Heritage Happenings

Hawthorn, a plant almost oblivious to hardship, is part of the thorny rose family. Now it is in leaf, we will soon see it blossom with its foam of May flowers, unless it has been trimmed too soon or cut down to a quick. If hawthorn is not allowed to flower, then it cannot produce the shiny red haws on which the birds so depend in the autumn.

Most of our hedgerows have hawthorn, or whitethorn as their staple, stable-ising structure – their spiny interlocking branches form a great weft and weave supporting other weaker plants to climb and ramble such as dog roses and honeysuckle. In the summer evenings, the wonderful scent of honeysuckle will stop any walker and the moths in their tracks, as the plant waits till then to send out its fragrance so to attract its pollinating insects. Bats need decent hedgerows to forage along in the evenings too, catching midges and moths along its route. Walking along a hedge which luckily has some height and dappled shade will now bring you close to the speckled wood butterfly. It spins around with its mate in a flurry of aerial dancing in its chocolate brown and cappuccino colours.

Hedgerows were planted in the 18th and 19th century for farming, for shelter, control of livestock and to mark land holdings and townland boundaries. Some are remnants of older woodlands. In wetter places, they have a drain on one side, the digging out of the drain itself formed the material for the earthen bank upon which the hawthorn quicks were planted. Gloriously often called the sheugh, pronounced shuck or simply the ditch.

The Irish for hedge is sceach and hawthorn is sceach gheal. It was always thought unlucky to cut lone fairy bushes – those singular whitethorn trees, or to bring it indoors. Considered to be powerful tree, the Maguire chiefs were inaugurated at a thorn tree at Lisnakeagh fort in Fermanagh. Lios na Scéithe is fort of the whitethorn tree.

The more species in a hedge, the better for wildlife, for they are the conduits through which nature survives in the countryside. Birds, especially. What would our days be without birdsong? This is one of the reasons why it is strictly prohibited to cut hedges now, except for a limited number of exceptions. The new awful fashion to treat hedges as simply gappy dentils – low, waist height, only sticks really must be revisited and resisted. As one of the farmers said at the 2019 Farming for Nature awards, ‘if whitethorn is not allowed to bloom, you don’t have a hedge you just have a bundle of sticks’.

It is worth casting an eye on church buildings afresh, for they are longstanding bystanders to all sorts of comings and goings over the centuries. All sorts of people, clothed in various fashions of the day, travelling by foot, horse, carriage, bicycle and car have been through the doors on occasions, sad and happy.

In 1711, Queen Anne established the Board of the First Fruits to build and improve churches and glebe houses in Ireland for the established state church, the Church of Ireland. Apparently, she was persuaded by the giant of Gulliver’s Travels – Dean Jonathon Swift. Perhaps he had a little self-interest in the matter and may have been feeling the chill in a draughty glebe house. Someone said, “Many are cold, but none are frozen”.

Many small rural and some urban churches were built with assistance from the board, often with a common feature of a small, sturdy, square west tower with pinnacles on top. Spires were more expensive add on and required a wealthy benefactor or congregation. The architects had a fine eye for a prominent and aesthetic setting for these new churches, moving away but often not too far from the old medieval church sites.

Newbliss Church of Ireland is one of these First Fruit churches. According to architectural historian Kevin V.Mulligan, it is “an exacting small church, dramatically sited against a hillside on the edge of town with a tower bristling with needle-like pinnacles”. Donaghmoyne, now disused sitting on top a good steep incline also with its gothic hall and tower is also near the site of an ancient church. The Annals of Ulster record that in 832 the shrine of St Adamnan was taken by the Vikings. A shrine is decorated fine metal box containing the saint’s relics or bones. It was apparently on tour at the time.

The Board of the First Fruits lasted until 1833, when it was dissolved.
Have a look for some pinnacles, they are not so rare as needles in the haystack.

The photo is of Crossduff Parish Church, close to Lough Egish, a small chapel with its tower and pinnacles, beautifully surrounded by beech trees.

It is a clever and simple invention to capture the power of water, by spilling it into cascading buckets on a wheel, making it turn cogs and shafts. The industrial process of casting iron, pouring liquid iron like lava into moulds enabled the combination of timber and iron to create waterwheels.

Fred Hamond conducted an industrial survey of mills some years ago for the Monaghan Heritage Office. He identified 193 locations where mill once operated in the county, 165 of which used the renewable energy of water to power them. The water was abstracted by constructing a weir across a river or stream to divert some of it, so that it arrived at the waterwheel at a higher level than the river. The largest waterwheel, 25ft in diameter, in Monaghan was at Tullygillen Corn Mill, a few miles south of Monaghan town. Locally called corn, oats grew better in wet Monaghan soils than wheat so small corn mills were more common.

Neal Doran (1849 – 1937) of Derrynoose and Doohamlet, penned songs of local interest, people and places, that were recently compiled into a book by John Makem. Here are the first two verses of “The night of the big wind” –

In the year eighteen hundred and just sixty-four,
The likes in this country was ne’r seen before
The wind and the divil they made combine
And on that day they left nothing behind.

The flax over hedges and ditches was blew,
And besides all the stooks in the fields they were threw
The corn was threshed into straw on the hills
No business at all will we have for the mills.

The photo is of New Mills, Kilcran, outside of Glaslough. This fine mill has an internal waterwheel.

Day 32- Mostly known as Bulrush

Day 33- Gothic Monaghan

Day 34- Lost Book of Drumsnat

Where the lost things go?

Day 35- Purple blues – the bugle and the dead nettle

Day 36- Signal Cabins

There are a number of Black Islands in County Monaghan, but only the one with a life-size white sculpture. Amidst the former Dartrey Estate, situated on the island is a grief-stricken group of marble figures dating from 1774, housed in their very own classical temple.

The entire ensemble was commissioned by Lord Dartrey following the death of his young wife Anne in 1769. The temple is just that, it is not a burial place or mausoleum, but a memorial sculptural set, designed to be visible from his house, a private yet public declaration of love or maybe to record in stone his own grief. The square classical temple box in which it is housed was designed by James Wyatt. It has no windows, one light source only from above through the domed roof.

The marble figures and funerary urn are of Lord Dartrey himself, his young son and a beautiful angel with large feathered wings, gracing a cloud. The entire arrangement is most affecting. The sculpture was designed and carved by Joseph Wilton, one of the founding members of the Royal Academy.

After the estate was dismantled, the temple and sculpture fell into a ruinous state in the late twentieth century. One of the most amazing aspects of the story is the rescue. Through the valiant efforts of the Dartrey Heritage Group, the temple and Wilton’s grieving figures were rescued and restored in the early 21st century. The light shines on them once more.

The photo shows Noel Carney from the Dartrey Heritage Group at the sculpture in 2015.

A high proportion of our ancestors in the drumlin-wetland landscape were water people, living on artificial islands on lakes. Social distance by means of a watery protection, and a timber palisade which generally surrounded these sites.
Crannógs were built up with layers of stones, gravel, peat, brushwood, upon which the dwelling was built.

Archaeological investigations have shown that there was a wide time period of construction, from at least the bronze age to post-medieval times. Up to a few hundred years ago, therefore. Dendrochronology, or dating analysis of the timbers suggests a major period of building during the 6th and 7th centuries.

In Monaghan there are almost 90 recorded examples, in which antiquarians of the 19th century became interested when the agricultural drainage schemes dropped the water levels in lakes making the sites more visible and accessible.
E.P. Shirley of Lough Fea, Carrickmacorss investigated the Monaghan crannógs of Drummond Otra in Loughnaglack, Drumbo in Rahans Lough and Monaltyduff in Monalty Lough.
Artefacts from crannógs show that the sites were of high status, with evidence of metal working and crafts – bronze pins, knives and blades, thimbles, glass beads; tillage, commerce, music – harp pegs; food storage and fighting.

The St. Louis Secondary School in Monaghan town may be the only school in the country overlooking its own crannóg, that of the McMahons, now in the Convent lake, Mullaghmonaghan. This was MacMahons caislean or castle of MacMahon mentioned in 1492. The tops of four oak piles can be seen on the northern side still, and the boulder kerb can be seen beneath the water. Old maps and drawings show that once it had a slated house situated upon it.

The photo depicts part of the 1591 map of Monaghan showing Franciscan Abbey and Macmahoones house on the crannog, copied from the Historic Monument Viewer.

Day 39-Not so humble Bumblebees

Charles Darwin noticed that “humble-bees alone visit red clover, as other bees cannot reach the nectar”.  Humble not bumble bees was an old name, not in use since world war two, and Darwin was referring to their long tongues which allow them to collect nectar from flowers that are closed into a tube.

Bumblebees are plump, fuzzy, stout flying bees with bands of colour making up their dense pile, their varying stripes a good aid to tell which species is which, together with their tail colours in Ireland of white, buff or red. They can sting but they have no barbs on their sting so can survive an encounter.  Bumblebees form small colonies with one queen.  There are 14 species of true bumblebees in Ireland, and 6 cuckoo bumblebees which as their name suggests don’t bother making their own nests but invade instead, kill the resident queen, lay their own eggs which are then cared for by the workers.

Bumblebees usually forage within 200-500m of their nest, generally an underground disused mammal burrow, but the new queens will travel from 1-5km away from their birth nest to establish their own colony.

Sadly, due to habitat loss, pesticide usage and other human impacts one-third of all bees species in Ireland are threatened with extinction.  As three out of every four wild bees is a bumblebee and we rely on them to pollinate fruit and vegetables this is very bad news.  We drastically need to improve habitat, shelter and food for bumblebees and every little bit makes a difference.  Check out the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan website for resources and easy things you can do for bees at pollinators.ie and check out Gardening for Biodiversity by Juanita Browne available online as well.

J.K Rowling is an admirer of bumblebees and named the headmaster of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter books after an old name for the buzzy fuzzy batteries of nature – Dumbledor – “one of his passions is music and I imagined him walking around humming to himself”.

Day 40: The majestic bird of the uplands – Hen Harrier

Initially, it was thought that male and female Hen Harriers belonged to two different species, so unalike they appear – a touch of the “men are from mars, women are from Venus,” but that is all sorted out now. They are a majestic, daring and protected bird of prey, found in the uplands, and on Sliabh Beagh – the upland plateau joining Monaghan, Tyrone and Fermanagh.

Their scientific name Circus cyaneus captures a part of their behaviour and personality, astonishing circular aerial acrobatic displays called sky dancing which the male performs to impress the female during courtship. She is hard to impress. The male rise high in the sky and then suddenly plummets to the ground in a series of somersaults, twits and corkscrews, to all intensive purposes seemingly bound to crash, when he halts his screech to the ground and rises upwards again. He can perform these dances for twenty minutes, a demonstration of stamina and daring.
The female though, can fly upside down and catch food mid-air that the male drops to her which she then feeds to the chicks.

The male is grey mostly with black wing tips, and the female is mainly brown. The food they expertly hunt consists of small mammals, and sometime small birds, and even occasional frogs. They breed from March to September, and it is crucial at this time not to disturb their nests, or foraging areas.

In Irish, Hen Harrier is Cromán na gCearch which could translate as Hip Hen, which of course they are. No other bird can undertake the flights of fanastical fancy of the Hen Harrier. We are privileged to have them in Monaghan under our protection. We have a duty of care to these birds and should not deprive the skies of their wonderful acrobatics.
Farmers are taking part in the Department of Agriculture scheme for the Hen Harrier in Monaghan currently and it is hoped that this project together with the interreg CANN project which also is working to protect Sliabh Beagh will be successful in their aims to restore nature.

Day 41-A noble of the wood and hedge – the Ash

The Ash tree or Uinnius or fuinseóg is the commonest tree found in our hedgerows. Always the laggard, they are finally leafing out now. According to the seventh century Brehon laws, where trees were ranked according to their usefulness, the ash was a one of the Airig fedo or seven nobles of the wood. The fines for damaging a noble was two milch cows and a three-year old heifer. Ash was useful for making hurleys (camán), spears, furniture, boats and other agricultural implements.

Sacred trees with a special place in the Irish landscape are known as bile. Bile Maedhbhs’ are said to have sprung up wherever Queen Maedhbh planted her horsewhip, which were made of ash. In addition, three of the five great trees of Ireland were ash. Bile Uisnigh at Uisnach, Bile Tortan at Ardbreccan (County Meath) and Craobh Daithi at Farbill (County Westmeath). Craobh means branch. Ash has stout grey twigs, with large leaf scars and black buds – easily recognisable along with its opposite pinnate leaves.

You will see it coming into leaf close to you now. Give the tree an appreciative pat or nod, as it’s an often overlooked species because it is ordinary and commonplace. We might only miss it when it is absent from our places. It is hoped that the Ash Dieback which is threatening so many of the trees at present, can be beaten by this noble of our hedgerows.

 

Day 42-The bright eye of the speedwell

These small four-lobed flowers, bright blue with a white eye in the centre are commonly found now along hedgerows, edges of woodland or in grasslands. Called speedwell, as they seem to wish good fortune to the traveller, they are also called Eyebright in ulster. They creep and wrangle their way upwards, with shapely leaves of about 1cm, and white hairs on their stems, ornamented with the startling blue flower, with two conspicuously draping long stamens.

Germander Speedwell, which is this specific species, is Veronica chamaedrys. The veronica species are so named, after the saint who wiped sweat from Jesus’s brow as he carried the cross. ‘Vera icon’ means true image.

In Irish, eyebright is anuallach, which possibly derives from humble-minded.

Day 43-Red Clover

The red globes of nectar rich Trifolium pratense is popping up now on road verges, fields and under hedges. Its leaves form a trefoil, like a shamrock, only larger and they often have a crescent pattern on them which bring a pleasing continuity across the leaves.

In Irish, it is Seamair Dhearg, and is one of the plants that was identified as the Irish emblematic “shamrock” in 1893, and again in 1988 when Charles Nelson repeated the survey.
Red clover is a pea species and can fix nitrogen in the soil and is very nutritious plant for livestock. Bumblebees too are very keen to suck the nectar out of its juicy pink-purple flowers. In the past, it had medicinal uses, as a cough remedy and for bee stings.

Clover appears as a symbol of prosperity and fertility of the land in early Irish myth. A story in the Dindshenchus describes how Tailtiú cleared rough ground until it became a plain blossoming with clover. She died from her labours, however, and a fair was held every year to mark her clover meadow, at Teltown, Co. Meath.

Day 44-Gate lodges

Once there were well over two thousand of these porters houses in Ulster, built to manage the entrances to the gated estates and as houses for the porter and his family. Well over half of these are now demolished or fallen into complete ruin. In contrast the larger house contained within the walls, the gate lodges were visible to all, a hint of what was to come inside the estate and a contrast to the vernacular small cottages built by the rest of the population. The divisions in society were maintained through architecture.

J.A.K. Dean describes them in his book Gatelodges of Ulster –
“In their size, style, placing and relation to other buildings they have much to tell us about their owners and about those who were expected to occupy them. Sometimes they heralded the style of the big house they shield. Occasionally, they were an architectural experiment, a test of style. Sometimes they were a remnant of an older style after the main house was remodelled.”

They were generally positioned at the gates, neatly behind the wall, or even as part of the wall itself, carefully thought out as one ensemble. These buildings are a valuable part of our social and architectural heritage, wonderful to see them in re-use as holiday lettings, offices and best of all as neat compact homes.

St. Macartan’s Cathedral in Monaghan finished its magnificent gates and screens with a victorian gothick gate lodge in 1884 by William Hague, the architect who completed the building of the cathedral after J.J. McCarthy died. Images of St. Macartan and St. Dympna, together with a bishops’ hat grace the stonework.

The Blayney Demesne originally had four gate lodges, three of which remain. The West Street lodges of 1860 are currently undergoing a phased programme of restoration by Monaghan County Council. The smaller lodge is now in use as office and community space, and the opposite larger lodge will be a new library for Castleblayney. Both beautifully frame the lime avenue to the main house and lake.

Castle Leslie in Glaslough had 6 lodges originally, all of which remain and according to Dean are “the most important and varied series of porter’s lodge buildings in Ulster, if not in Ireland”. They were all built within 75 years from 1800 – Gothick entrance (1812), Cottage Orné (1840), Tudor Romanesque entrance (1845), the Scots Baronial entrance on the main street (1875) and the Jacobean Entrance of (1878).

The photos are of the Scots Baronial entrance and the Jacobean Entrance to Castle Leslie, and the West Street lodge of Castle Blayney.

Day 45-World Bee Day

Today 20th May is World Bee Day.

Bees are vital insects which pollinate wild flowers, shrubs and trees, and also as cogs in the wheel of the agricultural and horticultural industries who rely on these largely unsung heroes. Their intrinsic qualities, buzzing, flitting, hovering behaviours and stripey bands of colour are just as important. They do not have to be useful, but they are, it is enough to simple be a bee to be a valuable member of It is no wonder that their appearance is often mimicked by other species like the hoverflies. They say they there is no higher form of flattery than imitation. But we should not want to be a society that wears bee costumes to fancy dress parties while the real things flounder due to our negligence.

Over one-third of bee species threatened in Ireland, yet we can decide to make a difference on our patch of the planet. Every garden is important and can be a place where bees and other wildlife are welcome.

If you mow your grass less often, plants like clovers and dandelions will grow – great food for bees. Or if you leave longer grass areas around the edges of your garden for example, you will provide them with shelter and food. Native hedgerows abounding in hawthorn, and native trees like willow all are part of the solution. It is clearly important is not to poison these little creatures, so please avoid using pesticides and weed killers. You can also plant herbs and flowers which attract bees.

The National Biodiversity Data Centre provide useful information on their website for pollinators at pollinators.ie. There are great animations, lists of suitable plants and simple ways to improve the life of bees in your garden.
Happy Bee Day.

Day 46-Biodiversity Week

Biodiversity – our life support system

Nature’s own music.  Birdsong. Hum of bumblebees. Dashing screeching flight past of swifts. Dandelion clocks floating past on the air. Fragrant boughs of hawthorn. Glut of tadpoles. Steadfastness of oaks. Soggy bottom of sphagnum moss. Dragonfly nymph emerging from water to go out on a wing. Caterpillars transforming to butterflies.  Patterned colours of their wings. Hedgehogs snuffling.  Foxes silently brushing past.

Although biodiversity is a big scientific topic, we can think about it in endless ways, and why not consider it through the lens of wonder? If we were to create a magical place to live, would it be concrete all about with bowling green lawns, silent except for the noise we make, colourless except for the dyes we mix?

Biodiversity is all about us, but it is in serious trouble because we have neglected to include our very own life support system in our decision making, failing to realise that our quality of life and livelihoods, and the equity of human beings is dependent on it.  We must break the cycle of harm and disrupt the systems to create better ways of doing our lives.

Biodiversity is the variety of life on the planet and how it interacts with the natural water cycles and climate conditions to create ecosystems that provide habitats, and ecosystem goods and services.  Goods like timber, healthy soil, raw materials for clothing, medicines – everything.  Services like carbon sequestration, water filtration, pollination – everything we rely on.

This is Biodiversity Week.  But everyday we depend on biodiversity. Take a first step and connect with the wonder of the nature this Biodiversity week.  Find a quiet spot and listen to the sounds of nature about you.  This is the sound of nature supporting your life.

We will have some biodiversity tips on this page all week.

Day 47- Switch for Biodiversity

We want to live more harmoniously with nature. There are some simple switches that can be made that will set us on that pathway. Always the best place to start is where we can have the most influence, and for most of us that is our own homes and gardens. Today is International Biodiversity Day, no better day to start,

Here are ten SWITCHES you can make to benefit biodiversity right now:

1. Switch peat moss or compost with peat FOR PEAT-FREE COMPOST. Ask your garden centre. Or make your own compost. This will help protect our valuable bog ecosystems.

2. Switch your weekly mow to LET YOUR GRASS GROW. Leave an extra margin around the edge of your lawn and cut it every 3-6 weeks, to provide shelter and food for pollinators.

3. Switch tap water in your watering can to WATER FROM A WATER BUTT. Rainwater collected from your roof is a good way to re-use water and be more economical with treated water.

4. Switch plants in pots for PLANTS IN THE GROUND. These need less watering.

5. Switch pesticides for NATURAL PEST CONTROL AND COMPANION PLANTING. (Carrot fly is distracted by the smell of rosemary and thyme, plant marigolds or lady’s mantle close to tomatoes, nasturtium beside broad beans). Encourage ladybirds to your garden to eat greenfly.

6. Switch chemical fertiliser for NETTLE OR COMFREY FERTILISER. This is made by soaking the plants in water for a few weeks and then diluting the resultant liquid with water. Areas of nettles and comfrey are super for pollinators – bees and butterflies, so a patch has additional biodiversity benefits.

7. Switch cutting hedges at waist height to LETTING HAWTHORN HEDGES GROW TALL AND BLOSSOM. Vital for pollinators and will bring a wonderful sight and smell to your garden.

8. Switch tidying up to BUILDING A LOG PILE. Great spot for hedgehogs, bugs and beetles. The garden is not a place for Marie Kondo’s house tidying approach!

9. Switch planting the same plants everywhere to PLANTING VARIETY. This will protect your garden from being overrun with any one pest or disease, and bring more wildlife to your place.

10. Switch social distance for HUGGING A TREE.

Monaghan County Council has some copies of GARDENING FOR BIODIVERSITY available. This wonderful publication from Laois County Council, supported by the Heritage Council and the Heritage Officers is written by Juanita Browne and illustrated by Barry Reynolds. It is wonderful, and full of fantastic ideas for your garden. If you would like one to be posted to you, please email shclerkin@monaghancoco.ie and we will arrange it.

   

 

Day 48- Biodiversity for Birdsong

In her 1962 book Silent Spring, Rachael Carson worried that a quiet might descend on the landscape, a melancholic silence caused by an explosion in the amount of chemicals in use for farming and gardening. She passionately advocated for insects and birds, against the use of poisons directed towards the earth that provides our food, trying to disrupt the big players in the system with evidence-based arguments. Parts of America had already fallen terribly silent by 1962.

Here, the mantle of destruction has continued on a piecemeal basis, so that many farmland and garden birds have diminished dramatically in numbers of the last 50 years. The baseline has shifted to a new normal, we gradually fail to notice until songs are no longer sung.

We can act for birds, quite simply. Plant a tree in your garden or a group of trees if you have space, choose from the list of deciduous trees that are native to Ireland if you can – such as ash, rowan, hazel, holly. Encourage insects, leave seed heads in your garden, provide water. Farmers can plant corners of fields, where the big machines in use now cannot access at any rate or leave areas of gorse and scrub. We evolved on the planet alongside these creatures, and we must recognise that we are part of the same evensong. Welcome birds into your life, they will sing, and your heart will too.

Birdwatch Ireland, the charity in Ireland, which advocates for birds and their habitats has useful resources on their website.

The Gardening for Biodiversity booklet is available at https://www.chg.gov.ie/how-irish-families-can-cultivate-na…/
Or by emailing shclerkin@monaghancoco.ie for a hard copy.

Photograph of two blue tits by Richard Duff.

Day 49- Exploring heritage through the Schools Collection

Fifty thousand school children participated in collecting the local history and heritage of their localities in the years 1937-1939, as part of an innovative project established by the Irish Folklore Commission. A massive undertaking, supported by the primary school teachers across 5,000 schools, the children interviewed their parents and grandparents in an inter-generational effort on a range of subjects including legends, folklore, placenames, gaelic words, crafts and recipes.

40,000 of the original copy books are stored at the National Folklore Collection, copper plate handwriting neatly preserved for posterity, a skill in itself almost completely lost as we type more and write less. This truly fascinating archive is fully accessible online to everyone on
www.duchas.ie

You can search by school and locality, or by topic. Believe you me, it is a rabbit hole you will wish to descend into.
By way of example, this morning I delved into Cor na Péiste (Vol. 0947), Cornapaste – Hill of the worm, and found a list of gaelic words from the locality in west Monaghan that were no longer in use by that time.

Neatly transcribed on the copy pages are exacting words describing the physical and personality characteristics of persons, many of which now would be considered politically non-correct. A báirseach (barge) is a female scold, and I recall being called this myself as a youngster but did not know where the term derived from till now. If you stay out too long in the sun today you may have a brocach (brocked) – a sun burned face. If you are clatty – dirty or untidy, the word derives from claitseach.

There is a great emphasis on agricultural terms, such as bórach – a cord used to tie cows in the byre; béitín- conacre; sluagh – a large quantity of hay; turnóg – a clump of rushes.
Snipe is meannanaicir and sgaltán, a scaldy, which is a baby bird still in the nest are in amongst other observances of nature.

As for Cornapaste, and the worm – this is the townland through which the Worm Ditch or Danes Cast passes – now commonly called the Black Pigs Dyke. This massive Iron Age Earthwork snakes its way through the countryside amongst the drumlins and lakes of this townland and beyond. In the copybook it is recorded that the farmers “coveted the soil of the Worm Ditch, as a convenient top dress for their fields”. Luckily, they were not able to level it all, and miles of this imposing monument still stands. This ancient monument will be covered in another Heritage Happenings.

Tionscadal digitithe Chnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann, ceann de na cnuasaigh bhéaloidis is mó ar domhan

 

Day 50

Standing with the High Crosses

Dating from as early as the 9th and 10th centuries, stone high crosses followed a tradition of carved wooden crosses at the abbeys and monasteries that were established in Ireland. They are the work of master stonemasons, so richly and deeply carved, beautifully designed to have a real wow factor, centuries later still communicated through their silent stone.

The crosses typically depict scenes from the Old and New Testament, and decorative patterns of plait-work, knot-work and interlace – similar to those panels knitted into Aran jumpers, wool replicating stone. But then, one must imagine that the High Crosses were probably plastered and painted in bright colours to bring alive the stone stories of these public religious art monuments.

The cross heads were often in an open ringed formed, with raised circular bosses and a central crucifixion scene. The ring strengthened the arms of the cross, whilst providing more area to carve.

The crosses were important devices for the early church, a way of embedding the bible stories in a population that were familiar with the great epics and journeys of the Irish heroes and legends. There was stiff competition for hearts and minds. In the absence of an oral tradition, the church embraced visual communication in a very effective manner by commissioning and placing High Crosses in prominent outdoor locations at the abbeys, churches, boundaries and at cross-roads.

The tradition dies out in the 12th century. All of the High Crosses are therefore over 800 years old, not a durable as the oral tradition of legends and folklore, but their stoney longevity speaks of a respect and love for them even as they gradually weather away.

High Crosses are irreplaceable pieces of sculpture and art, all are protected archaeological monuments and much loved in the Irish landscape. Over the last ten years, they have been digitally scanned with new technologies so that their carvings can be recorded. Many of the original crosses have been brought indoors to museum settings, and resin or stone copies placed on the original site. This is to protect their now fragile surfaces from the poor air quality and intense weather.

The High Cross in Clones, 4.5 metres high, although not on its original site, has stood in its present location in the Diamond for hundreds of years. Composed of at least two different crosses from the remains of the monastery established by St.Tighearnach in the sixth century, the shaft is from a much larger cross than the ringed head, topped off by a little house-shaped shrine. The cross thought to date from the 9th century, a real legacy for Clones and for the national archaeological and artistic heritage.

 

Day 51- Golden buttercups

The golden buttercups, flashing their sheeny brilliance at passing insects are not all the same species of Ranunculus, but consist of four main types in Ireland. We have the creeping buttercup, or Fearbaán Reatha (runner), which is very common and can be found on wetter soils as well as the edges of wetlands. The meadow buttercup, or Fearbán féir (grass), is found in grasslands and meadows often in profusions. In the legend of the Táin Bó Cúalgne, Cuchulainn is described as scattering his enemies like buttercups in a meadow.

Fearbán comes from fearb, meaning welt on account of the acrid nature of the plants sap, which is considered to mildly poisonous and of no grazing value for cattle.

The bulbous buttercup, or Tuile Thalún likes dry, well aerated soil. The wonderfully named goldilocks buttercup or Garbhlus na Móna is a woodland margin species, and often found where stitchwort and bush vetch are growing. The flowers often has a few missing petals, maybe accounting for the irish Garbhlus, which means rough herb.

The buttercup is a glossy flower, so much so, that it often reflects back light from the camera when trying to capture it. This is due to an optical thin film on its petals which reflects light like a sheen of oil on a puddle. The impact of the yellow pigments in the petal’s surface is dramatized by layers of air just beneath the surface, causing the mirror effect. In addition, each flower acts like a mini solar panel, curving up like a satellite dish on cold days, so that the heat is reflected onto its reproductive organs. The buttercup also attracts pollinators which prefer warmer flowers and you will often see little flies sleeping within.

Buttercups are clever adaptors to their environments, there is one for every condition. The next time someone enquires whether you like butter, and presents your chin with a buttercup, you might tell how buttercups reflect the golden light, and why cows won’t be grazing on their sour sap with any delight.

Day 52-The Soaring buzzard

“Now you see me” is a good line for the buzzard. It is often its mewing cat like calls which draws your attention first, and after scanning the sky for a moment you might see it sailing in and out of the grey mist, or circling small and high against a blue sky. The common buzzard, Buteo buteo was not so common until recently, persecuted to extinction in Ireland by 1891. The buzzard along with other raptors were listed on the Tudor Vermin Act of 1566 as a species for killing and payment. In 1933, a pair bred on Rathlin Island off the Antrim coast, and from there the buzzard spread its way through Ulster and down the island once more. Its’ strongholds are now Louth, Monaghan and Donegal.

The buzzard, or Clamhán meaning shaggy or mangy looking, is a brown medium sized raptor, with black tips to the tail and wings. Buzzards frequently breeds in woodlands with access to farmland, moors and wetlands. It is a versatile predator, feeding on small mammals, birds, frogs, birds and insects which it takes from the ground. It nests in the trees and lays 2-5 eggs in March – May.

At this time of year, family groups of parents and juveniles can be seen and heard mewing and calling to one another, circling ever higher as they soar on the warm air, learning flight and hunting skills. Or you might come across one, sitting motionless on a fence post or above on a telegraph pole watching the ground carefully for signs of movement.

The Cherokee believe that the buzzard or “suli” had a part in shaping the earth and that it is a doctor amongst birds. We are certainly lucky to be able to witness this wonderful bird in flight in many places in Monaghan now. As it glides on the draughts above us, it has a view of the earth that might be advantageous for us to understand.

https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/buzzard/

Day 53-Clones Lace

Four years after Irish crochet lace was introduced by Cassandra Hand as a cottage industry to Clones, Queen Victoria wore it, on her lavish costume to the Stuart Ball in 1851. The Stuart Ball was the last of three costume balls given by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Buckingham Palace, and her costume designed by Eugène Louis Lami is a off the shoulder creation of silk, clone lace, gold braid and silver fringing.

The story of the successful social and cottage enterprise that was Clones Lace, started in 1847, or black 47 as it was known due to the severity of the famine at that stage at the height of the potato blight. A new rector was posted to the Church of Ireland to Clones and his wife Cassandra Hand was an energetic philanthropist who introduced the lace making to communities in Clones, Co. Monaghan and Rosslea, Co. Fermanagh. She was quick to see the benefits of the lace, which was cheaper to produce than venetian lace, as labour was cheaper, the tasks could be specialised by different people and it required no specialist tools.

It is made using a very fine crochet hook, which could be home-made by breaking the eye of a needle and inserting into a wooden handle. This became known as the famine hook. The thread was of linen, plentifully available locally. Motifs based on local flowers were developed by different families, these were crocheted separately and then sewn temporarily onto cloth, and then the whole pattern was stitched together using chain stitches and the distinctive “Clones knot”.

Clones became the centre for the production of lace in the north of the country and exported lace to the fashionable markets of Dublin, Paris, Rome and New York. The production of Clones Lace saved thousands from starvation. As advocator of a woman’s right to education, Cassandra also set up a school for infants and girls in Clones. She was buried in Rosslea in 1868 and her headstone reads “During the famine of 1847, and subsequent years she contributed largely to relieve the distress then prevalent…”.

Fashions changed of course, and together with mechanisation the market for hand made Clones Lace died out by 1910, but it continues as an important craft today. This is largely due to Máire Treanor who researched and produced an important book on the subject and started the annual Clones Lace Summer School in 1990. Máire has travelled all over the world sharing her knowledge, ensuring the craft is living vibrant skill and tradition. The wonderful Clones Lace gallery in the Ulster Canal Stores in Clones is worth a visit, and if you search youtube you will find some demonstrations on how to crochet Clones Lace.Clones Lace.

Day 54- The Bore-tree or Elder

Creamy clusters of elderflowers are starting to bloom now on the Elder tree, one of the fodhla fedo, or lower divisions of the wood under the Brehon Laws. The scent is heavenly, and the flavour too especially for elderflower cordial or as a flavoured tonic to dilute gin. Elder is a woodland margin species, and so is commonly found now in hedgerows, especially where the soil if fertile or where agriculture has enriched the soil with nitrogen and phosphorous. In Irish, it is trom. Elder is known as the bore-tree because the hard wood can be hollowed out to create a tube.

Elder can grow to 10metres, and it produces straight suckers from its base. Its bark is deeply furrowed, pale and corky. It has pinnate leaves, and the creamy 5-petalled flowers sit in lovely clusters which will be replaced with black berries in the autumn. Its scientific name Sombucus niger refers to these black nutritious berries, which makes delicious preserves and was much used in ancient medicine. “The seeds contained within the berries dried are good for such that have the dropsie, and such as are too fat”. The berries also make a gorgeous purple or lilac dye.

But back to the elderflowers, which are said to be mildly narcotic, so is unwise to plant near a bedroom window or to let cattle shade under it. Dried elderflower deters flies and acts as a good insect repellent. Elder is considered to be a highly magical tree, both a symbol of witchcraft and of healing. Elder is said to have a bad temper or crostáil and hostile to infants. If a cradle was made from elder wood the child would sicken and the fairies would take the baby away.

In a poem by Lubhdan, quoted by McCoitir, the facts are laid out thus –
Elder with its tough bark, truly wounds the most,
Burn it into charcoal, steed of the fairy host.

Day 55- Oak

Of all the tree species in Ireland, oak or dair is the tree which supports the most types of mammals, birds, invertebrates, mosses and lichens in its cocooning branches. Oak truly is an ecosystem all of its own.

Two types of native oak in Ireland can be most easily told apart by their leaf stems. Pedunculate oak or Quercus robur has a short leaf stem while Sessile oak or Quercus petraea has a long leaf stem. Sessile oak prefers acid soil and is predominant in native woodlands. Pedunculate oak is commonly the planted species in estates, avenues and plantation woodlands.

A good ‘mast’ year for the oak, with a heavy acorn crop quite often coincides with a good crop of hazel-nuts as well. This is usually every 6-7 years and in the Annals of Ulster they are recorded as being as good for feeding pigs. The townland Dernamuch in Errigal Truagh, Monaghan meaning Doire na muc or oakwood of the pigs attests to this.

You might notice abnormal growths on the oaks occasionally. These do the tree no harm whatsoever. They are usually caused by various types of mites or gall-wasps which stimulate the affected part of the host tree to create abnormal shapes and forms to protect their offspring, such as oak apples and marble galls which are brown and spherical and found on the twigs. The insect then bores its way out when its ready.

Under Brehon law, Oak was one of the Airig fedo, or nobles of the wood.

Oak planks and timbers are well recorded in the archaeological record. Neolithic houses have been found walled with oak planks. The excavation at the Iron Age Emain Macha or Navan Fort in Armagh found a the remains of a large oak post in the centre of massive circular structure. The oak post is thought to have been the focus of ritual practices. An oak palisade running the length of the Worm Ditch or Black Pigs Dyke in Monaghan was dug into the northern bank of the double ditched monumental earthwork during the Iron Age, and then set alight around 100AD.

Oak has so many valuable uses from ship building, barrels, rafters for roofs – Irish oak was exported to Salisbury Cathedral for the roof in 1222. The bark produces a black dye and the tanins of oak were used for tanning leather. The usefulness of oak is one of the reasons why most of the oak woodlands in Ireland were long gone by the start of the 20th century. The controls of the Brehon Laws were long gone.

In Monaghan, there are many places which attest to oakwoods once being present. Dernadarrif or Doire na dTarbh in Errigal Truagh is Oakwood of the bulls. Derrylavan in Magheross is Doire leamhán or Oakwood of the elms – another majestic tree. Derryvalley in Ballybay is most likely Doire bhealaigh – oakwood of the pass, and Dernacoo in Errigal Truagh is Doire na Cú – oakwood of the hounds.

In the 12th century poem Sweeney Astray, the oak is well regarded – “o bushy leafy oak, you are high above every tree”.

A good activity for the autumn is to collect some acorns especially from areas of old native woodlands or from old trees and set them in pots, to create a small tree nursery of your own. Leave some for the squirrels though, only take what you will use.

Day 56- Hart’s Tongue Fern

Ferns have been on this planet for millions of years longer than flowering plants. They are in effect living vegetative dinosaurs.
reproduced by means of spores which are on the underside of their fronds or leaves.
When young, fern fronds are tightly coiled. Then they unfurl and unwind from their bishop’s crozier shape in the early Spring, to their characteristic drooping or curling leaf habit.

They are a very successful type of plant, and are found in woodlands, hedgerows, spreading across old walls and even springing out where a leaky downpipe drips water in the corners of old buildings.

Many of the leafy split leaf ferns looks quite similar but Hart’s Tongue Fern is one that is easy enough to identify. It has smooth strap like fronds and is very common. In Irish it is Creamh na Muice fia (muice – pig, fia – deer), and was in the past boiled to make an ointment to cure burns and scalds, soothe insect stings and cure warts.

Day 57- Historic hand-blown glass

We are familiar to seeing our reflection in our mirrors and even in our smooth, fully transparent modern windows. Of course, this is a relatively modern phenomenon thanks to Mr. Pilkington who revolutionised mechanised glass production in the mid-twentieth century. Most of the generations before us who had the luxury of glass windows, peered out through small slightly wavy panes produced by the human breath blowing molten glass into globes.

Crown glass was blown into a ‘crown’ or hollow globe by a person blowing their own breath through a pipe. Then it was flattened by hand spinning it out into a large open circle up to 5-6 feet in diameter. Very skilled tough work. Then it was cut, the edges had the thinnest most expensive cuts, as it thickened towards the centre of the bullion or bullseye.

The edges were generally cut into diamond shapes and then fitted into leaded frames, such as you will see in old church windows. The centre thicker pieces were less expensive, and the piece with the bullseye was also used – sometimes you can still find these in small paned sash windows. Overall, the glass has a slightly wavy reflection.

Cylinder glass was an innovation on crown glass, which started with the same hand-blowing technique but then the glass was swung in a trench to stretch it out. This allowed the production of much longer sheets of glass and the waves were less curvy and more parallel than with crown glass.

If you have old windows, one of the irreplaceable elements may be the old hand-made glass panes. You will know from your slightly distorted reflection, and the faintest of patterns in the glass. Think of the person, who using their own air, created something so delicate and durable from rock to sand to glass. Real geological anthropological transformation.

The photos are from Cahans Church, close to Ballybay, taken during filming for Monaghan Gothic – a film you can find on youtube. Pictured are Kevin Mulligan and Dara McCluskey. Windows before and after restoration.

   

Day 58- The Worm Ditch

On the 27th May 1835, John O’Donovan of the Ordnance Survey, writes about the area of Dartree, Monaghan which is has just traversed – “it receives here the stranger name of “the worm track” or the “worm ditch” in Irish Cladh na Peiste. It runs from one extremity of the parish (Currin), to the other in a SE direction. As the people are plagued with it, striving to pay rent for it, they are labouring to level it with great industry, and it is completely defaced in various fields, but up the sides of the barren hills it still shews its double ditch or rampart in all its pristine perfection, defying plantations across the summits of unprofitable hills; the pick-axe of the covetous farmer for at least another century”.

O’Donovan was correct – it has defied the pick-axe, miles of it remains proud and where it was dug out in the past, modern technology can detect its traces and history of burning with geophys surveys and Lidar imagery. The old name of the “Worm Ditch”, was replaced in more modern times by the Black Pigs Dyke, possibly due to O’Donovan’s ruminations, and indeed both names are inscribed on the Ordnance Survey maps. But it seems that the Worm Ditch or Track is the older one. It gives its name to one of the townlands it graces – Cornapaste – Cor na Péiste – Hill of the Worm.

Now, the earthwork is mostly wooded or scrubed over with hazel and ash, but imagine the denuded landscape of its construction and the later barren hills of O’Donovan. The tracks would have snaked their way around hills, unclothed and visible for miles. The earthwork itself, dates from the Bronze Age and Iron Age. It was a monument that was re-used and re-configured to take a massive oak palisade running down one bank, which was then mysteriously burned around 100AD. Perhaps these were the serpents or worms that St. Patrick got the reputation for banishing from this island – the pagan people of the Worm Ditch with its giant serpent ancestry.

We will have more on this archaeological monument in another Heritage Happenings.

You can read some of our archaeological research on the Worm Ditch on

www.blackpigsdyke.ie

 

Day 59- Our Earth Home

The word “eco” comes from the Greek òikos, meaning house, dwelling place, habitation. Eco is the root of many of the words which describe processes on our planet – ecology, ecosystem, economics and ecocide.

David Day wrote in 1989 that “there is only one life on this planet, and we are all part of it”. We are all inter-dependent on one-another, mutual altruism pervades even the meanest of communities, and by ‘one-another’ I refer to all life. The ecologist Edward Goldsmith noted that 3 billion years of evolution of species has “tended in the direction of increased biospeheric stability”. The community of life on earth generated and still maintains the composition of the atmosphere. However, since the historic times and the Industrial Revolution in particular, the biosphere has, under our direction “tended towards decreased stability”. This is caused by the destruction of habitats and loss of species, loss of ecosystems that influence soil fertility, carbon sequestration, pollination services, water cycles and ultimately the stability of the climate. In short, the loss or extinction of plant and animal species greatly limits the choices for a sustainable livelihood and life for current and future generations.

As far back as the 1980s Edward O. Wilson warned of our foolisness – “The one process ongoing in the 1980s that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us”. Will we be the ancestor’s others will mark out in the history books for negative reasons or will we be a generation that will turn it around?

Nelson Mandela said “Sometimes, it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that generation. Let your greatness blossom”.

Sustainable Development depends on production systems for food, travel, work, creativity that respects the obligation to preserve the ecological basis for that development. The late Polly Higgins, who died last year, conceived of a draft International law of Ecocide, defining ecocide as “extensive damage, destruction to or loss of ecosystems”. Ecocide is the absence of care for the Earth and causing it significant harm.

Although massive system change is required to enable us all to live more sustainable lives, changes at policy, legal and practical levels, it is an error to wait for someone else to walk the walk.

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do little.” – Edward Burke.

5th June is World Environment Day.

 

Day 60-Underground cultural spaces

Underground, mostly unseen spaces hold a mysterious fascination, going below the surface seems counter intuitive. Yet this space holds spaces, caverns, caves and tunnels where people have placed hoards of precious objects for safety, where people have hidden in times of strife and where people seek to find ores and materials to use above ground.

Caves are natural underground cavities in rock, that are formed by the solvent and erosive action of water as it slowly travels downwards through joints, bedding planes and fissures. They are most commonly found in limestone, because it is a soluble rock which can be dissolved by the slightly acidic rain and surface water. There are almost 800 recorded caves in the Irish state, 10% of which are classified by the National Monuments Service as archaeological monuments.

In Cloughvalley Lower, Carrickmacross, one of these caves called Creevy Cave (MO031-137001) contains a possible hearth, post-medieval pottery finds and an earthern platform along with a stone structure. People lived in this natural limestone cave in the past. Referred to in the past as Fin McCools cave, a small stream from Lough Aphuca (lake of the ghost or hobgoblin) flows into the cave, and the cave is a geological delight with stalactites and flow stones inside created by the constant slow dissolving drip of the water.

In other areas, people built their own underground spaces, now called souterrain (meaning under ground); there are 58 known examples in County Monaghan. MO007-019 is in Creighans townland, in a location marked as Cave Hill on the map, adjacent to Cornahoe – Round Hill of the Caves. It is a stone lined tunnel structure with stone lintels possibly running from a ringfort.

Others at Moylemuck, Bocks Uppers also are associated with ringforts. One at Ouvrey – or Aimhréidh, meaning rough ground may speak about the surface undulations relating to the underground happenings.

There is a whole world under our feet.

www.archaeology.ie

Day 61- Forget-me-not

The delicate blue petalled and yellow eyed flowers of the forget-me-not have been symbols of friendship, faithfulness, and love for centuries. But it was originally known as the less romantic ‘scorpion grass’ because of the way the flower heads curl over on themselves. The scientific name Myosotis scorpioides for Water Forget-me-not embeds this characteristic. Myosotis is derived from the Greek for mouse ear.

From about 1400, Forget-me-not had become the common English name. Its’ naming story comes from a German legend of a knight and his lady walking along the River Danube. He picked some of the blue flowers for her but he was wearing a heavy suit of armour and toppled over into the waters. Before he drowned, he threw her the posy and cried “Forget me not”. The poet Samuel Coleridge embraced the story into a stanza in 1802 –
“Nor can I find, amid my lonely walk
By rivulet, or spring or wet roadside
That blue and bright-eyed flowerlet of the brook
Hope’s gentle gem, the sweet forget-me-not!”

Water forget-me-not or Ceotharnach uisce grows in wet and also dry conditions to as tall as 30cm. It has oblong downy leaves.

Heritage is what is we inherit from the past. Academics, archaeologists, geologists, botanists and ecologists often work from fragments of what now remains to piece together a picture of a former habitat, landscape, culture or society. By doing so, memories imbued in the landscape are brought forth and we are the richer for the enhanced understanding and engagement with people and places.

Forget-me-not is the symbol of many associations who work to support those with Alzheimers Disease. There is a choir for those affected by dementia beautifully called ‘The Forget-me-nots’. It must be difficult to lose touch with personal memories and the sense of security and rootedness those bring. Today this column is dedicated to all the individuals, families and carers who find themselves on that path.

Day 62

 

Corrugated Iron – Humble to Heavenly

 

The gorgeous gothic style, tin church in Laragh, Monaghan owes it simple beauty to the creation and patent of corrugated iron by an engineer working for the London Dock Company in 1829. Henry Robinson Palmer, who was an assistant to Thomas Telford was tasked to construct a large dock to accommodate the increasing flow of goods coming in from overseas. He patented corrugated iron, recognising its ability to span large roof areas cheaply and quickly.

 

Described as “humble, anonymous and unpretentious”, the material was durable, strong, cheap, easy to transport and erect, and recyclable. It quickly caught hold for all types of buildings, causing William Morris of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, to rally against the material in 1890 – the very year of the construction of St. Peter’s Tin Church in Laragh, that it is “now spreading like pestilence”.

 

All over what was then the British Empire, mission halls and chapels which became known as “Tin Tabernacles” were being quickly erected to supply the spiritual needs of the non-conformist industrial communities. John Ruskin, the art critic, who was very much interested in gothic architecture and the connections between art, nature and society thought them to be an “architectural deceit”. This was because he was very much against mechanisation of materials. He believed that the value of the worker was his or her own creativity and ability to “use his own hands, rather than machinery”.

 

The Tin Church in Laragh though, was built for the Church of Ireland community, not the non-conformists but it was very much in an industrial landscape at the time. Laragh village once was one of the largest linen industries in the region, since the Davidsons established a spinning and weaving mill operation there in 1825. By 1835, housed in two large separate buildings, there were 30 spinning frames operated by young women and 600 weaving looms operated by men.

 

The industrial landscape is muted now, but the mill race and some workers cottages remain alongside this whimsical tin church, which has been restored by the Laragh Heritage Group. The church, now de-consecrated, was built in 1890 from corrugated iron, high on a rock outcrop which erupts into the church floor to support the pulpit, with a three-stage tower and cockerel weather-vane. Illuminated with intensely coloured stained-glass decorative windows, the tin church feels like being inside a jewellery box.

 

The church sits above a rivulet, and wooded gorge, its rocky base clothed in ferns and woodland plants. John Ruskin, would I am sure, appreciate all of this naturalness and the clever use of corrugated iron to support the glass craftsmanship, and carpentry within.

 

The entire ensemble is set off by weathered twisted limestone copings and pillars, which Kevin. V. Mulligan aptly describes in his book on the Buildings of South Ulster thus, “Wonderful gate piers with gothic panels and grotesque stone cappings assembled in a confection like a Mr. Whippy”.

 

Ice cream, anyone?

 

Day 63- The Pink family

Two members of the Pink Family that are easy to identify are in bloom now.

In woodland clearings, where a little light can permeate through the overstorey of leaves, you might see some striking rose-pink reddish flowers. The red campion, Silene dioica is a perennial herb, with creeping rhizomes, with bright rose pink petals that are gently forked. They have separate male and female plants and are pollinated by bees and flies. Cleverly, the red campion hides its nectar in a tube behind the flower so that only flies that are big enough to pollinate it can reach the reward.

Apparently its names was coined by the Romans, who used the plant in garlands to crown their “champions” in their public games in Rome.

The ancient herbalist Gerard maintained that “the seed drunken in wine is a remedie for them that are stung with a scorpion…”. Its scientific name Silene derives from a merrily drunken Greek God called Silenus. In Irish, red campion is Coireán Coilleach and considered to be a fairy flower and unlucky to bring indoors.

The other pink flower, also a fairy flower, is called Ragged Robin, on account of its raggedy, shaggy, frayed pink petals. In Irish it is Lus síoda (silk herb). Butterflies and long tongued bees feed on its nectar. It is most often found in wetter habitats, and on edges of wet grasslands. Its frayed flower shape has evolved to endure windy conditions. Ragged Robin is especially loved by the Common Blue butterfly, making a gorgeous combination of petal-wing colours if one can catch a glimpse of them together.

Day 64- The Monaghan Market House and Avondale

If you read the plaque commemorating the joint enterprise between its creators – Hayes and Cunnighame on the gable end of the Monaghan Market House, you will find yourself at the start of a story –
“Dedicated to the convenience of the inhabitants of Monaghan by Rt. Hon. Lieutenant Gen. Robert Cunnighame. M.D.CC.XC.II S.H. of Avondale Del”.

Cunnighame was MP for Monaghan from 1769 and responsible for creating the Barony of Rossmore. As a member of the West Yorkshire Regiment, 14th foot infantry regiment of the British Army, he fought in the Battle of Culloden in 1746. This infamous battle last only an hour, after an unsuccessful charge by the Highlanders against the government lines. His friendship with Samuel Hayes (S.H.), from Avondale in Wicklow, resulted in the design the Market House in 1792. Although he was an amateur architect, Hayes had an eye for proportion, elegance, and the potential for the sloping site.

The Market House is a tidy neo-classical building, symmetrical, arcaded and sitting on a low podium, built from rough-hewn stone with dressed limestone trim. The arcades were originally open and gated with wrought-iron flat bar gates, to allow for easy access and trading within and around the “house”. Over each open bay is a panel of Portland stone with drapery festoons. Matching niches on each gable end of the Market House are now filled with pollinator friendly planters and busied by bees.

Hayes was also an Irish MP and to boot a barrister, amateur architect, draughtsman and planter of trees. He designed and planted Avondale – the estate later made famous as the home of Charles Stewart Parnell. To this day, the oldest trees there are those planted by Hayes.

Trees seem to be the real passion of Hayes. Born in 1743, he inherited the 4,500 acre estate in County Wicklow from his father, “Hayesville”, which he renamed Avondale in 1770. In 1794, two years after he built the Market House, he wrote the first book on trees in Ireland called “A practical treatise on Planting and on the Management of Woods and Coppices”. A facsimile copy of the book has recently been produced by the Irish Tree Society, with a foreword by Thomas Pakenham. He died soon afterwards in 1795.

Having no family, he left Avondale House to his close friend, and second cousin, Sir John Parnell, great-grandfather of Charles Stewart Parnell.

Day 65- Alder –from battle shields to women’s shoes

Alder is a fine deciduous tree, most often found alongside willow on the edges of rivers, marshes and on the shores of lakes as a wet woodland. Indigenous to Ireland, alder is one of the Aithig fedo, or commoners of the wood in Brehon Law. It has a very dark fissured bark, dull and purplish buds, with rounded leaves that have no point or tip, which taper elegantly onto the stalk. Alder bears two types of catkins, yellow male hanging catkins and round, green egg-shaped female ones. It is quite a common tree in Monaghan, well worth looking out for and appreciating. In Irish it is Fearnóg, and Alnus glutinosa (means sticky) is its scientific name.

Bronze Age alder battle shields have been uncovered in Ireland, and there is evidence presented by McCoitir that alder was the “craobh ruadh” – red branch of the Ulstermen or Ulaid. When alder is cut, the wood turns from white to red. The druid Cromm Deróil recites in “The Intoxication of the Ulaid” –
“Men of triumphs these men of alder shields,
Red their weapons”.

Samuel Hayes in his 1794 book, “A Treatise on Trees” refers to more modern and recognisable uses for alder – “Birch and alder of the smallest size will fell for the chairmakers use; if larger, they are used for cart saddles, soals for pattens, and heels for the women’s shoes, the demand for which is often very considerable”.

A patten is a protective overshoe or outdoors shoe, worn to elevate the walker above the mud, dirt, human and animal excrement of the roads. These wooden soles prevented clothes and long dress hems from trailing on the ground and were in use until late 19th or the early 20th century in parts of Ireland. Jane Austen when talking about Bath, England refers to the irritating noise of the wooden clogs on the streets “the ceaseless clink of pattens”. Anyone who has ever worn a wooden soled clog, a swedish Hasbeen, or wooden scholl sandal will recognise this clunky clinky noise.

In County Monaghan, clogs were still made locally and worn in the twentieth century. In 1938, 11 years-old James Ward writes – There was a clog-maker name Rocks and he lived beside Mullagreenan school. He made clogs about twenty years ago. Nearly everyone wears clogs in the winter. An old proverb the people had was “Shod in the cradle and barefoot in the stubble”.

Young James was a student in Tattenclave National School, from Calliagh, Co. Monaghan and he interviewed James Ward, farmer aged 58. You can read more in Volume 0948, page 320 of the Schools Collection on www.duchas.ie

Image credit: Dúchas.ie

Day 66- Lead and silver mines

The industrial revolution increasingly drove men underground as the ore mining industry took off during the mid-nineteenth century. One shaft at Cornalough, part of the Hope Mines, close to Castleblayney was reported to be 100foot deep. The daily descent into darkness was only dimly lit with oil lamps. One can imagine that the ascent up the shaft was a jolt back into colour for the workers.

The first mineral deposit to be commercially developed in Monaghan, around the middle of the 18th century, was probably Tamlat, near Ballybay, where lead was mined briefly from a series of shallow shafts or pits. Lead mining at this time may have been associated with pottery manufacture and the use of lead in glazes.

Antimony was discovered near Clontibret, apparently in the early 1770s and was the subject of several attempts at exploitation, the last by the Mining Company of Ireland which developed several shafts in1825–26 before abandoning it. In 1784, British General Henry Shrapnel developed a lead alloy containing 10-13 percent antimony that could be formed into spherical bullets and used in artillery shells. In the 19th century, the British military adopted Shrapnel’s technology, and antimony became a strategic war metal. ‘Shrapnel’ (the ammunition) was widely used during World War I, but none of it was mined from Clontibret.

Tassan, north of Castleblayney had the largest and most productive lead and silver mine in the Monaghan district, owned by the Castleblayney Mining Company. Production started in the 1840s until 1866, with a Mr. Joseph Backhouse listed in the Griffith Valuation as the first worker.

The total production was 742 tonnes of ore – 546 t of lead and 37,478g of silver. The 1857 map shows five shafts descending to the underground, only one of which is easily found today. This is a site that always requires caution because of the activities over a hundred years ago. The remains of the mine buildings, one shaft, and large solid waste heap together with the flat dressing floor bounds the west shore of Tassan Lough.

The silver mines at Cornalough commenced production in 1852 until 1874, producing 314 tonnes of ore. The Cornish engine house chimney is a rare and still standing heritage structure – the overground monument of an underground world

Day 67- St. Maeldoid and the Muc

On the 14th May, 1835 John O’Donovan writing to the Ordnance Survey tells about his jaunt the day previous “Yesterday a very intelligent old farmer (of the name MacShane) walked me through the beautiful demesne of Castleblayney to shew [show] me the romantic lake, called Muc Snamh, the site of the monastery and where the pig swam across the lake to point out to the saint where he might build his church with safety.”

According to Seosamh O’Dufaigh, Maeldoid perished in the Buidhe Conaill, the yellow plague, which came into Ireland in 664, according the Annals of Ulster. The yellow plague lasted twenty years, causing widespread mortality, social disruption and apparently abandonment of religion. According to some sources, the Annals of Tigernach of Clones note that the plague was preceded by a solar eclipse on 1 May 662. Places of burial were needed such was the ravages of the plague. The placename – Tamhlacht is a “plague-grave” from tamh – a plague, and lacht – a stone or memorial.

Maeldoid’s brother was Scannlan, the first named king of the Uíí Méith, providing his monastery with the protection and patronage of the civil ruler, as well as the pig’s advice.

The Church of Ireland in Castleblayney is dedicated to this saint, the current church dating to 1858 is the third church built on this site since 1622. It is built from rubble stone with Scottish sandstone trim, designed by Joseph Welland, the polygonal apse faces east over the “romantic lake”.

Lough Muckno is an important natural habitat for Castleblayney as well as being a cultural site and designed landscape as part of the demesne. It holds layers upon layers of history and legends within its drumlins, wetlands and lakes.

Day 68- Wych Elm

Wych Elm or leamhán is a dark majestic tree, with spreading branches reaching almost as far out as its height, known to be a significant component of early woodlands in Ireland before Neolithic farming 6,000 years ago. Elm has large, oblong elliptical leaves, toothed and rough, with unequal bases and short stalks. It is the only Elm that is native to Ireland.

Although it is more resistant to Dutch elm disease than English Elm, the beetle and fungi combination still will damage the tree and wych elm does not send out suckers like its English cousin. But it will send out fruits with seeds in the centre of a papery wing if the tree is mature enough.

The wood of Wych Elm is resistant to water, so will grow alongside a sheugh or wet ditch, so long as the soil is quite alkaline, and it is this quality which makes the wood valuable. In early times it was used as piles under bridges, and in buildings close to water, or in basements in damp conditions. Wood was also used for water pipes, coffins and divining rods.

Elm is mentioned in the Life of St. Patrick on many occasions and is often found in conjunction with Holy Wells. It is associated with the goddess of fertility of the land.

Leamhán is a commoner of the wood under the Brehon Tree Laws.

Day 69- Summer Solstice

We have reached our annual peak light, as the earth’s north pole has now tilted closest to sun, giving us a whopping 9 hours 30 minutes more light than on the opposite day in December. The Summer Solstice marks an important turning point, and its sunset has been celebrated for thousands of years with customs and traditions that demonstrate its cultural resonace. Solstice or grianstad (grian – sun, stad – stop) as gaeilge, means stopping or standing still of the sun. It is the cross-quarter point between Bealtaine in May and Lughnasa in August.

Megalithic tombs in Ireland are often aligned with these calendar points, with the rising of the sun at the winter solstice such as at Newgrange and the setting of the summer solstice at Carrowkeel in Sligo. Both the pouring in of the new sunrise to the stone chambers, and the leaving of the sunset from the darkening interiors were made tangible by the astronomer tomb builders.

One such tomb in Monaghan intrigues the writer in this way. It is Mullyash Cairn in the east of the county close to the Armagh border. Before the conifers engulfed its viewshed, it commanded views to Loughcrew and Slieve Gullion, as well as to Sliabh Beagh, the Mournes and the Cooleys. Loughcrew has a rich archaeological landscape also with alignment, but to the equinoxes. Slieve Gullion is aligned with the Winter Solstice sunrise.

Lughnasa was celebrated at Mullyash until the 1950s, on the last Sunday in July, a tradition known as Blaeberry Sunday. People climbed the hill, coming from the south west route, which may have gone past the now fallen standing stone, and collected bilberries.

Have a listen to our Heritage at the Heart podcast where we talk to local experts about Mullyash, by clicking on this link: https://monaghan.ie/heritage/2019/03/29/heritage-podcast-series-episode-2-mullyash-cairn/ 

Day 70- Guelder Rose

This small tree or big shrub is not a rose at all, but a deciduous species of viburnum, with small maple like leaves which are green now, punctuated with flat umbels of white flowers. It is found in many of the hedgerows in Monaghan, particularly liking limey soils and damp conditions.

It’s unusual name Guelder Rose, apparently comes from the Netherlands. Its’ latin or scientific name Viburnum opulus derives from the gaulish “opolos” meaning maple. Dangling crimson translucent berries are produced in autumn that are entirely opulent, in the decorative sense. They shine as the finest jewels, like sewn in beads on the dark crimson, orangey autumnal leafy fabric. But they are poisonous, so leave them for the birds who love them.

The white unbel flowers have a division of labour worked out. The outer ring of flowers are sterile with no carpels or stamens, and the inner ones are fertile. The insects are attracted inwards to pollinate by the outer showier flowers.

In Irish, it is Caor chon. Caor means a glowing object or berries. Guelder Rose is a wonderful addition to a wildlife hedge as it provides good shelter and habitat, food for birds, and nectar for pollinators. It doesn’t mind being trimmed after its berries have fed the birds in late Autumn.

Day 71- St. John’s Wort

This is the cultural and ecological time of St. John’s Wort or Beathnua in Irish, very much associated with midsummer and St. John’s eve on the 23rd June. Hypericum – it’s scientific name derives from the Greek “over an apparition” hinting at its apparent supernatural properties which transcend cultures and languages. McCoitir notes that it is one of the seven herbs in Ireland that nothing natural or supernatural could injure.

It is a sturdy stalked little plant, with dainty yellow flowers, red buds and red sap. The dominant red may be one of the reasons why it was considered useful for staunching bleeding, and as a remedy for sore eyes. It is also effective against depression and is still sold as a preparation in health shops. It used to be said that to be fully effective for any remedy that it should be pulled at noon on a bright day near a full moon.

It is very much associated with St.Colmcille and a story from Scotland where he advised a young frightened boy to place Hypericum under his armpit to provide comfort, is said to have led to a tradition of fixing bunches of the plant under a persons’ oxter. (Ulster and Scottish word for armpit).

Day 72: Birds-foot trefoil

This delightful member of the pea or legume family, would in theory go well with peas and chips, with its bright free-range-egg-yolk-yellow flowers. Blooming in grasslands now, Birds-foot trefoil can survive all manners of abuse – drought, trampling and grazing, which is why it provides good food for sheep in upland and limestone areas. Its adaptability is partly due to it being able to send down tap roots and stems across the ground surface.

Its name derives from its black pea pods which resemble bird’s claws, but so too do its flowers if you think of birds with bright yellow talons of course. Another name for it “lady’s boots” or “lady’s slippers” refers to its silken flowers.

In Irish it is Crobh éin, meaning Claw of birds. In Ulster it is sometimes called Claver, which may be a local pronunciation of clover. Its scientific name is Lotus corniculatus. Lotus comes from the Greek, denoting a type of trefoil or clover. Although its leaves may appear trifoliate, they are in fact not, however the seed pods may hold the key here. Homer described lotus as a food for horses.

Day 73- The Worm Ditch palisade

The Worm Ditch or Claí na Peiste or Black Pigs Dyke – so many names; appropriately for a mysterious monument that guards its secrets well. The main elements were constructed in the middle Iron Age, about 2,200 years ago across our drumlin landscape. This linear earthwork which is 23m wide is comprised of two pairs of banks and ditches, as you would find around a well-constructed hill fort, and a palisade or fence.

The palisade is now a memory held in the charcoal remains that are found about 1m out from the northern bank, running in a parallel imprint showing evidence of intense burning. The palisade slots have been found in a small number of excavations and on geophysical surveys. In one section it has been traced continuously for 73metres, and it has been found in three locations at Aghereagh West, Lattacrossan and Aghnaskew. The charcoal from the burnt remains are dominated by oak and in lumps large enough to be considered the remains of heavily burnt posts. The trees themselves are dated to a few hundred years older than the fences construction.

Assuming the palisade is continuous along the Worm Ditch in the Scotshouse area, this would give the feature a length of 2.6km. That is a very long fence. Good fences make good neighbours, so they say, but this one was burned down right into the ground, using brushwood like willow as kindling later in the Iron Age.

The relative closeness of this monument to Clogher, now in County Tyrone and Emain Macha, now in County Armagh, both of which were high status royal sites in the Iron Age suggests that the Worm Ditch area was under their influence or sway.

The publication of an archaeological monograph about this wonderful site is in development by Monaghan County Council led by Cóilín O’Drisceoil and Aidan Walsh. It will be published later in the year by Wordwell, funded by the Heritage Council.

www.monaghan.ie/heritage/heritage-at-the-heart-podcasts/

Day 74- Cattle grazing for nature

Dexter cattle are now employed on areas of Sliabh Beagh as conservation grazers to munch away at the unwanted scutch grass. These little black, red or dun animals, half the size of a Hereford, originate from the Kerry mountain cattle and are the smallest European breed.

They get their name from a “Mister Dexter” who came to the parish of Dundrum in Tipperary as a farm manager in the 1700s, and developed the breed from the Kerry cattle through careful selection. Their non-Irish name hides their Irish ancestry as they are a fully native breed, said to be descended from the ancient tribes of Ireland’s black cattle.

They are adapted to mountainous habitats, and not hard on the land so perfect for the job of minding the uplands through grazing on a variety of grasses and plants, where they do thrive and fatten. Once they were known as the cottier cow, as they were easily kept on the cottier acre and provided milk and an annual calf. The cows are renowned as good mothers, and will hide their calves, if they have cover, a way of protecting them from predators. The milk is similar to jersey milk, and beef is sweet and slightly nutty to taste.

There are only 2,000 Dexter cattle in Ireland. Hopefully, this new approach to managing the vegetation on Sliabh Beagh will be a win-win for the farmer and nature. Scutch grass becomes rank and a fuel load if not cut or grazed, thus adding risk to the mountain from fires. Grazing with light animals like Dexters is the gold standard for conservation on this habitat.

It is terrific to see this approach being taken, with the co-operation of many partners who all want to achieve good nature and livelihood outcomes on Sliabh Beagh.

Day 75- National Heritage Week

Heritage Week this year is centred around learning from our heritage, how we can share our knowledge with others and even how scholorship has informed our understanding in the past.

We all have something of value, maybe its is a story about our locality or townland that intrigues us about the landscape; perhaps we collect information about local history or record plant species each year as they come into flower; maybe you are a dab hand at stone wall building, hedge laying or lace making. We participate in many heritage related practices all the time without even realising it.

So, maybe this year, might you have time to share with others a little of your knowledge?

There is helpful information on the heritage week website on how you can participate in this nationwide gathering for heritage. We can act together, even though we still are abiding by social distance guidelines, by following some of the suggestions offered by the Heritage Council.

www.heritageweek.ie

Day 76- Impacts on the heritage sector from Covid-19

Heritage can sometimes be hidden. It is so much part of our lives, that it may not cost us a second thought so to speak. The historic buildings that frame our places are always there. The monuments in our landscape, in the fields, on top of drumlins have hung on for centuries and seem immovable parts of our places. The trees and hedges we drive past seem unchanged. The wetlands appear to be full of water and wildlife. But, appearances are deceptive and evidence shows that all these assets are being eroded away.

The heritage sector is a very broad church, and before the pandemic hit was not well resourced. During the shut-down many people found heritage again after perhaps a period of dis-engagement and became aware of how it frames and adds to our lives and livelihoods.

Those that work in the sector are beavering away – counting species, doing habitat surveys, recording archaeology, exploring new theories and discoveries about old monuments, assessing old buildings and the most sensitive way to repair them, delving into old maps, assessing the impacts of proposed developments on our environment and heritage, conserving manuscripts, cataloguing and archiving valuable historic documents. It all seems as before.
But is it?

The Heritage Council has undertaken a survey to find out what are the actual impacts, and they are presented on this useful infographic.
The Heritage Council and the Heritage Officers at a local level will continue to advocate for heritage resources, the heritage sector and the benefits of increased engagement and presence of heritage assets in our lives.

Day 77- National Heritage Week and how to get involved

The Heritage Officer with Monaghan County Council, Shirley Clerkin explains how you can get involved in #NationalHeritageWeek this year.
#MyHeritageWeek #monaghan

#NationalHeritageWeek is in August & the local authority heritage officers encourage you to take part in whatever way you can. @MonaghanCoCo @HeritageWeek @HeritageHubIRE @HousingPress @Dept_CCAE @DeptAHG pic.twitter.com/jteSF9NVrd

— Monaghan Heritage (@MonaghanHerita1) July 6, 2020

Day 78:  My Nature Home for Heritage Week

“My Nature Home” is a new initiative that asks people of all ages to imagine a happy future with nature. It is a visioning project, to help us talk about our relationship with nature “within the habitat of the heart”. Inspired by writer Richard Louv and his writings on nature deficit disorder and vitamin N (nature), this project is about expressing a positive future for us with biodiversity at its core.

Monaghan County Council Heritage Office wants to help create a different vision for ourselves other than the dystopian present we so often seem to inhabit. There is no doubt that biodiversity or nature is in crisis. The OECD recognises that “biodiversity loss is one of the greatest risks of the 21st century. It undermines human health and well-being”. In order to feel empowered to do something about this crisis, we need to be able to express a different future than the one which only describes the downward nature spiral.

The Heritage Office are inviting children of all ages, from 0 to 100, to share your vision of how you imagine your home in a happy nature. A specific email address has been established for submissions at: mynaturehome@monaghancoco.ie . Visions can be drawings, paintings, collages, poems or photographs which describe how you would like to be with nature in the future.
These visions will be compiled together to make a YouTube video on the Monaghan County Council channel to share during National Heritage Week and beyond. Closing date for entries is the 10th August 2020.

Shirley Clerkin, Heritage Officer commented that “Imagination is one of our human characteristics that enables us to innovate and to create futures for ourselves. We are asking children and people of all ages to imagine what a positive future with nature could be like. Having empathy with animals and plants is a good place to start building a caring relationship with nature. During lock-down, the demand to get into the outdoors increased, demonstrating its benefits for our mental and physical well-being. People are shocked to learn how under threat Ireland’s nature is, we need to turn the downward trends around and build advocacy and care for our nature home”.

Heritage Week in 2020 is not event led as in previous years. Due to COVID-19-related restrictions on social gatherings, this year, rather than inviting communities to host Heritage Week events, the Heritage Council is inviting communities around the country to undertake projects that explore a topic associated with this year’s theme – ‘Heritage and Education: Learning from our Heritage’. Heritage Week is coordinated by the Heritage Council and supported by the Local Authority Heritage Officers.