archaeological & built heritage assessment - The Heritage Council

7 Statement of Significance
A general approach has been adopted in order to assess the nature of the significance of the waterways
corridor of the Upper Shannon Navigation and Boyle River Navigation to Roosky including Lough Allen,
Lough Key and the Carnadoe Waters (herein collectively termed the waterway). This relies on an
understanding of the physical attributes, uses, relationships and associations of the area from past remains
up to and including the present.
• Due to the wealth and range of associative, cultural, aesthetic and economic values that the
waterway possesses, it is considered to be of immense local, regional and national significance.
• There is evidence for prehistoric activity in the environs of the waterway. The area shows
evidence of ritual and religious veneration stretching back to the Neolithic period and was
therefore an important geographical landmark prior to the coming of Christianity to this area of
Ireland.
• The surviving fabric of the structures and features on the monastic sites located along the
waterway reflect the fundamental changes and developments in Irish ecclesiastical history; the
historic sites also demonstrate many aspects of Christian tradition as practiced in Ireland over
the course of 1000 years.
• The rural setting of much of the waterway is of high aesthetic significance and allows the modern
visitor to contemplate the past.
• Individual elements within church and graveyard sites as well as monastic settlements within the
environs of the waterway; generally ranging from architectural features to individual gravestones
is of cultural significance in their own right. Such aspects serve as inherently attractive features.
• A landward approach to the waterway is of visual and amenity significance and for many
archaeological sites studied for this project it is critical to providing a visual backdrop thus
creating a unique sense of place.
• All archaeological sites located within the immediate environs of the waterway, although some
may be in derelict condition, are of architectural, historic and social significance. They are
important visitor attractions in their own right and consequently are of significance to the
respective local communities.
• The significance of the archaeological remains of the waterway and the tangible evidence of social,
economic and technological development since prehistoric times (thus including the canal,
leisurely navigation and related infrastructure) is apparent and made vivid by its continued usage
to the present day.
• Although specific elements of the cultural heritage of the waterway are of special interest it has
an intrinsic value as a diachronic landscape i.e. a spatial area containing clusters of archaeological
46