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Maps and Map-Making in Local History
In this chapter dealing with uncertain information about spatial urban objects is described. Authors are using examples from works of two connected projects: HOUSe project on Warsaw's urban space and the European Historic Towns Atlas series on the Magdeburg volume. The three major uncertainties of space, time, and function and continuity, are discussed. Furthermore, ways of solving problems with uncertainties in both projects are presented. Final remarks offer possible ways of expanding solutions in the future during the HiSMaComp project.
This chapter traces the changing geographies of the Irish language and considers how linguistics could learn from conceptual developments in relation to ‘space’ and ‘place’ in geography. Walsh argues that concepts such as ‘relational space’ aid understanding of the dynamism of the geographies inhabited by minority languages. He then considers the geography of the Irish language, focusing on the development of the concept of ‘Gaeltacht’ and the emergence of new spatial categories within the ‘language planning process’ launched in 2012. Although these are more fluid and dynamic than the static spatial conceptualisation of the past, Walsh criticises the new process for failing to engage with the possibilities offered by ‘relational space’ to analyse minority language use in the diffused networked society of late modernity.
Peatland habitats provide important ecosystem services for human beings but worldwide their future is at risk due to their historic and continued use as a social and economic resource. This research demonstrates how different types of knowledge can inform the conservation and management of peatlands, and how an interdisciplinary approach can facilitate an appreciation of both cultural and natural heritage aspects of the landscape. The site under study is Girley Bog, a raised bog Natural Heritage Area and Special Area of Conservation, located in the north-east of Ireland, and the time period covered is 1600 to the present. Girley Bog has a long history of anthropogenic disturbance and land use, including drainage, reclamation, grazing, fertilisation, turf cutting, burning, forestry plantations, and dumping. Despite these impacts, the bog continues to support areas that are actively growing and forming peat, demonstrating its resilience as a functioning ecosystem. The use of historical approaches is increasingly recognised as a valuable component of conservation and habitat management, revealing landscape change over time as well as changes in attitudes, policies and practices. This research involved collating existing scientific information on the site; researching historical maps and archives; and carrying out an oral history project. These different sources of knowledge can be used to interpret the site for visitors and the local community, and contribute to involving and informing communities about peatland management and conservation. Such contextual landscape histories also provide a clearer picture of historic social-ecological interactions at the site and how these have influenced the landscape we look to conserve and manage today.
Local history is the history of place, but, though place is central to its meaning, it is much more than this. Local historical research, in the first place, teases out the interplay of landscape, economy, culture and population to explain the shaping of the local community over time. Secondly, by asking ‘big questions about small places’, it prompts the reassessment of assumptions about developments over a wider spatial canvas.1 Thus, local history is about both people and place, and it provides a lens through which one can view the evolution of both the micro world of the locality and the wider world composed of many such localities. Modern Irish local history has been in the making since the mid-eighteenth century, the first significant landmark in its development being the work of the Physico-Historical Society. Established to investigate the roots of contemporary economic development and to combat Ireland’s image as a barbaric country, this society initiated a series of county studies, only four of which were published.2 Though primarily economic in focus, these surveys into ‘the ancient and present state’ of the counties in question effectively linked past with present, and prefigured the interdisciplinary approach of two centuries later by combining elements of geographical, economic, historical and political enquiry.3
During the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), the English Crown engaged in a series of bloody wars in Ireland. Principally fought against local Gaelic Irish and Anglo-Irish lords, these conflicts paved the way for the plantation and colonisation of the late 16th and 17th centuries. As the fighting raged, surveyors, cartographers and engineers produced maps of key locations throughout the country. These were created principally to aid the military effort, but were also designed to provide interested parties in England with a visual reference for events. This paper will examine one form of this map production, namely the numerous battle and siege maps drawn throughout the period. It will explore the potential accuracy of the depictions, and suggest methods for correctly 'reading' these primary documents. The importance of critically examining the maps against other primary sources and the topographical landscape will be discussed, suggesting a methodology for how this resource can be utilised by conflict archaeologists. In addition, it will demonstrate through a number of examples how these research techniques can be successfully applied.
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