![]() This well-intentioned move unfortunately succeeded in encouraging the mass felling of woodland by the Landlords who cashed in on their timber crops whilst the new tenant farmers further cleared the land for tillage and grazing. The passing of the land act of 1881 contributed further to the decline of Irish forestry as some of the huge estates largely held by absentee English Landlords were broken up and transferred to tenant farmers. A burgeoning population which had grown fourfold between 17, placed a massive burden on land necessitating the clearing of huge swathes of forestry for food and shelter. The Industrial revolution brought no respite from the decline of Irish woodland. Crown surveys concluded the following:ġ606 It is estimated that Shillelagh woods(in County Wicklow) could furnish the Crown with timber for 20 years.ġ608 The Country is abounding in timber mainly noble oaks fit for ship building. Through the 17 th and 18 th Centuries, the Crown’s insatiable demand for timber, especially oak, for shipbuilding fed the growing needs of a rapidly expanding navy and Empire. įrustrated by failed attempts to subdue the native Irish and bring them to heel she despatched Lord Mountjoy, her appointed Lord deputy of Ireland with orders for “the destruction of all woods to deprive the insurgents of shelter”.īetween 15 Low-land Scots and English Planters would systematically clear large areas of woodland for livestock pasture and tillage for crops. Ireland was England’s first overseas colony and in competition with their bitter rivals the Spanish, who were busy plundering the Americas, Elizabeth I had embarked on her own bid for European domination and was busying herself with ravaging her own conveniently located Eldorado. ![]() Irish oak was highly valued not just for its use in the manufacture of the mundane items of commerce and industry (barrel staves, planks and charcoal etc), its mighty beams and roof crucks also graced the majestic heights of the Greatest gothic Cathedrals in England Exeter, Canterbury and the then tallest building in the World, Salisbury Cathedral. Under the Normans, Ireland would become one of the most heavily castellated territories in Europe. The Normans would set up baronies and embark on massive Castle building programmes which would necessitate the felling of thousands of trees to facilitate agriculture and settlement and to remove potential cover for native Irish attackers. Brehon law would however persist until the 1600’s until the total subjugation of the Irish Clan system was complete. With the arrival of the Normans in 1169 colonisation and dispossession would largely destroy this equilibrium, brutally sweeping aside the old ways of the Irish, establishing feudal law and centuries of repression. Christianity would be the first assailant of this belief system resulting in a unique form of Irish Christianity a co-opted amalgam of the two beliefs. Fairy trees Lone Hawthorn and Ash trees incongruously standing sentinel in Irish fields have become an iconic symbol of rural Ireland and are still places of pilgrimage and devotion.īrehon law helped to encourage a more holistic, animistic, attitude towards nature promoting a realisation of the symbiotic relationship between man and nature. Hawthorn and Yew were held in particularly high esteem as they are rich in medicinal properties and were imbued with spiritual and magical significance. ![]()
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