Dónal Hickey: Campaign to save monuments from accidental damage
Raise Awareness Archaeological You Dig Check Aims Campaign Across Monuments Ireland To Of Before
The majority of farmers would not damage, never mind remove, a ringfort on their land. It seems local superstitions have not changed much since the national schools’ folklore collection in the late 1930s.
A pupil of that era, Eilis Noonan, of Liscarroll, Mallow, County Cork, told of many fairy forts in her area, with people afraid to go near one, especially, after 10pm, while earth dug up in another fort in daylight was mysteriously put back at night.
“It is said that the fairies are seen there," she related in copperplate handwriting.
Deeply embedded in the Irish rural psyche is a belief that harm might come to people who interfere with these protected structures, long associated with fairies.
Mind you, fear of fairies aside, pragmatism also comes into play. Farmers have been fined up to €25,000 each for unlawfully removing ringforts.
A national Record of Monuments and Places lists a staggering 140,000 archaeological remains of many kinds, like castles, churches, and standing stones. Between 30,000 and 40,000 ringforts are among the most common.
A Check Before You Dig campaign is underway by the National Monuments Service (NMS) to raise awareness of archaeological monuments. It is particularly aimed at people planning land clearance and reclamation.
Land-users are being urged to check their property for such monuments before starting work. An online map is provided by the Department of Housing and Heritage.
Yet, there’s an irony here. The State, which makes the laws protecting our archaeological heritage, can itself demolish such monuments under the National Monuments Amendment Act (2004). In 1978 the destruction of the Viking site at Wood Quay in Dublin drew prolonged protests.
More recently, monument site destruction has happened during the building of motorways, for example. Almost 250 such sites were identified on the motorway route from County Laois to Dunkettle, outside Cork city.
Last August, somebody started a fire on an ancient granite stone at Glendalough, County Wicklow, causing cracks on the stone. It is thought those responsible were lighting a barbeque.
As Michael MacDonagh, NMS chief archaeologist, points out, the Irish countryside is still remarkably rich in archaeological monuments Separately, a €7 million Community Monuments Fund 2024 will help owners and custodians of these monuments safeguard them into the future. About 120 projects are expected to benefit.
The basic aim is to conserve and protect local monuments and historic sites. Funds can be drawn down for essential repairs and capital works, as well the creation of management plans for such monuments which mark about 10,000 years of human activity.
The survival of so many here is regarded as unique in European terms.