WOODWORKand relative quantities of tree species. The archaeo-
logical, technological and dendrochronological anal-
yses of wooden structures (houses, waterfronts, mills)
and artifacts (wooden bowls, spoons, tools, and equip-
ment) is also revealing on species selection, age and
growth patterns, trunk and branch morphology, and
woodcrafts. Historical sources, particularly for the lat-
ter part of the Middle Ages, also reveal the presence,
extent, ownership, and use of named woodlands in the
landscape.
In the early medieval period (A.D. 400–1100), wood-
land was already a distinct, valued zone in a gener-
ally open agricultural landscape. Pollen analysis
indicates that woodlands that had regenerated during
the Iron Age were now being cleared for agricultural
purposes from at least the fifth century A.D. (and par-
ticularly in the ninth century A.D.), but undoubtedly
discrete areas were maintained. Early Irish laws,
saints’ Lives, and wood-specialist studies on archaeo-
logical structures suggest at least some measure of
woodland management, with large quantities of imma-
ture hazel, ash, and willow underwood required for the
building of post-and-wattle houses such as those
uncovered at Deer Park Farms ringfort, County
Antrim. Oak timber was especially valued for building
churches, horizontal mills, and bridges. The houses of
Hiberno-Norse and Anglo-Norman Dublin, Waterford,
and Cork were also constructed of vast amounts of
hazel and ash underwood. Artifact studies suggest that
the other woodland products to be used there included
oak, ash, alder, willow, and yew wood for lathe-turned
bowls, buckets, and other domestic equipment. Envi-
ronmental analyses of urban deposits reveal the use of
woodland mosses for latrine purposes; apples, hazelnuts,
sloes, elderberries, cherries, and plums were probably
gathered from woodlands around the towns for food.
In the manorial economy of Anglo-Norman Ireland,
woodland was seen as a valuable source of income, as
rights within woodlands encompassed a wide range of
activities, including the harvesting of underwood and
timber, deer and boar hunting, cattle pasturage, and
the foddering of pigs. Anglo-Norman documents, such
as the Pipe Roll of Cloyne, indicate that a distinction
was made between timber woods (silva), woodlands
for underwood (boscus), and scrubby woodlands used
for fuel (bruaria). By the fourteenth century, analysis
of land use in manors around Dublin suggests that
about 8 percent of land was held in woodland. It is
also likely that the native Irish were involved in trading
woodland products into the town. It is also possible
that there were different cultural perceptions and
understanding of Irish woodlands, they perhaps being
seen by Anglo-Norman colonists as the fearful retreats
of the Gaelic Irish lordships. There may also have been
periods of woodland regeneration, particularly after
the Gaelic revival and the Black Death. It is also evi-
dent that extensive areas of medieval woodlands
remained intact up until the sixteenth century, partic-
ularly in the southwest and west of the island. How-
ever, major woodland clearances in the seventeenth
century, related to new agricultural practices and for
iron working, led to the destruction of much woodland
cover.References and Further Reading
Hall, V. A. “The Documentary and Pollen Analytical Records
of the Vegetational History of the Irish Landscape, A.D.
200–1650.” Peritia14 (2000): 342–371.
Nicholls, K. “Woodland Cover in Pre-Modern Ireland.” In
Gaelic Ireland: Land, Lordship and Settlement, c.
1250–c.1650,edited by Patrick J. Duffy, David Edwards,
and Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, 181–206. Dublin: Four Courts
Press, 2004.
O’Sullivan, A. “Trees, Woodland and Woodsmanship in Early
Mediaeval Ireland.” In Plants and People: Economic Botany
in Northern Europe, A.D. 800–180, edited by J. H. Dickson
and R. Mill, 674–681. Edinburgh: Royal Botanical Society
of Scotland,1994.
O’Sullivan, A. “Woodmanship and the Supply of Timber and
Underwood to Anglo-Norman Dublin.” In Dublin and
Beyond the Pale: Studies in Honour of Patrick Healy, edited
by C. Manning, 63–73. Dublin: Wordwell, 1998.
O’Sullivan, A. “The Wooden Waterfronts: A Study of their
Construction, Carpentry and Use of Trees and Woodlands.”
InThe Port of Medieval Dublin: Archaeological Excavations
at the Civic Offices, Winetavern Street, Dublin 1993, edited
by A. Halpin, 62–92. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
Tierney, J. “Woods and Woodlands in Early Medieval Munster.”
InEarly Medieval Munster: Archaeology, History and Soci-
ety, edited by M. A. Monk and J. Sheehan, 53–58. Cork:
Cork University Press, 1998.
AIDANO’SULLIVANSee alsoAgriculture; Craftwork; Diet and Food;
Gaelic Revival; Houses; ManorialismWOODWORK
SeeCraftwork; Houses