Character in the Landscape

The “Shannon Environs” Landscape Character Type is described in The Galway Landscape Character Assessment:   ^[14]  

 _{“These areas support internationally significant numbers of wintering birds that amplify the overwhelmingly natural character of these areas of Callows. The adjoining areas are also distinctive, either on account of very large areas of bog or extensive farm holdings and parkland landscapes. The more productive soils of this area, which are often characterised by large flat fields, are the result of a long history of intensive agriculture and settlement.”} 

Lismany has a host of important natural features because of the fragile ecological nature of the floodplains, marshland and bog habitat and their associated high value ecosystem services. The part of the land that is peatland was mostly drained for agriculture and the rest for intensive peat production in the 1950s. The remnants of 19th-century tree plantations and mature hedgerows are also evident. Significant built features include an abandoned section of the Grand Canal running through the townland and historic monuments related to farming from ringforts to 19th-century farm buildings. Local historic walking trails benefit from a rich tapestry of natural and cultural heritage.

Incursions into the bog area in the Eastern part of Lismany can be seen over time. Here is the first detailed OSi map from 1841 contrasted with the 25" map from 1992 post Pollok improvements.

Further drainage canals are present in the 1946 survey (OSi 6 " last edition map) . These two images below show the drainage channels reclaiming land from the bog on the left and modern industrial peat extraction on the right. Pull the sliding arrow to how the land was drained. These were dramatic land changes that effected both the character of the landscape, hydrology and the underlying ecology and habitat.

MAPS USED IN THE STORYMAP

 © Ordnance Survey Ireland. All rights reserved. Licence number 2019/OSI_NMA_074

1.        Downs Survey map 1658  : https://downsurvey.tchpc.tcd.ie/down-survey-maps.php#c=Galway

2.       Raised bogs of the River Suck (1812)  Bog Commission Maps  1809 – 1814, image source: Bord Na Mona

 3.        OSi 25” black and White map , Sheet GY100-02, survey date 1892

 4.       MapGenie 6 Inch First Edition Sheet Search: GY100, 1841

 5.       MapGenie 6 Inch Last Edition Sheet Search GY100, 1949

REFERENCES

[1] Spirn, A.W. (1998) The Language of Landscape. New Haven, Conn., Yale University Press.

[2] Council of Europe (2000), European Landscape Convention, Council of Europe, Florence, October 2000

[3] Landscape Wheel: Originally developed by Carys Swanwick, 2002 for Natural England.

[4] Zimmerman, J. (2022) The shape of the land, Landforms and their representation in our names, Storymap: December 2022, Teagasc.

[5] Heritage Council (2004) Landscape Character Assessment of Co. Clare:  March 2004

[6] Tudor, C., (2014). An approach to landscape character assessment. Natural England

[7] Praeger, R.L. (1947) The Way that I Went: An Irishman in Ireland

[8] Maher, C. et al. (2014) ‘Atlantic floodplain meadows: influence of hydrological gradients and management on sciomyzid (Diptera) assemblages’, Journal of Insect Conservation, 18(2), pp. 267–282

 [9] Rourke, O’. E. & Finn, J. (2020) for Nature: the role of results-based payments, Teagasc & NPWS.

[10] Moran, P. & Wilson-Parr, R. (2015) Hen Harrier Special Protection Area (SPA) Habitat Mapping Project 2014. Irish Wildlife Manuals, No. 83. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Ireland.

[11] Heery, S. (1994) The Shannon Floodlands: A Natural History of the Shannon Callows. Tir Eolas.

[12] Ibid

[13] Galway Co. Council (2021) Appendix 4: Landscape Character Assessment, Draft Galway County Development Plan 2022-2028

[13]  https://esbarchives.ie/portfolio/shannonbridge 

[14] Praeger, R.L (1899) A Botanist in the Central Plain, Irish Naturalist: 8

[15]  https://www.bordnamonalivinghistory.ie/maps/early-days-use/ 

[16] Delany, R. (2004) Ireland’s Inland Waterways – Celebrating 300 years, Appletree Press

[17] Molloy, J.(2009)  The Parish of Clontuskert - Glimpses into its Past, Clontuskert Heritage Group

[18] Ibid

[19] Ibid

[20] Ibid

[21] The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0055, Page 0158, © National Folklore Collection, UCD.