Research your local wood

A wide range of freely available sources can help you to research your local wood.

The first step would be to look at the Ordnance Survey maps for your area. These go back to the 1830s and you will be able to see the changes in the wood over time. These are available in many local libraries as well as at the Public Record Office, Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast.

From the Ordnance Survey (OS) maps, note down which townland the wood is in. The name will be written on the maps and the townland boundary is shown by a dotted line. Townlands are important in historical research as many records are organised by townland. Once you know the townland, if you look at a townland index or on PRONI’s website, you can find out what parish the wood is in as again it is useful to know the parish when looking through old records.

Ordnance Survey Memoirs were published in the 1830s and 1840s to accompany the first series of OS maps. They hold much information on the country at that time and again are available in most libraries as well as PRONI. They are organised by parish and many detail the woods and new plantations of that time.

If at all possible, photocopy or make a note of each new piece of information, including any reference numbers and where you looked at it in case you wish to examine the record again in the future.

Estates covered much of the country in previous centuries. You can find out which estate owned the wood either at a local library or at PRONI. Many estate papers are held at PRONI and these can be an important source. However not all estates’ records are held there. Some are still in private ownership and others have been destroyed.

If the relevant estate papers are held in PRONI, then the most useful source for the history of the wood is the estate maps. These can go back to the late 17th century but are usually from the 18th and 19th centuries. Other important sources include estate correspondence and leases and rentals. However it may take some time going through these for a possibly brief mention of a wood.

Other 18th and 19th century sources include the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ and the register of trees. The ‘Belfast Newsletter’ began in 1737 and often had advertisements for the sale of trees at specific woods. An index from 1737 to 1800 is available on the internet and the newspapers can be examined on microfilm at Central Library and Linenhall Library in Belfast. It is likely that local newspapers would also contain advertisements and notices about woods and these should be available in libraries.

Registers of trees are available for all counties in PRONI. The register for County Londonderry has been published and may therefore be available in libraries. These registers list trees planted by tenants as the tenants received money for every tree planted.

There are a number of 17th century sources which are of use in researching a local wood, though no single record covers the whole country. Bodley maps from 1609 cover the counties of Armagh, Fermanagh, part of Londonderry and Tyrone. Raven maps of County Londonderry are from 1622. Raven’s 1625 map of the Clandeboye Estate covers some of County Down. Petty’s maps from the 1650s cover certain parishes in Counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Londonderry and Tyrone. The Civil Survey from 1654 covers Counties Londonderry, Tyrone and part of Armagh. These are available in PRONI or at a number of libraries across the country.

Using 17th century sources can be quite a challenge. The name of a townland sometimes changes over the years; certainly the spelling of the name will be different and often older spellings need to be spoken phonetically before it can be seen that they are the same place. If the name of the townland has changed, the location can still be found on old maps by locating townlands and features nearby which have not changed. These early sources are important as they can show that woodland was in the same area 400 years ago as it is today.

Place-names are of importance, often telling us what the landscape looked like in the past. There are a number of publications by the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast on the meaning and occurrence of place-names.

Secondary sources which can provide information on local woods include recent publications on the history of the local area as well as reports and accounts written by travellers and locals in the 18th and 19th centuries. For example, Henry's Upper Lough Erne from 1739, Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland (1776-1779) and Sampson’s Statistical survey of the county of Londonderry from 1802.

Finally, get out and have a look at the wood! Surveying can give you a whole wealth of information about its history. Old woods often contain archaeological features such as raths and other earthworks, including boundary banks and ditches. You could look out for plants that are associated with ancient woodland in Northern Ireland. But remember that if you do not own the wood, you may need to get permission from the landowner before you visit.