Irish settlement and housing- A brief history

Irish housing

The History of Irish housing Settlements

In order to understand better, the current patterns of settlement in Ireland, we will first look at a brief history of settlements in Ireland. The prevailing culture of each period in Ireland dictated the patterns of settlement that existed during those times and a lot can be deduced about the culture from the remains that can still be seen. We can see distinct changes in patterns of settlement with the arrival of different conquerors.

 Firstly, the general environment. The earliest topographical maps and suggestions from various other sources point to Ireland being heavily forested across much of its area except where uplands or bogs intervene during the middle ages and up to the 17th century. Within this, settlements are shown as 'islands' in the forest for much of Ireland. Centralised settlements (villages and towns) do not feature until the time of Norse and later Norman colonisation. This, together with survey data confirms that settlement from bronze age until c.900AD was uniformly the 'einzelhöfe' type - ie dispersed individual homesteads.For this reason, I will only speak about settlements after that time with some small reference to Viking settlements as a means of comparison.

Ringforts

Before 700AD and before the arrival of the Vikings in Ireland, the vast majority of people lived in ringforts which were single dwelling settlements built, on average, every 2 kilometres.  Staigue fort is one of the largest and finest ring forts you are likely to see in Ireland. (there are others in relative close proximity Leacanabuaile in Cahersiveen, lohar stone fort and Caherdaniel stone fort). It stands on a low hill, commanding a fine view of Kenmare bay to the south and is very impressive in size and stature.

The fort consists of a massive circular rampart surrounded by an external bank. The wall is up to 5.5m (18ft) high and 4m (13ft) thick, surrounding a circular area of 27.4m (90ft) in diameter. Staigue fort shows great skill and craftsmanship in the area of stone building. The technique of dry-walling so well demonstrated here has a long tradition in Ireland. The survival of so many early structures throughout the Irish countryside is partly due to the mastery of the craft of interlocking stones to achieve total stability, even in large building works like Staigue fort. One of the most intriguing things about the fort is that there are ten flights of steps, built in an X shape, along the circular internal wall giving access to the top of the rampart.

Dating of this site is difficult but it may have been built during the Celtic period and may possibly have functioned as a tribal centre. These constructions were built in order to protect the homes and lands of the wealthier people of the land. Unfortunately, due to the poor construction techniques and more fragile building materials of the regular people, very little evidence of their dwellings exist.

The Arrival of the Vikings

The demand for land in the 700s, forced many people from Norway and Denmark, to travel abroad to other countries to forcibly take their land and steal their wealth. The first raids in the British Isles was in 793, when the great monastery at Lindisfarne was sacked. In Ireland, Rathlin island monastery was burned by the Vikings in 795. Other prominent monasteries that were attacked included Holmpatrick, Inishmurray, Inishbofin and Sceilg Mhicil. Sceilg Mhicil's abbot died of thirst as a Viking prisoner. St Colum Cille's great monastery at Iona was burned in 802. For the next 30-40 years, the Vikings engaged in hit-and-run raids where they landed a small number of ships at a settlement, spent a few days pillaging and burning it before heading back to Scandanavia to sell their booty. The Vikings were after two types of booty - riches and slaves - which they carried off to sell. They soon found that the monasteries were the richest sources of both goods and this is why monasteries suffered so much. However, the Vikings also attacked a lot of grád Fhéne (commoner's) dwellings.

This had an effect on the settlements of Ireland and in particular on monasteries. Settlements grew larger for protection in numbers and monasteries began to build high towers where they could escape if attacked. In order to keep the Christian religion alive against the pressures of the pagan Vikings, monasteries were often built in remote parts of the country where the Vikings could not reach.

Skellig Michale is an  excellent and extreme example of how the arrival of the Vikings changed the style of settlement.

The island of Skellig Michael lies 11.6Km off Bolus Head, the westernmost tip of the Iveagh Peninsula of County Kerry. Faulting Devonian sandstone and gravels have created a U-shaped depression, known today as “Christ’s Valley” or “Christ’s Saddle” 130 metres above sea-level in the centre of the island, and is flanked by two peaks. The rock is deeply eroded and weathered, owing to it’s exposed position, but it’s almost frost-free.

Landing is possible at three points, depending upon the state of the sea. These are linked by flights of steps with the principle monastic remains.

The approach to the monastery from Christ’s Saddle leads to a long narrow terrace, enclosed by a drystone wall. A doorway in the rear wall gives access via a flight of steps to a larger enclosure, which is in its turn terraced and subdivided; the lowest level contains the monastic enclosure, comprised of a church, oratories, cells, a souterrain, and many crosses. The white quartz paving between the buildings gives the ensemble an urban quality.

The Monastery

The large oratory ha sthe usual inverted boat-shaped form, with a door in the west wall. It is built in coursed stone, rectangular at the base and becoming oval as it rises in height; the elongated dome terminates inside in a row of large slabs. The walls are about 1.2 metres thick and there is a small window in the east one. The small oratory is more carefully constructed, and is considered to be later in date. Nearby are the unique remains of a beehive-shaped toilet cell.

The Middle Ages

Following the attacks by the Vikings, the Normans arrived in Ireland, and conquered the native population. The natives were merged into the Norman society and the country was united under Norman rule. Previously the country was a collection of smaller kingdoms with their own cultural and geographic identity. There can be seen a change in style of settlements in Ireland following the arrival of the Vikings and extending into the middle ages. Some evidence of settlements exist that indicate a tendency for ringforts to be bigger than previously and also containing more dwellings within. Also , clochans became more popular around the country, which were small stone constructions that were built in nucleations, often around larger ringforts. They were usually built by the lower classes.

There is much archaeological evidence from the middle ages that displays  settlement patterns , architecture and functions, varying between different social classes. For example, large masonry castles built by the Anglo-Normans are obvious examples of the gentry classes who at that time were arriving from England  and seizing large areas of land from the Irish peasants and building these large, fortified homes that were both luxurious and protected, displaying both the hostility with which they were received and the decadence and wealth which they showed among a nation of peasants.

The lower classes meanwhile lived in smaller rectangular houses, built of stone and earth with wooden roofs, usually divided in two parts, family living space and a space for cattle. The idea for having the cattle inside the house was to provide some heat during cold winter months. No evidence of peasant settlements or housing exist because it is believed that houses were made from earth that probably needed to be rebuilt every ten years or so and have since disappeared.

As late as the tenth century, large scale nucleation that was present in England, was extremely rare in Ireland, because the Roman conquest and settlement never  reached Ireland. Some examples of nucleation can be found in the cities of Dublin and Cork and in some monasteries inland. Clachans were small nucleated agricultural settlements that grew up around ringforts and  it is only after the Anglo-Norman invasion that nucleated rural settlement is found and only in the eastern part of the country. Cities, towns, villages and hamlets can be identified and it is thought that up to 300 such settlements were created. A hierarchy of towns and villages emerged, and some were given the freedom to govern themselves and create their own tax systems. These were established as a way to attract settlers from overcrowded Britain to the new colony of Ireland. Some of these nucleations consisted only of a castle or manor, and a church with the rest of the population living in a dispersed pattern a distance from the centre. This is somewhat different to settlement in other parts of the British Kingdom and displays some typical Gaelic Irish settlement patterns. However the majority of these villages were of the classic English model.

For certain, there is a big difference in the English model and the Irish model at the time. The Irish settlements were more disperse and as hostility towards the English settlers grew, they retreated from rural protected habitats to larger nucleations and villages for protection in numbers. Around this time, the stone tower house began to be built around Ireland. In these homes, the English could live without fear of the Irish. Many of these houses can be seen in most of Ireland and in particular in areas on the borders of Gaelic-Irish areas. Settlement maps showing the locations of over 3000 tower houses shows that Ireland was the country with the most castles in Europe at the time mostly due to the hostility of the Irish towards their colonizers. The dispersed settlements in the country proved that Anglo settlers lived side by side with Gaelic Irish in both Anglo areas and Irish areas. Of course the harsh environmental conditions of the west and north of the country limited settlement in these areas.

Tower Houses

Among the relics of the past which can be seen in the irish landscape, none stands out more than the late medieval tower house.

Sometimes twenty metres or more, these towers dominate the surrounding fields, in contrast to the long low shapes of the traditional farmhouses. Many are in ruinous conditions, many are just the bases and some have disappeared completely, used for building roads and fences. Many others, however are still nearly complete.

Colloquially they are called castles but although there is some superfial resemblance they differ essentially from the military castles of the time. The tower house is a fortified residence, intended primarily as a dwelling house. Usually it had attached a strongly walled courtyard for the protection of goods and livestock in time of danger. Here we must remember that four-footed thieves were even more active than the two footed ones. Wolves were a menace to both humans and animals up to the end of the seventeenth century.

Whereas the traditional Irish farmhouse belongs to a general type which is characterised by extension in length, the tower house is a prime example of extension in height. There may be three, four or five stories. Each level comprised one large apartment, the one at the top usually occupying the full space within the walls, while the lower apartments had small chambers formed by the squaring of the side which includes the stairway.

The above ruined tower house/Irish Castle is a fascinating study in as much as it allows us to wander through a tower house from the comfort of our computer chairs!  The castle in question is in the village of Cullahill on the main Dublin to Cork road.  A 100 yard diversion is all that is required to visit this impressive site. This one looks like it was enlarged at some time because the outline of two different roofs can still be seen.  It is possible that the chimney was added when the castle was upgraded.  Where the lower roof line reaches the wall on our right  probably represents the height of the original castle.  From the comfort of my own chair it appears that the roof was raised during that enlargement and the chimney was also added at that time.  So too was the portion of the building to the left of the chimney as we look at it. The walkways through that new portion now incorporated  access to each floor of the tower and would have replaced the original stairs.  This gave more room in the living quarters of the tower as the old stairs may well have been removed.

A few feet under the chimney, one can also see the holes in the wall that took the beams which carried floors and ceilings. below these holes can be seen the protruding shaped stones called corbels.  These also supported the floors and may have supported the original roof in this case.

The picture below shows the fireplace built into the chimney breast and with a bit of imagination one can imagine the nobleman and his family and guests gathered here with the fire blazing on winter evenings...  perhaps with a huge wooden table in the centre of the room groaning under the weight of  roasted sides of beef and lots game from the countryside.

Considering the profusion of the tower houses in some parts of Ireland, the surprising fact is that all of them were built within a century and a half. Hardly a single one had been erected before 1400 and only a very few were built after 1600. The period from 1450 to 1550 saw the construction of the great majority.

Vernacular architecture 1700-1900

The vernacular architecture of rural Ireland remained relatively unchanged from the time of Norman rule, until relatively recently. Settlement patterns did not change much and the fundamental design of the houses stayed the same. A dispersed settlement pattern is evident from remains of rural houses. Fortunately, a change from wood and earth walls, to stone, means that a lot of evidence of the buildings still exists. From these remains we can deduce that the pattern of settlement and the mind of the people still focussed on a dispersed pattern centralised around a small nucleated settlement that included a church and perhaps a mill or crossing point on a river. The rural Irish person wanted his own land and the protection of his family and animals and this influenced the pattern of the rural landscape.

From 1700 until the present this has been a great problem and one of the great beauties in Ireland. The population in Ireland in 1880 had increased to 8 million people on a small island. This meant that due to dispersed settlement nearly every part of the country was developed, leaving a very large number of houses in beautiful natural areas. Also, this type of settlement means that roads and services need to serve many houses, which left a lot of houses in remote areas, without water or electricity until very recently. Many people see this as a problem due to low standards of living in some areas and due to the visual disturbance in the landscape but many other people believe that it is one of the great characteristics of the island. There are not many places in Europe where you can buy a house on a large area of land in such beautiful areas as the Atlantic coast of Ireland.

The Design of the houses

Some houses in Ireland were constructed with a front door opening into the room with the fireplace. The earliest houses of this type that remain are byre-dwellings where people and animals were housed together. Milking cows needed to be kept indoors in Winter and during the night in seasons other than Summer. Byre-dwellings had doors opposite each other. The animals were tied to the wall opposite the fireplace and a drain led downhill from that area to the outside. Evidence for these byre-dwellings in recent times in Ireland shows them to have been distributed throughout the north, including the Inishowen peninsula, and in the west of Ireland.

A number of alternative forms seems to have derived from byre-dwellings. In some cases the byre was separated from the main living area with a solid wall with separate access for the animals. Often this allowed the room where the byre would have been, to become a bedroom. If a bedroom already existed beyond the fireplace, the 'new' room may have become a formal parlour. These would have been three unit houses, and occasionally four unit houses would also have been constructed.

An example of such a house is this one in North Dublin. This is a project that I worked on in 2008. The house was originally located very close to a very small town on a large piece of land with many trees. It was the longest thatched house in Ireland and was first built in 1765. The roof, which was made from a special type of grass that grows in rivers and lakes, was burned in 1980. A builder bought the house in 2005 and wanted to reconstruct the house for sale and also to build new modern apartments on the land. Fortunately, the town planners in Dublin decided that the house must be constructed exactly as it appeared in a photograph from 1976, before the fire. They also decided that the modern apartments were not suitable.

We decided to keep the internal design of the house very simple and to reflect the history by designing small living spaces within the walls. The living spaces are one or two bedroom units with a living and cooking space. The building originally had many entrances from the front and from the courtyard, so we were able to design many units without changing the facade of the building.

All construction was simple. The original walls still existed but were in a bad condition. They were originally built from earth and wood and stone but over many years, they had become damaged so we decided to rebuild any damaged parts in concrete. This is acceptable because this has been done many times in this house. It was visible that many repairs had been done during the life of the house and this was just one more.

We had to reconstruct the roof as it appeared in the photo so we found a man who knows how to build the traditional grass roofs. This is a very rare skill in Ireland and the special type of grass is extremely difficult to find. Also , new regulations about fire protection means that we had to design a special type of protection underneath the roof that separated it from the internal area.

We decided that the external walls were too bad to support the roof so we built internal wooden walls that did not touch the external structure. This also meant that we could protect the internal area from cold and damp, however the points around windows and doors, where the new construction and the old construction meet, was very complicated to design. The building now meets all modern building regulations regarding heat, damp, fire protection, structural issues and aesthetic purposes and it is still in the historic style.