Galway Archaeological and Historical Society Meeting

Cumann Seandálaíochta agus Staire na Gaillimhe
Galway Archaeological and Historical Society

Website: www.gahs.info

HARBOUR HOTEL, DOCK ROAD, GALWAY

Monday, 10 October 2011 @ 8PM

“West Connacht in the eyes of the Bogs engineers 1809-1813”

By Dr. Arnold Horner

All are welcome to attend.


In 1809 the British government appointed commissioners to establish information about the bogs of Ireland and to explore the potential of draining and improving them for cultivation. During the next four years the commissioners divided much of Ireland into districts for each of which an engineer produced a report. Although the bogs were the main focus, many of these reports contain much other interesting information about local conditions. Most of the reports are also accompanied by a series of maps, some of which are of great significance because they show areas thirty years before the first Ordnance Survey maps.

This presentation reviews how the western parts of Counties Mayo and Galway were portrayed in the maps and reports of the engineers working for Bogs Commissioners of 1809-13. Four engineers, Richard Griffith, William Bald, J.A. Jones and Alexander Nimmo respectively reported on districts in north-west Mayo, south and east Mayo, the area east of Lough Corrib and in Connemara. Their commentaries, together with the maps provided for each of the districts except Connemara, offer many incidental insights to local life in west Connacht in the early nineteenth century.

The presentation is given by Dr Arnold Horner who teaches geography at University College Dublin. Dr Horner is the author of several articles and book chapters on the bogs commissioners. He has written extensively on many aspects of the geography of Ireland. He has a particular interest in maps and in the history of cartography (map-making) in Ireland. He has written three books on the mapping of Irish counties, the most recent being Mapping Sligo in the early nineteenth century, an introduction to William Larkin’s 1819 map of the county. This book has just been published by Wordwell.