But now a local community group is stepping up its campaign to oppose a wind farm at Lemanaghan. 

The plan, drawn up by Bord na Móna and SSE Renewables, will be submitted to An Bord Pleanala “in the coming months” as part of a planning application to build 15 wind turbines, standing 220 metres high, on Lemanaghan bog in northwest Offaly.

Earlier this year, the two entities joined forces on a green electricity project that will spend up to €1bn in the next decade on onshore wind farms to supply electricity to almost 500,000 homes in the midlands.

Lemanaghan is one of the initial three projects in a portfolio that includes Garryhinch in counties Laois and Offaly and Littleton, Co Tipperary. All three are already in pre-planning.

“The proposed development, including the Draft Amenity Plan, will not impact on areas of high ecological or archaeological heritage importance or on any other areas of environmental significance,” the revised proposal says.

The Lemanaghan Bog Heritage and Conservation Group, however, vehemently disagrees, saying that the entire bog, all 1,200 hectares of it, should be left untouched.

Local historian and group member Seamus Corcoran says it is not only unique in Ireland, but in Europe, given the extraordinary concentrations of archaeological finds in the area.

“You wouldn’t build a wind farm on nearby Clonmacnoise so why build one here on a similar monastic site with the one of the highest density of wetland archaeological finds in Europe?” said group member KK Kenny.

The plan to site a wind farm at Lemanaghan has drawn vigorous local opposition since it was first mooted in 2021. 

Some 2,200 objections were submitted to Offaly County Council in an attempt to stop councillors zoning the bog suitable for wind farm development. Councillors voted by nine votes to eight to accept the controversial rezoning.

The project has been at pre-planning stage since 2021, but the local conservation group received an updated draft proposal two weeks ago.

Kevin O’Dwyer, metalworker, photographer and co-author of Saint Manchan’s Shrine, said he was very disheartened to hear that Bord na Móna was following through on its proposed wind farm at Lemanaghan bog.

That past still resonates with unusual force in Lemanaghan. To this day, local farmers will not sell milk as a mark of respect to St Manchan whose prize cow produced an endless supply of milk as long as it was not sold.

The animal was stolen by jealous farmers intent on destroying her, but as she was being dragged away, she left the traces of her hooves and tail on the stones so that her owner might follow. St Manchan did just that and found, to his horror, that the thieves had butchered her and were cooking up a feast.

The story goes that the saint used his miraculous powers to gather the disjointed pieces of his animal and bring her back to life. He was unable to locate a thigh bone so the cow was left with a limp, but she lived to a ripe old age despite the ordeal.

Seán Halligan is recounting the story on the way to St Manchan’s holy well and church. At one point, he bends down to inspect what looks like the imprint of a cow hoof on one of the paving stones on the path to the ancient monastic site.

Make of the legend what you will, but you can literally touch centuries of history in this magical pocket of land situated near the Lemanaghan boglands between Ferbane and Ballycumber in Co Offaly.

At St Manchan’s Well, another group member Seán Corcoran reads one of his own poems. There are seven words in each of the seven lines. 

He starts: “A holy well where hearts can dwell/ Stepping stones leading to our spiritual home.” 

It’s an echo of a surviving poem attributed to St Manchan in which the local saint describes his ideal monastery, with a church and house in the wild “with green shallow water running by its side/ And a clear pool to wash off sin by the grace of the Holy Ghost”.

The clear waters of the existing well are kept pristine by the local community. And, as is so often the case with holy wells, the branches of a nearby tree are hung with rags and pieces of cloth placed there by modern pilgrims.

They are welcome and the heritage group hopes that many more will come to visit the well, nearby church and the remains of St Mella’s cell, an oratory that bears the name of the saint’s mother.

Back at the local schoolhouse, which acts as campaign HQ and nascent interpretative centre, commissioned trail waymarkers are stacked against a wall. The shiny green posts are topped with a little yellow pilgrim. The group hopes that, one day, it will be able to place them on the site as part of a tourist trail.

The threat to those plans – and, they say, the whole region – is also represented in the schoolhouse in the form of a model showing just how high a 220m turbine looks when in situ.

There are maps too; one showing the site of the proposed wind turbines and another illustrating where some of the hundreds of archaeological artefacts were found.

They appear to be entirely at odds, with proposed turbines situated near – or, in some cases, on – sites of archaeological importance. 

But then there is a contradiction at the heart of archaeological discovery. The development that ultimately destroys it also facilitates the kind of survey and excavation that lead to new finds.

Archaeologist Benjamin Gearey puts it like this: “Drainage and industrial peat extraction have exposed and destroyed thousands of archaeological sites in Ireland. 

"Ironically, this is the reason archaeologists have been able to identify and document the complexes of trackways that cross the Lemanaghan complex, some of which are closely related to the adjacent and important ecclesiastical site of St Manchan’s Monastery.” 

He considers the landscape to be, arguably, as important to Ireland’s past as the iconic monuments, such as Newgrange, at the bend of the Boyne. 

“Whilst rehabilitation and restoration of degraded peatlands is now a pressing requirement, the surviving archaeological sites are still vulnerable and fragile,” he says.

Other important finds came to light during an archaeological survey of Bord Na Móna production bogs commissioned by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in the 1990s.

As part of that survey, archaeologist Cathy Moore found a bog body in 1998 at Tumbeagh bog, at the northern end of the Lemanaghan bog complex.

“While we [the Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit] were looking for archaeological sites or finds that were being exposed through peat extraction, it was still a surprising and very exciting discovery. 

"I found what looked like a scrap of leather along with some crumbs of white, waxy material and a small piece of bone. These turned out to be human skin, body fat (adipocere), and the navicular bone from a left foot.” 

A further search yielded more crumbs of body fat, a vertebra, a patella, a rib, more fragments of skin and fragments of wood and a withy (wooden rope), proving that the body had once been complete. The remains were then lifted in a block and excavated by Drs Nóra Bermingham and Máire Delaney in a laboratory at the National Museum of Ireland.

“The gender of the individual could not be established, but the remains suggested that they were about 18 years old,” Cathy Moore explains. 

“Radiocarbon dating indicated that they died c. AD 1500 but we don’t know how they died. Wood found with the body had been cut in the autumn at the end of the growing season, which might suggest the teenager died in late autumn, or not long after.

“As there was no evidence of a burial pit or grave it is possible that this person strayed from a safe route and became lost or trapped and eventually died from exposure.

"People are fascinated by bog bodies, they are such a recognisable and direct link to the past, and so while the individual who was found at Tumbeagh died over 500 years ago, there remains a poignancy to their death.” 

That link to the past was also referenced by archaeologist Ellen O’Carroll when, during a webinar on bogs, she said it was still possible to walk on the remains of a trackway built some 1,500 years ago. 

Excavations, carried out 20 years ago, have helped to create a picture of a lost community, offering insights into the clothes they wore and the rituals they performed.

“The wealth of archaeological sites and artefacts that have been found in Irish peatlands is unparalleled anywhere else in the world,” Dr O’Carroll said. 

“Moving into the future and the new phase of raised bog restoration, we need to take stock of what we have uncovered and how best to preserve it. Engaging with communities in understanding and displaying these wonderful cultural resources should be a key objective.” 

The next step in the wind farm proposal includes a public information evening on August 13 at the Community Development Centre in Ballycumber, Co Offaly, although the Lemanaghan Bog Heritage and Conservation Group is keen to point out that there is a big difference between information and engagement.

On the other hand, the Lemanaghan Wind Farm communication team says the revisions to the draft layout were primarily due to feedback from the public.

A Bord Na Móna spokesperson said: “The archaeological, architectural and cultural heritage of Lemanaghan Bog, and its surrounds, will be considered as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) that will accompany the planning application for the proposed development.

"When the Bord na Mona/SSE Electricity joint venture was announced in March, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan welcomed it saying it was “one of the largest onshore renewable energy joint ventures in the history of the State”.

A spokesperson for his department said he was precluded from commenting on individual planning applications, but added: “The minister, as always, encourages all renewable energy developers and all relevant stakeholders to undertake extensive and constructive engagement with local communities before, during, and after the construction of any renewable energy project.”

The challenge now will be to design a future without destroying the past.