th century when population pressure was at its greatest by the coast. Pioneering farmsteads are even more common in the hill pastures of south-west Donegal (Costello, 2016b: 245–246), and although excavation has yet to test their origins, placenames and oral history suggest that many of them replaced older booley settlements (Costello, 2015: 62; McDonald, 2016: 62–63).…”