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Thread: Ancient Woodland is a scientific definition meaning a site which has always been wooded since 1600AD. There are less than 100 in Ireland. My favourite is Cratloe, Co Clare which was the centrepiece of my research
Ancient woods cover much less than 1% of the land area. 11% of Ireland is covered in modern forestry (10% of land is environmentally damaging Sitka Spruce). The highest concentration of ancient wood is in the Killarney National Park (pic, Tomies Wood, Killarney NP)
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Only Scots Pine, of conifer forestry trees, is native to Ireland. Another native is Yew. Ancient yew woodland occurs in the Killarney National Park. Yew trees were important up to late medieval times for bow making & were described there as an asset in the 16th C (pic) invasions
Scots Pine had been considered extinct as the last reference to them was in the 12th C. My supervisor, Prof Mitchell & I were keen to disprove their loss & in 2016, Alywnne McGeever . @AlwynneMcGeever
& he discovered native ones in E Clare using palynology! Brilliant work!
& he discovered native ones in E Clare using palynology! Brilliant work!
Palynology is where a core is taken of a bog. Pollen is laid down annually on the bog & survives protected in the moss as it grows. The core is sampled at intervals & inspected under a microscope & data extrapolated, carbon dated & read & vegetation identified
Most ancient woodland is at risk outside of the National Parks & those in the parks are being destroyed by non-native Rhododendron invasion. It looks pretty but it’s killing the oak trees slowly
Rhododendrons damage the balance of the wood by forming a dense canopy. This stops light getting thru to the woodland floor killing all woodland plants & tree seedlings. It acidifies rain & its leaves are acid. This damages the soil & kills the fungus trees rely on
In Ireland it’s hard to prove a wood is ancient as mapping was not widespread until the 18th C. There are the Petty maps (17thC) but these exclude valuable woodland where Petty planned to take that land for himself or his mates. OS maps begin mid 19thC
Woods survived as they were valuable & managed. In the 17th & 18th C this was for iron smelting in the main. Timber was poor as Irish oak is quick growing & waterlogged so cheap Baltic imports preferred for furniture & building. Here’s an Irish blast furnace
Medieval accounts for Ireland show that Irish woods were coppiced & managed. Also some woods were Daingeancoill - sanctuary woods where people were safe in times of war. The Killarney Yew Wood was one such
Many Irish believe that the English destroyed most Irish woods. That’s not true & is due in part to a famous 18th C poem (Kilcash) where wood is used as a metaphor for the demise of the local Butler aristocracy. It was the Celts who wiped out most woodland, centuries before
The Celts had sophisticated laws outlining fines for damage & use of trees. Ireland lost most of its trees with the Celtic ‘invasions’ & their increased cultural development by 700AD. Sophisticated culture need wood & a population to be fed with agricultural clearance
Much Irish writings & artefacts were destroyed in the centuries of war & destruction. However a surviving manuscript, Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh, describes hunting in Cratloe Wood in the 14th C. Mention of a wood is v rare.
Even rarer was to find artefacts from Cratloe that were medieval. The 12th C St Mary’s Cathedral Limerick roof was constructed from Cratloe timber. The 15th C misericords (carved underside of tip-up seats) are of Cratloe oak & the only set in Ireland
The only certain way to prove antiquity is if you do a palynological study. I did & it is! Cratloe has some Pine & sweet chestnut trees planted in it. A 19th C diary of the forester I found in . @NLIreland noted their planting & conversion of the oak coppice to forest
What’s great about Cratloe is that it has been recorded in medieval sources, mapped from the 17th C & a source of nationally important artefacts. I also discovered that Elizabeth Bowen used it to symbolise the last of the Anglo-Irish leaving Ireland in her A World of Love (1954)
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Images used in this educational thread are mainly gathered from official sources. If one of these belongs to you please let me know & I’m happy to credit you or delete if you prefer. Images are used under fair use.
