Field system, Clooncallow, Co. Longford

Co. Longford |

Ritual/Ceremonial

Field system, Clooncallow, Co. Longford

On the banks of the River Inny in County Longford, a patch of ground holds the faint outline of a small farming world that has largely been forgotten.

Aerial photographs taken in 2005 revealed an extensive network of low earthen banks enclosing a series of small fields, their surfaces still marked by cultivation ridges, the parallel raised strips left by repeated ploughing or spade-work across the same ground. The whole system is laid out across an area of outcropping rock, which gives the landscape an uneven, almost reluctant quality, as though agriculture here was always a negotiation with the ground rather than a straightforward imposition upon it.

The field system appears to date from after 1700, and the 1837 edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map, one of the earliest systematic cartographic records of the Irish countryside, confirms several of the features still visible today. That map indicates the small fields, a lime-kiln, and what may be a building. A lime-kiln was a stone structure used to burn limestone and produce quicklime, which farmers spread on acidic soil to improve its fertility, and its presence here suggests a working agricultural holding rather than simple subsistence plots. The possible building is a sunken rectangular feature measuring roughly fourteen metres by three metres and sunk about forty centimetres into the ground, but its true nature remains genuinely uncertain. There are no definite wall-footings to confirm it as a house, and it may instead be the remains of an open-cast quarry, making use of the same outcrops that define the wider landscape. A large irregular platform visible in the aerial photographs turns out to be a natural hillock of rock rather than any constructed feature, a reminder that reading the landscape from above invites misreadings as often as it resolves them.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Field system, Clooncallow, Co. Longford. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement