History of Irish woods

Oliver Rackham, the eminent woodland historian, has described Ireland’s woodland history as a “series of disasters.” Today, only six per cent of Northern Ireland is woodland, less than anywhere else in Europe, with the exception of Iceland. Most of this is recent conifer plantation.

After the last ice age, Ireland was colonised gradually by trees, beginning with juniper, dwarf willow and birch. By 8,500 years ago, Northern Ireland was covered with a lush “wildwood” dominated by oak and elm, with hazel, Scots pine, alder, ash and yew.

Clearance began with the first farmers who arrived in the Neolithic period, around 6000 years ago. The mild climate and fertile land enabled year-round grazing, and replacement of woodland with farms continued apace until, by the Iron Age, the landscape was an open one with scattered woodland. Ancient Irish laws, first written down in the 7th to 9th centuries, show that woods were protected and managed, most likely by coppicing. Little evidence remains today of this traditional management, but this is probably due to the massive changes that occurred from the 17th century onwards.

By 1600, Ireland had only two to three per cent woodland cover, and was one-third as wooded as England. During the Plantation period, from 1600 onwards, huge areas of land were transferred to Scots and English “planters” or settlers. Accounts from around 1600 describe large stretches of native woodland remaining, but by the early 19th century, when the first Ordnance Survey maps were produced for Ulster, no more than one-tenth of this woodland remained.

There are reports of timber being felled for building Plantation houses and towns, to fuel ironworks, or to remove hiding places for wolves and “woodkerne,” the name for the dispossessed Irish. It is likely, though, that a major cause of woodland loss was the population expansion that occurred in the 18th century. Many woods, once they had been exploited, were probably grubbed out for farming, even in relatively inhospitable areas.

At the same time, the new landowners, keen to make their mark, developed their great houses, and around them designed landscapes of parkland and ornamental woodland. In some cases these incorporated existing areas of native woodland, but in many they did not. Planting was encouraged by the Dublin Society, with prizes for chosen species. As time went on, the trend moved away from native species like oak, towards exotics.

The 20th century brought modern forestry. Many ancient woods were felled and replanted with fast-growing conifers, with devastating consequences. Damage caused by felling and clearance, the shade cast by the conifers, and smothering effects of deep layers of needles, have all taken their toll on the vulnerable remnant communities of ancient woodland plants and animals in these woods.