Publisher's Synopsis
Published in association with the Group for the Study of Irish Historic Settlement and the Agricultural History Society of Ireland, this collection explores the relationship between Irish settlement and agricultural practice from the Neolithic to the 18th century. The types of farming that took place in any particular period of Irish history had a powerful impact on the development of settlement. Interdisciplinary studies in this volume address key periods to illustrate that process: from the spread of Neolithic pastoralism, the very basis of farming on the island; through the medieval focus on tillage, which gave rise to manorial villages and granges; to the 18th-century agricultural revolution and the impact that had on urban and rural landscapes. Contents include: an introduction to agriculture and settlement * the early medieval farm * the evolution of cattle and of cattle farming systems * the Cistercian grange: a medieval farming system * agriculture and the medieval manor * the creaght: farming system or social unit? * the changing structure of Irish agriculture in the 17th century * Collon, Co. Louth: the landscape legacy of an 18th-century estate * Irish farming systems. [Subject: History, Irish Studies, Agriculture, Medieval Studies]
