SOCIETY AND SETTLEMENT IN GLENDALOUGH ... - Ian Cantwell
SOCIETY AND SETTLEMENT IN GLENDALOUGH ... - Ian Cantwell SOCIETY AND SETTLEMENT IN GLENDALOUGH ... - Ian Cantwell
have been a tributary of the Avonmore in the pre-Quaternary period''. It is fed by amultiplicity ofsmall streams and joins the sea at Wicklow (Map 1)4.GlaciationPrior to the Quaternary period it is likely that an ecologically mature landscape withtemperate flora and fauna predominated. This changed completely with the climaticcollapse of c. 2.4 million years ago which instigated cycles of glaciation of increasinglength and severity interspersed with interglacial periods of which this is the latest.Over time the nature of the landscape was altered and many species became extinct,especially in the upland areas such as Wicldow which had its own mountain ice-caps. 5When the last glacial epoch, the Midlandian, ended about 13,000 years Bp6 themountain flanks bore the scars of glacial weathering and erosion, the valleys weredenuded of soils and scouring left undulating depressions that became lake systems.Out-wash moraines indicate the deposition ofrock debris ofglacial melt-waters in thefinal meltdown. Glendalough valley has a low'alluvial fan 7 which became the site ofecclesiastical settlement. From the western valleys came major deposits of glacialdebris which are to be found in the Vartry depression and are the result ofpiedmontglaciers'', These can be found especially on the Calaryuplands? which also shows signsofintense periglacial activitylO. These have created complex soil patterns which can beseen from the land use patterns oftoday. The most obvious difference is between thenorthern and southern parts of the plateau where the Archaeological evidence andplacenames suggest that the latter was marshy scrub-land and not settled until themodem period.3Farrington A., The Glaciation ofthe Wicldow mountains, R.IA. proc., Vol. XLTI, sect B, 1934, p.1744Based on Ordnance Survey, DiscoverySeries, 1:50 000, no. 565VVlUtlow,op.cit.p.2696All BP (before present) dates are given in 14C radiocarbon years.7Warren, W. A., Wick/ow in the lee Age, Dublin, 1993, p: 428ibid. pp. 10-139ibid p. 28lOibid.p.3412
\ Map 1 Topography and Drainaget~__ _ __ _-r':1above 300;
- Page 1 and 2: SOCIETY AND SETTLEMENTINGLENDALOUGH
- Page 3: INTRODUCTIONIn 1990, due to family
- Page 6 and 7: "Geography is a permanentfactor in
- Page 8 and 9: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI am deeply indebte
- Page 10 and 11: MEmODOLOGYIn 1996 two important wor
- Page 12 and 13: The fourth was the primary research
- Page 16 and 17: Pre-HoloceneAt the end of the perio
- Page 18 and 19: 4,6Q0-4,200BP, with an increase of
- Page 20 and 21: diagnostic ofhigh population pressu
- Page 22 and 23: Map2 Pre-Historic archaeology~. ._
- Page 24 and 25: must be careful in interpreting the
- Page 26 and 27: may be Downemore in Glassnamullen b
- Page 28 and 29: Knockadreet (Cnoc a' droichead); th
- Page 30 and 31: What is worth noting is the continu
- Page 32 and 33: include the creation ofa saintly ar
- Page 34 and 35: v1ap 4 Diffusion ofSelected Saints:
- Page 36 and 37: From around the ninth century Giend
- Page 38 and 39: Glendalough: Politieal contextDurin
- Page 40 and 41: understanding medieval ideologies,
- Page 42 and 43: Glendalough: Abbey and BishoprieIn
- Page 44 and 45: low density which he explains by th
- Page 46 and 47: known how well this represents cont
- Page 48 and 49: Parish of Glendalough in the 1821.
- Page 50 and 51: What is unclear is the amount of un
- Page 53 and 54: The charters ofconfirmation to the
- Page 55 and 56: Dublin, John Cumin, was in exile 11
- Page 57 and 58: must pay for the wood 209 . This gr
- Page 59 and 60: appears to be the continuation ofth
- Page 61 and 62: 'IIIRoad to Plateau,,-- --Map 8 Cas
- Page 63 and 64: ecame Archdeacon of Glendalough and
\ Map 1 Topography and Drainaget~__ _ __ _-r':1above 300;
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