Physical Environment
What is the physical landscape?
The physical landscape is the mix of lowland and upland, of rivers, lakes, and seashores that provides the arena for life in Ireland. This landscape is very varied. It has a major influence on lives now as it had in the past. It influences the food we eat, the water we drink and the electricity we use every day.
Gougane Barra
The name 'Gougane Barra' derives from St. Finbar, who according to tradition, built this monastery on the island here in the 6th century. With a capacity of approximetely 20 people, this religious sanctuary is still used today. Mass and religious wedding ceremonies are conducted daily with access from a land bridge onto the island.
Courtesy of Lensman and Mark Horrell.Gougane Barra
The name 'Gougane Barra' derives from St. Finbar, who according to tradition, built this monastery on the island here in the 6th century. With a capacity of approximetely 20 people, this religious sanctuary is still used today. Mass and religious wedding ceremonies are conducted daily with access from a land bridge onto the island.
Courtesy of Lensman and Mark Horrell.As scenery, it is an ingrained element of daily life and culture, and is an outstanding resource for recreation and tourism. It is the surface on which, over thousands of years, settlers in Ireland have made their mark: creating homes, farms, and cities; making fields and plantations; and building lines of communication.
The transformation of the natural landscape - variations.
An attempt by the geographer Fred Aalen to show how the physical landscape is the outcome of many changes over the last ten thousand years. (A) is just after the last Ice Age when much of the land was grass or bog. (B) is about 6000BC when woodland was widespread and man had made little impact. (C) is 2500BC after the first farmers had cleared some of the woods. (D) is 500BC when blanket bogs were advancing, especially on hill areas, and in places woods were again advancing. (E) is 800AD when farms centred on ringforts or raths were widespread. (F) is 1840AD just before the Great Famine, when rural settlement was at its maximum. (G) is to-day, when the extent of farmland is contracting and managed forestry is increasingly prominent.
Source: Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape.
The transformation of the natural landscape - variations.
An attempt by the geographer Fred Aalen to show how the physical landscape is the outcome of many changes over the last ten thousand years. (A) is just after the last Ice Age when much of the land was grass or bog. (B) is about 6000BC when woodland was widespread and man had made little impact. (C) is 2500BC after the first farmers had cleared some of the woods. (D) is 500BC when blanket bogs were advancing, especially on hill areas, and in places woods were again advancing. (E) is 800AD when farms centred on ringforts or raths were widespread. (F) is 1840AD just before the Great Famine, when rural settlement was at its maximum. (G) is to-day, when the extent of farmland is contracting and managed forestry is increasingly prominent.
Source: Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape.
The Cultural Impact of Landscape
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow is an example of the U-shaped cross profile of an over deepened main valley.
Courtesy of Carsten ClasohmGlendalough, Co. Wicklow
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow is an example of the U-shaped cross profile of an over deepened main valley.
Courtesy of Carsten ClasohmThe entrenched cultural impact of landscape is evident in the reverence for long accorded particular landforms, for example the Hills of Uisneach, Co. Westmeath and Tara, Co. Meath. Here in earlier times, assemblies were held during the festivals of Bealtaine and Samhain. Mountains, such as Drung Hill in Co. Kerry, were the sites for the Festival of Lúnasa and various other types of religious 'pattern'.
Secluded lakes, such as at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow is an example of the U-shaped cross profile of an over deepened main valley.
Courtesy of Carsten Clasohm
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow is an example of the U-shaped cross profile of an over deepened main valley.
Courtesy of Carsten Clasohm
Glendalough Village.
This photograph from c.1950's shows the remains of the early Irish religious community in Glendalough in Co. Wicklow. This monastic site includes a round tower in the centre of the photograph and chapel to the left of the graveyard which was founded by St. Kevin in the sixth century. The round tower was a defensive monument in that it served as a look out for the danger of the Norsemen and a safe keep for valuable religious artefacts. At the same time it was a monument of pacifism and retreat. Glendalough monastery was founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. As this time the valley would have been a place of complete retreat and isolation from the outside world.
Toponyms
Glencree, Co. Wicklow
Glencree is a valley in the Wicklow Mountains.
Copyright Ger HusseyGlencree, Co. Wicklow
Glencree is a valley in the Wicklow Mountains.
Copyright Ger Hussey
More prosaically, the significance of landscape is enshrined in place-names. Of the more than 60,000 townlands in Ireland, well over 20% incorporate name elements referring to physical or natural features. These are known as toponyms. There are thousands of such examples throughout Ireland, including placenames with the words 'druim' (ridge), 'cnoc' (hill), glean (glen), or inis (island).
The Landscape in Arts and Culture
Map showing townlands with Druim in their name
A map showing the location of over 2200 townlands where the element ‘druim’ is used as either a prefix (as in Drumshanbo, Drumsna) or a suffix (as in Dundrum, Rathdrum). Some 900 (41%) of these townlands are concentrated in counties Fermanagh, Cavan, Monaghan and south Leitrim.
Copyright Atlas of Irish Place Names by Patrick O'Connor.Map showing townlands with Druim in their name - Copyright Atlas of Irish Place Names by Patrick O'Connor.
Antrim Coast
The Ulster white limestone along the Antrim coast, overlain by basalt.
Courtesy of the Geological Survey of Ireland 2006.Antrim Coast - Courtesy of the Geological Survey of Ireland 2006.
Carrauntoouhill
Photograph of summit of Carrauntoohill, County Kerry - Ireland's highest mountain (3414 feet)
Courtesy of Kevin Farnan, Tralee Mountaineering Club.Carrauntoouhill - Courtesy of Kevin Farnan, Tralee Mountaineering Club.
'In Connemara' painted by Paul Henry
'In Connemara' painted by Paul Henry. This is an example of a great work of art that has been influenced by the physical landscape.
Courtesy of the Shane Grant collection.'In Connemara' painted by Paul Henry - Courtesy of the Shane Grant collection.
The Burren at sunset
Copyright Mike Brown
The Burren at sunset - Copyright Mike Brown
Author of our Physical Landscape section
Dr. Arnold Horner, author of Physical Landscape.
Dr Horner has a long-time interest in the Geography of Ireland, broadly interpreted. More particularly, his study interests centre on Irish regions, especially the Dublin city-region, and the history of cartography in Ireland. He has twice been awarded a UCD President’s Research Fellowship, and he has also received awards from the former National Board for Science and Technology and the Irish Research Council for Human and Social Sciences. Dr Horner’s publications include contributions to a resource survey of Co. Kildare, census atlases on the agriculture and population of Ireland, and the section on Maynooth in the Irish Historic Towns Atlas. In recent years, Dr Horner has been researching the pioneering maps and surveys of the Bogs Commissioners of 1809-1814. His Mapping Offaly in the early nineteenth century: with an atlas of William Larkin’s map of King’s County 1809, was published by Wordwell in November 2006.
Copyright managed by the Library CouncilDr. Arnold Horner, author of Physical Landscape.
Dr Horner has a long-time interest in the Geography of Ireland, broadly interpreted. More particularly, his study interests centre on Irish regions, especially the Dublin city-region, and the history of cartography in Ireland. He has twice been awarded a UCD President’s Research Fellowship, and he has also received awards from the former National Board for Science and Technology and the Irish Research Council for Human and Social Sciences. Dr Horner’s publications include contributions to a resource survey of Co. Kildare, census atlases on the agriculture and population of Ireland, and the section on Maynooth in the Irish Historic Towns Atlas. In recent years, Dr Horner has been researching the pioneering maps and surveys of the Bogs Commissioners of 1809-1814. His Mapping Offaly in the early nineteenth century: with an atlas of William Larkin’s map of King’s County 1809, was published by Wordwell in November 2006.
Copyright managed by the Library Council
Dr Arnold Horner, who lectures in Geography at University College Dublin, is a graduate of Trinity College, where the main subjects of his B.A. in Natural Sciences were Geography and Geology. He later taught at the Department of Geography, University of Liverpool. At UCD, Dr Horner teaches courses centred on the development of Geography, the human geography of global contrasts, Europe, and on cartographic ideas.
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