Settlement development and trading in Ireland, 1600-1800

The significance of trading activity as a stimulus to the growth of new settlement and indeed to the expansion of existing settlement has been recognised as crucial in many societies, past and present. But in Ireland little or no attention has been paid to trading activity as a catalyst of urban or proto-urban evolution. The study of settlement form rather than of settlement function has acted as the focus of most rural settlement studies in Ireland, and hence the analysis of generative processes has been relatively neglected. Recently Irish settlement studies have become more broadly based, with a wider range of investigative approaches being applied,' and results from some of these approaches are revealing the existence of much more complex and varied conditions affecting settlement trends, with massive and profound changes even in the most recent past. Our task here in this preliminary review is relatively simple; it is to suggest that an examination of the changing patterns of market location may provide a general pointer to shifts in regional economic performance over time; secondly, we wish to make an initial exploration of the general impact of market functions on settlements themselves

Placenames and change in the Irish landscape

This book had its origins in a Thomas Davis lecture series broadcast by Radió Teilifís Éireann in 1984 under the title ‘Ireland: the geographic dynamic’. Twelve speakers dealt in broad outline with the evolution of the land, countryside and urban places of Ireland from the perspective of geography. They were primarily concerned with the role of human activity in creating places within the constraints of the natural environment. Illustrations have been added to provide a reference frame for the narrative

Rural change south of the river Bride in counties Cork and Waterford: the surveyors' evidence 1716–1851

Estate studies in Irish historical geography have been often designed to confirm or contrast local trends of development with those previously identified at the regional or sub-regional level. To date, little attention has been awarded to estate maps in studies of rural landscape change. It is a theme of this paper that the results yielded from a careful study of such estate maps can throw light on the results of the activities of the majority of estate residents. In this regard, it is fortunate that at Lismore surveys of the estate in 1716–17 and 1773–4 have survived, and a nineteenth century dimension is added by an analysis of the Valuation Office maps for 1851. This work is focused on a study of critical indicators of change, notably leasing arrangements, farm size, rate and type of enclosure, infrastructural development and settlement growth. These changes are reviewed within the framework of the dialectic that developed between landlord or landlord-inspired management policies and the forces released locally by the vast bulk of the population. Broadly this analysis indicates some of the potential rewards which may be secured by detailed scrutiny of estate maps in conjunction with other estate records