essay
The dynamic quality of Irish rural settlement
Man and his habitat: essays presented to Emyr Estyn Evans • New York • Published In 1971 • Pages: 126-164
By: McCourt, Desmond.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a review of historical studies of Irish settlement patterns. Nucleated and communal land owning settlements were once considered by scholars to be traditional Celtic or tribal arrangements emerging from the Iron Age. However, recent studies reveal that a flexible scheme of nucleated and dispersed settlements and joint and individual ownership co-existed, and were influenced by terrain, soil fertility, type of farming, population size, and land fragmentation. A progressive subdivision of ancestral holdings led to the communal landholding [n]rundale[/n] system. The descendants of the founding families formed larger and wider kindred associations ([n]fine[/n]) whose members grouped their houses around the original family farmstead to form nucleated settlements, or [n]clachans[/n]. The breakup of the [n]rundale[/n] system occurred when Anglo-Norman landlords confiscated land to form their estates. By 1780 less than five percent of Irish land remained in native hands. Dispersed settlements predominate, although nucleated settlements are still found in remote parts of the island.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Historical and archival research
- Topography and geology
- Tillage
- Settlement patterns
- Real property
- Renting and leasing
- Household
- Kin relationships
- Kindreds and ramages
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Rural Irish
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2016
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Europe
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- British Isles
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Historian
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard; 2014
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- not applicable
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1650-1900
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Ireland
- NotesAdditional notes
- Desmond McCourt
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 77029113
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Ireland--Rural conditions