IN the opening chapter of Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape (Cork University Press, £35), Professor F.H.A. Aalen writes "Farmers refuse to romanticise the landscape". The same could be said of Professor Aalen and his fellow editors, Professor Kevin Whelan and Dr Matthew Stout. It may look like a lavishly-illustrated coffee-table book, but this multi-disciplinary, hybrid survey-study of Ireland's rural landscape is not a celebratory collection of moody, postcard photographs. It is instead a tough-minded, uncompromisingly campaigning polemic which succeeds in being random, diverse, specialist and not quite complete. Too general to be fully encyclopaedic, nor is it entirely narratively cohesive - it is, however, consistently, dogmatically fearful for Ireland's heritage in the wake of urbanisation.
Such concern is justified. The recentlypublished Archaeological Inventory of Co Offaly verifies that 48 per cent of the surface remains of that county's archaeological sites and monuments have been levelled or lost since the 19th century. On a national scale, the atlas notes: "In some parts of Ireland, one-third of all earthworks marked on the Ordnance Surveymaps of the mid 19th century have disappeared."
This unconventional atlas, which has been published without a general index, although the expected one of place-names is included, is worth buying for the quality and range of maps - particularly modern distribution maps, charts, diagrams and Gillian Barrett's aerial photographs, as well as the reproduction of fine antique maps such as a coloured one of Laois and Offaly dated c. 1562. Although a joint effort involving geographers, historical geographers, archaeologists and environmental scientists, the atlas is dominated by the visuals created by cartographer Stout, author of The Irish Ringfort (Four Courts Press, 1997).
Central to the book are several reproving constants. First, the destruction of one of Ireland's most precious multi-cultural resources, the boglands, which are diminishing as - second constant - commercial forests expand. Aalan and his colleagues warn of the effects of careless reforestation while only four per cent of the current planting is broad-leaved. A small picture on page 34 illustrates the disturbing reality of indiscriminate conifer planting; a court tomb in the Sligo uplands is being encircled by a forestry plantation which has already destroyed the tomb's landscape context. The third constant is directed at the building of ugly, roadside, non-vernacular houses, identifying "bungalowisation" as the single biggest change to the Irish landscape in recent years. There is also an over-long chapter devoted to buildings - mainly housing. There is very little on church architecture.
Among the risks in compiling a multiauthored book is the inevitable overlapping of material. Shared concerns leads to many instances of repetition. Also, as expected of such a wide-ranging book, exclusions will always be evident. Considering the emphasis deservedly placed on boglands throughout the book, there is no entry on native Irish wildlife and birds. Far more surprising is the absence of a specific chapter on Ireland's mountains, lakes and rivers - though they are briefly covered in Aalen's opening essay on Ireland's geological evolution. Interestingly,although he stresses that "Ireland's cultural landscape is not ultimately dependent on geological variations; it is more heavily influenced by other factors such as climate, drainage, soils and history", Aalen leaves the reader wishing his geology section were longer. One also expects more archaeology, and a magnificently detailed distribution map on page 51 of early Christian ecclesiastical sites, enclosures, round towers and high crosses suggests that many of Stout's maps should be extracted and published separately as working field maps. The contribution of the Ordnance Survey does not feature. Neither does the history of the mapping of Ireland nor the development of Irish cartography.
THE specific entry on bogs is superb, as is the section on forests and woodlands, while the story of the rise and fall of the Irish demesnes as described here reveals a great deal about this country's architectural and botanical history. The most dramatic element in the account of communications is that of the Irish railway system, whose growth and decline are succinctly illustrated by a series of three diagram maps dated 1860, 1923 and 1983. "The early and late systems," observes a characteristically sharp caption, "are remarkably similar." Ulster has been most affected by the subsequent railway line closures, and Kevin Whelan's essay taking the story from the plantation to the present is exhilarating social history at its best.
Yet the atlas brings us to the present very quickly. The six regional case studies are impressive; particularly thorough are Geraldine Stout on the Boyne andBilly Colfer's wonderful essay about Co Wexford's unique treasure, The Hook. The only personalised contribution is Tim Robinson's hauntingly practical eulogy on Connemara. One leaves this atlas wanting case studies of the entire country, especially obvious areas such as Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula, the Iveragh Penninsula in Co Kerry and the "archipelagic confusion" of the Erne Basin. Provocative, exciting and informative, the atlas is a major - if lopsided - achievement often caught between the competing demands of design and text. Its arrival should inspire a new edition of the Royal Irish Academy's Atlas of Ireland (1979). It would be fascinating to see that work availing of the technological advancements offered by computerised cartography.