A Forest Sounds Like a Ship at Sea:

'What came before' in Ireland

Day 9: Remote Residency at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Ireland, 7/18/22 to 8/13/22,  Maria Driscoll McMahon checking in from New York State

I had the great privilege to spend six weeks in West Cork, Ireland, in 2019 and two weeks the previous year touring much of the country with my family.  I was able to get a good long look at this stunningly beautiful country. The iconic terrain of West Cork is striking in that you can see for miles and miles all the way to the sea from almost anywhere. Part of the reason for these long, breathtaking views is that much of the Emerald Isle is devoid of trees.  I was thinking this was due to the soil composition or micro-climates, but  I was quite shocked to learn that Ireland was once covered in an "unbroken wilderness" of primeval trees - just like Pennsylvania! 

The Beacon, (see the upper right corner) Baltimore Ireland, 2019

The story of Irish forests is very similar to the story of Pennsylvania's arboreal habitat. Only the timeline is different.  Imagine Ireland about 10,000 years ago when it was covered in mixed species of trees: oak, elm, pine, hazel, elder, and birch, among others.  The ancient indigineous Irish people would have lived near the coasts leaving the "unbroken forest canopy" untouched until about 5,000 years ago with the development of agriculture and bog land expansion swallowing up forests. 

The time of Christ is actually characterized as "the wood age" in Ireland when timber from forests - moreso than stone or bronze - facilitated advancement of civilization." This may be said of many cultures.

The country was once so forested, the people even referred to themselves as a "forest people!" Even the letters of the Irish alphabet are based upon trees. 

In spite of human habitation, the ancient forests were substantial for centuries. 

Lough Hyne woodland

In Gaelic culture, agriculture was integrated with the forests - cattle,  forest-dwelling creatures in their wild state - were allowed to graze in the forest where in some places the acorns were knee-deep. However, Gaelic farming methods were "efficient" which means that substantial clearing occurred.  There is some controversy over when the majority of deforestation occurred, but some insist only 3 - 12% of forests remained by the 16th century at the time of the Tudor (English) conquest. 

Further deforestation occurred under English empire expansion in order to clear the way for food production - much of which would be sent to the colonies in America.

Another reason the English wanted the forests gone during the Elizabethan age was to control the Irish who would find shelter in the forests where they would remain undetected from Imperialist overlords and their henchmen.   The Irish would also use the forest cover to ambush the interlopers.  It was said ‘the Irish will never be tamed while the leaves are on the trees.’

With that, most of the forests were gone by the 18th century, along with the animals which lived there - species such as wolves, European wildcat, the auk, Eurasian beaver. 

It sounds a little bit like the story of Pennsylvania!

By the time Cornelius Driscoll was born in 1784,  the terrain of West Cork would have looked pretty much as it does today and the Irish would have been considered an agricultural people rather than a "forest people."  Is it any wonder the first thing Cornelius Driscoll did when he got to Ridgebury was to "commence a clearing?" 

Views of woodlands on an island as seen from Roaring Water Bay; 

Lough Hyne, Liss Ard Estate, Skibbereen; West Cork countryside

Wood you like to know where the trees went? – Trinity News

The History - Wolfgang Reforest

(14) Lecture 32: Wild Animals of Ancient Ireland by Killian McLaughlin - YouTube

Wolves — Wild Ireland

(14) A History of Irelands Forest and its People 2016..Deforestation Of Ireland . - YouTube

A gallery of extinct Irish animals from St Patrick's time - Green News Ireland

Trees which comprise a forest are inhabitants which become habitat.