This is a major update of this bestselling work on the Irish landscape. When it appeared in 1997, it was instantly hailed as a pioneering volume in increasing appreciation of the Irish landscape as a crucial component of national heritage. The sumptuous quality of its design, the cutting edge cartography, and the clarity of its prose ensured that it became an award-winning volume, widely praised inter-nationally as one of the best books ever to appear on a national landscape. This second edition is far from a cosmetic reissue.
At least one-third of the content is entirely new. This includes a complete rewriting of the contemporary section to take account of the Celtic Tiger, and there are six fresh regional case studies - Tory island (Donegal), the Wicklow uplands, Inistiogue (County Kilkenny), Aughris (County Sligo), Clonfert (County Galway) and Point Lance in Newfoundland. There is a new cover, many new maps and photographs, a listing of the top fifty books on the Irish landscape, and a guide to the best websites. "The Atlas of Irish Rural Landscape" is a magnificently illustrated, beautifully written and pioneering introduction to the hidden riches of the Irish landscape.
Topics include archaeology, field and settlement patterns, houses, demesnes, villages and small towns, monuments, woodland, bogs, roads, canals, railways, mills, mines, farmsteads, handball alleys, and a host of other features. The Atlas combines superbly chosen illustrations and cartography with a text amenable to a general reader.
Hundreds of maps, diagrams, photographs, paintings allow the Atlas to present a mass of scholarly information in an accessible way, suitable for any school, college or home. "The Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape" also has a significant practical dimension. It increases the visibility of the landscape within national heritage and establishes a proper basis for conservation and planning. It explores contemporary changes resulting from the Celtic Tiger, and proposes how to implement necessary change in sympathy with inherited landscape character.
