Summary of a study of county Cork souterrains

There are several thousand souterrains in Ireland, and in Co. Cork to date we have records of the existence of approximately 500. The scientific name souterrain is an antiquarian's term for these monuments. Other names used in the past were Dane's Hole and Rath Cave. Folknames for souterrains range from the nondescript Cave or Poll Talaimh to, in specific cases, Tigh-faoi-thalamh and Carraig-an-tseomra. Dr Anthony Lucas states in a recent paper (2) that probably, during the period in which they were used, one of the common names for a souterrain was Uam (Uaimh in modern Irish).

A souterrain at Corran, Co. Cork

This site was first discovered when the weight of a mechanical digger overhead caused the roof of the main chamber to collapse. This was in November 1975 and it was first reported in the Cork Examiner where it was described as a lios.

The Aghadown bronze axes, Paddock Td., Co. Cork

A brief account of the two axes to be described and illustrated here was published by Power in 1926. He states that they were discovered at Aghadown near Baltimore, in a souterrain locally known as Poll-a-Talmhain

Dunisky, Co. Cork: a refuge souterrain?

The townland of Dunisky (Dún Uisce, 'water fort', see Ó Murchadha 2001, 98) is situated about 2.5 miles to the SE of Macroom, Co. Cork (Ill. 1). It is also the Civil Parish of Dunisky, and is located in the Barony of West Muskerry. In extent, it contains over one thousand acres. It was first surveyed by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland in 1841-42. An earlier survey of the townland survives, drawn by the Cork cartographer, Patrick Aher. It is dated 1791, and shows sub-denominations.

Journeying to a journal

At a Council meeting of the newly-formed Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, 17 November 1891, the Chairman /President, Revd R.A. Canon Sheehan, 'informed the meeting that Mr. Robert Day had been generous enough to place his valuable edition of Smith's History, with notes by Dr. Caulfield and Crofton Croker, at the disposal of the Society for publication'. At a subsequent meeting Wm Ringrose Atkins expressed the Society's thanks to W.A. Copinger 'who has kindly consented to edit Smith's Cork with Mr. Robert Day'. Thus began the work of rounding out close to two and a half centuries of antiquarian endeavour in Cork and of using its synthesis as a foundation for a new medium to record and communicate the social and cultural heritage of Cork city and county.

Ballineaspigmore and Bishopstown House

Ballineaspig, anglicised Bishopstown, consists of two townlands which are Ballineaspigmore and Ballineaspigbeg. Taken together, both townlands oc­cupy an area identifiable in modern day terms as lying approximately be­tween the old Glasheen National School on the east side and what was, until recently, the University Farm Curraheen Road on the west. A townland is the smallest administrative land division in Ireland. Historians and other scholars are as yet inconclusive about the origins of these divisions. They are certainly as old as the seventeenth century. The townland with which this booklet is concerned is known as Ballineaspigmore. It extends west from the new Regional Hospital at Wilton and includes modern housing estates such as Uam-Var, Benvoirlich and Firgrove. The simplest translation of the townland name is the large land division of the bishop. To clarify a popular misconception, Bishopstown does not derive its name from the fact that in the early eighteenth century a bishop of Cork built his country residence there. The name is much older and can be found in sources dating back to the sixteenth century.

The reliques of Father Prout, late P. P. of Watergrasshill, in the county of Cork, Ireland.

Mode of access: Internet.

Souterrain in Grallagh Lower Td. Co. Waterford

A souterrain was discovered here when the weight of a tractor passing overhead caused a collapse of the roof of Chamber I. It was surveyed in March 1976. The landowner, Mr. Thomas Curran of Ballylangdon has consented to keep the site open for future inspection. The site is not directly connected with any visible surface structure. A small uni-vallate ringfort is however situated c.I60m S.S.E. of the site. The bedrock is a slaty sandstone.

A river of memory: landscape, narrative and identity in the Lee Valley, Co. Cork, Ireland

In moments of rapid social changes, as has been witnessed in Ireland in the last decade, the conditions through which people engage with their localities though memory, individually and collectively, remains an important cultural issue with key implications for questions of heritage, preservation and civic identity. In recent decades, cultural geographers have argued that landscape is more than just a view or a static text of something symbolic. The emphasis seems to be on landscape as a dynamic cultural process – an ever-evolving process being constructed and re-constructed. Hence, landscape seems to be a highly complex term that carries many different meanings. Material, form, relationships or actions have different meanings in different settings. Drawing upon recent and continuing scholarly debates in cultural landscapes and collective memory, this thesis sets out to examine the generation of collective memory and how it is employed as a cultural tool in the production of memory in the landscape. More specifically, the research considers the relationships between landscape and memory, investigating the ways in which places are produced, appropriated, experienced, sensed, acknowledged, imagined, yearned for, appropriated, re-appropriated, contested and identified with. A polyvocal-bricoleur approach aims to get below the surface of a cultural landscape, inject historical research and temporal depth into cultural landscape studies and instil a genuine sense of inclusivity of a wide variety of voices (role of monuments and rituals and voices of people) from the past and present. The polyvocal-bricoleur approach inspires a mixed method methodology approach to fieldsites through archival research, fieldwork and filmed interviews. Using a mixture of mini-vignettes of place narratives in the River Lee valley in the south of Ireland, the thesis explores a number of questions on the fluid nature of narrative in representing the story and role of the landscape in memory-making. The case studies in the Lee Valley are harnessed to investigate the role of the above questions/ themes/ debates in the act of memory making at sites ranging from an Irish War of Independence memorial to the River Lee’s hydroelectric scheme to the valley’s key religious pilgrimage site. The thesis investigates the idea that that the process of landscape extends not only across space but also across time – that the concept of historical continuity and the individual and collective human engagement and experience of this continuity are central to the processes of remembering on the landscape. In addition the thesis debates the idea that the production of landscape is conditioned by several social frames of memory – that individuals remember according to several social frames that give emphasis to different aspects of the reality of human experience. The thesis also reflects on how the process of landscape is represented by those who re-produce its narratives in various media.

Atmospheric Concentrations of Alternaria, Cladosporium, Ganoderma and Didymella Spores Monitored in Cork (Ireland) and Worcester (England) During the Summer of 2010

This study represents the first international intercomparison of fungal spore observations since 1990, focusing on atmospheric concentrations of Alternaria, Cladosporium, Ganoderma and Didymella spores. The campaigns were performed at sites located in Cork (Ireland) and Worcester (England) during summer 2010. Observations were made using Hirst-type volumetric spore traps and corresponding optical identification at the genus level by microscope. The measurements at both sites (including meteorological parameters) were compared and contrasted. The relationships between the fungal spore concentrations with selected meteorological parameters were investigated using statistical methods and multivariate regression trees (MRT). The results showed high correlations between the two sites with respect to daily variations. Statistically significant higher spore concentrations for Alternaria, Cladosporium and Ganoderma were monitored at the Worcester site. This result was most likely due to the differences in precipitation and local fungal spore sources at the two sites. Alternaria and Cladosporium reached their maxima a month earlier in Cork than in Worcester, and Didymella with Ganoderma peaked simultaneously with similar diurnal trends found for all the investigated spore types. MRT analysis helped to determine threshold values of the meteorological parameters that exerted most influence on the presence of spores: they were found to vary at the two sites. Our results suggest that the aeromycological profile is quite uniform over the British Isles, but a description of bioaerosols with respect to overall load and daily concentration can be quite diverse although the geographical difference between sites is relatively small. These variations in the concentrations therefore need to be explored at the national level

Cork, Ireland, 1771 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: A survey of the city and suburbs of Cork, By J. Rocque, 1759. It was printed for Robert, Sayer, No. 53 in Fleet Street in 1771. Scale 1:2,400.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Irish Grid (Transverse Mercator 1965 (TM-65)) coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as roads, drainage, built-up areas and selected buildings, ground cover, parks, gardens, docks, and more. Relief shown by shading.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

The geographies of encounter: investigating the spatiality and construction of 'meaningful' encounters with difference through the experiences of international students at University College Cork, Ireland

The purpose of this research is to investigate how international students negotiate encounters with Irish students and construct ‘meaning’ from those encounters in the spaces of the university and city. As cities are increasingly characterised by a multiplexity of diversity, the issue of living with difference is becoming more and more pertinent. In the wake of escalating socio-spatial polarisation, inter-cultural tension, racism, and xenophobia, the geographies of encounter seek to untangle the interactions that occur in the quotidian activities and spaces of everyday life to determine whether such encounters might reduce prejudice, antipathy and indifference and establish common social bonds (Amin 2002; Valentine 2008). Thus far, the literature has investigated a number of sites of encounter; public space, the home, neighbourhoods, schools, sports clubs, public transport, cafes and libraries (Wilson 2011; Schuermans 2013; Hemming 2011; Neal and Vincent 2011; Mayblin, Valentine and Anderrson 2015; Laurier and Philo 2006; Valentine and Sadgrove 2013; Harris, Valentine and Piekut 2014; Fincher and Iveson 2008). While these spaces produce a range of outcomes, the literature remains frustrated by a lack of clarity of what constitutes a ‘meaningful’ encounter and how such encounters might be planned for. Drawing on survey and interview data with full-time international students at University College Cork, Ireland, this study contributes to understanding how encounters are shaped by the construction and reproduction of particular identities in particular spaces, imbuing spaces with uneven power frameworks that produce diverse outcomes. Rather than identifying a singular ‘meaningful’ outcome of encounter as a potential panacea to the issues of exclusion and oppression, the contention here is to recognise a range of outcomes that are created by individuals in a range of ways. To define one outcome of encounter as ‘meaningful’ is to overlook the scale of intensity of diverse interactions and the multiplicity of ways in which people learn to live with difference.

Characterization of urban aerosol in Cork city (Ireland) using aerosol mass spectrometry

Ambient wintertime background urban aerosol in Cork city, Ireland, was characterized using aerosol mass spectrometry. During the three-week measurement study in 2009, 93% of the ca. 1 350 000 single particles characterized by an Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (TSI ATOFMS) were classified into five organic-rich particle types, internally mixed to different proportions with elemental carbon (EC), sulphate and nitrate, while the remaining 7% was predominantly inorganic in nature. Non-refractory PM1 aerosol was characterized using a High Resolution Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (Aerodyne HR-ToF-AMS) and was also found to comprise organic aerosol as the most abundant species (62 %), followed by nitrate (15 %), sulphate (9 %) and ammonium (9 %), and chloride (5 %). Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was applied to the HR-ToF-AMS organic matrix, and a five-factor solution was found to describe the variance in the data well. Specifically, "hydrocarbon-like" organic aerosol (HOA) comprised 20% of the mass, "low-volatility" oxygenated organic aerosol (LV-OOA) comprised 18 %, "biomass burning" organic aerosol (BBOA) comprised 23 %, non-wood solid-fuel combustion "peat and coal" organic aerosol (PCOA) comprised 21 %, and finally a species type characterized by primary m/z peaks at 41 and 55, similar to previously reported "cooking" organic aerosol (COA), but possessing different diurnal variations to what would be expected for cooking activities, contributed 18 %. Correlations between the different particle types obtained by the two aerosol mass spectrometers are also discussed. Despite wood, coal and peat being minor fuel types used for domestic space heating in urban areas, their relatively low combustion efficiencies result in a significant contribution to PM1 aerosol mass (44% and 28% of the total organic aerosol mass and non-refractory total PM1, respectively).Ambient wintertime background urban aerosol in Cork city, Ireland, was characterized using aerosol mass spectrometry. During the three-week measurement study in 2009, 93% of the ca. 1 350 000 single particles characterized by an Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (TSI ATOFMS) were classified into five organic-rich particle types, internally mixed to different proportions with elemental carbon (EC), sulphate and nitrate, while the remaining 7% was predominantly inorganic in nature. Non-refractory PM1 aerosol was characterized using a High Resolution Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (Aerodyne HR-ToF-AMS) and was also found to comprise organic aerosol as the most abundant species (62 %), followed by nitrate (15 %), sulphate (9 %) and ammonium (9 %), and chloride (5 %). Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was applied to the HR-ToF-AMS organic matrix, and a five-factor solution was found to describe the variance in the data well. Specifically, "hydrocarbon-like" organic aerosol (HOA) comprised 20% of the mass, "low-volatility" oxygenated organic aerosol (LV-OOA) comprised 18 %, "biomass burning" organic aerosol (BBOA) comprised 23 %, non-wood solid-fuel combustion "peat and coal" organic aerosol (PCOA) comprised 21 %, and finally a species type characterized by primary m/z peaks at 41 and 55, similar to previously reported "cooking" organic aerosol (COA), but possessing different diurnal variations to what would be expected for cooking activities, contributed 18 %. Correlations between the different particle types obtained by the two aerosol mass spectrometers are also discussed. Despite wood, coal and peat being minor fuel types used for domestic space heating in urban areas, their relatively low combustion efficiencies result in a significant contribution to PM1 aerosol mass (44% and 28% of the total organic aerosol mass and non-refractory total PM1, respectively).