The Woodland
According
to John Brown’s maps of Mayo (1585) and of Connaught (1591), Raheens was part
of a much wider woodland at the end of the sixteenth century. William Bald’s map illustrates how little of
this was left by 1809. We now know that
an ironworks was operating there for a time between these dates, and it seems
certain that timber from this wood was used to fire it. However, many indicators of ancient woodland
remain, not as individual specimens in small pockets, but in vast expanses
throughout most of the site. This is
significant, as it suggests that the wood was either never completely cleared,
or that if it was, it did not remain so for long. Once woodland has
been converted to agricultural use, fundamental changes occur in the species
composition and even in the soil itself.
Two hundred years is not long in terms of forestry, and it seems unlikely that Raheens could have recovered its plant communities so completely if it had spent many years as anything other than woodland. As even the largest trees here could have been no more than saplings when the ironworks were in use, the most likely scenario is that all the large timber was indeed harvested, but young trees within the confines of the walls were left to grow again. So, why are there only a few of these veteran trees now present? It has been established that a great number of trees were removed from Raheens during the Second World War. However, it is extremely unlikely that very large trees would have been felled for firewood. They would have been quite difficult to cut down, let alone remove and split into useable logs, especially considering that this was all done clandestinely. Also, although many stumps remain from this period, none of these are extremely large. If the woodland was allowed to regenerate after the ironworks closed, what became of the rest of the large trees that should now be found there? Two possibilities are suggested. The first is that once the iron furnaces had cooled, trees continued to be harvested as needed for the fireplaces of the ‘big house’ of Raheens Estate. This makes sense, as a home such as this would have required quite an amount of fuel on a daily basis. If trees were only felled as they became big enough, but before they grew too large, a continual supply might have been maintained in a woodland of this size. Alternatively, perhaps there were in fact many large trees in the woods up to the point when the Browne family turned the property over to the Land Commission in 1932, but they sold the timber off before doing so. Unfortunately, as no records were found to prove either possibility, it is impossible to be certain. All of Ireland's woods have felt the impact of man, and Raheens is no exceptions. However, the basic components of native woodland remain there; oak, birch, hazel and holly continue to regenerate, jays call in the wood yet, and flowers such as bluebell and wood anemone flourish each spring on the woodland floor. Click here for more on the woodland |