Turf Wars: Politics and Peatland Archaeology in Ireland
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-04-24

Around 17% of the total area of The Republic of Ireland consists of peatland, with ongoing peat extraction on an industrial scale affecting a significant proportion of the raised bogs of the Midlands. In other areas, peat (turf) cutting is carried out by hand, as part of long held ‘turbary rights’ in many places. The archaeological record of many of these peatland areas has long been known to be exceptional, yet mitigation work carried out over the last decade has been inadequate and under resourced, whilst no formal mitigation strategy exists for privately cut peatlands . Broader developments across many other parts of Europe have seen increasing efforts directed at peatland conservation, but these have gained little traction in Ireland. This paper will consider the particular problems confronting attempts to raise the profile of the peatland archaeological heritage in Ireland, in particular considering the fact that, in this particular context, peat is a political issue.

Ben Gearey, University College Cork, Ireland