VILLAGESan arable infield set in strips while the outfield was
grazed in common, and in Meath the ridges dividing
the strips are referred to by the Middle English word
selion. In the less densely colonized areas, such as
Ulster and Connacht, villages are largely absent, and it
has been argued that the pre-existing townland scheme
militated against the formation of large, English-style
nucleations. It has also been suggested, however, that
the absence of villages in the landscape may be the
result of a historical phenomenon—the movement of
English tenants to the periphery of the manorial lands
when villages were abandoned or a phase of secondary
colonization in the thirteenth century.
Deserted village earthworks are rare in Ireland,
with the greatest number occurring in south Tipperary.
Here one frequently finds a church and a manorial
center (typically a motte), surrounded by peasant
houses of the English-speaking settlers. Farther away
lived the Gaelic Irish-speaking betaghs who farmed
their land in common and owed labor services and
rents to the lord of the manor. In her study of deserted
villages in Westmeath, Meenan found that village
earthworks were predominantly associated with
churches, with or without the presence of a motte. The
church was an indicator of centrality and drew alle-
giance to the village. The remains typically consist of
three to five houses with their associated garths. The
numbers of houses do not indicate the original figures,
but rather were the last ones to be deserted. Settle-
ments that were abandoned early tend to have few
earthworks, and the more prominent the archaeologi-
cal features the later the date of desertion tends to have
been. Peasant long-houses have been excavated at
Caherguillamore (Co. Limerick) and Jerpointchurch
(Co. Kilkenny). These were rectangular buildings
divided into two rooms, one of which was the dwelling
room and the other a byre.
Many villages were abandoned in the late thirteenth
and early fourteenth centuries. Dunamase, for instance,
had 127 burgesses in 1283 but only 40 in 1324. The
reasons for desertion were varied: economic decline;
famine; the Bruce wars (1315–1318) and the lawless
nature of the countryside for twenty years after; the
Black Death (1348–1349); increasing Gaelicization;
and simply because the inhabitants thought that they
might find better opportunities elsewhere.
JOHN BRADLEYReferences and Further Reading
Glasscock, R. A. “The Study of Deserted Medieval Settlements
in Ireland (to 1968)” and “Gazeteer of Deserted Towns,
Rural-Boroughs and Nucleated Settlements in Ireland.” In
Deserted Medieval Villages, Studies, edited by Maurice
Beresford and J. G. Hurst, 279–301. London: Lutterworth
Press, 1971.
Meenan, Rosanne. “Deserted Medieval Villages of County
Westmeath.” M. Litt. dissertation, Trinity College Dublin,
1985.
O’Conor, K. D. The Archaeology of Medieval Rural Settlement
in Ireland. Dublin: The Discovery Programme, 1998.
Simms, Anngret, and Patricia Fagan. “Villages in County
Dublin: Their Origins and Inheritance.” In Dublin City and
County: From Prehistory to Present, Studies in Honour of
J. H. Andrews, edited by F. H. A. Aalen and Kevin Whelan,
79–119. Dublin: Geography Publications, 1992.
See alsoArmagh; Clonmacnoise; Ecclesiastical
Sites; Houses; Kildare; Motte-and-Baileys