Landscape development in northeast Ireland over the last half millennium

Abstract

The fragmentary documentary evidence from the 18th century which refers to the lowland landscape of the northeast of Ireland describes enclosure by hedges, with extensive areas under arable agriculture in some areas whilst in others scrubby uncultivated conditions predominate. As few palynological studies of deposits from the last 500 years have been conducted in Ireland, almost nothing is known of the development of the lowland landscape.The results from a modern pollen rain study of a reconstructed 19th centuryfarm, characteristics of northeast Ireland, were used to interpret the palynological evidence from lowland lake deposits and peats from approximately the last five hundred years. Scrub clearance in the 18th century resulted in an open landscape which was enclosed by hedges of Crataegus and Prunus spinosa. These hedge taxa are poorly represented in both the modern pollen rain study and the fossil pollen record, as were weeds. An upsurge in arable agriculture in the 18th century included the introduction of flax.