Sir, - The proposal to cut a new road through the Charleville estate - the "emerging preferred route" for a bypass around Tullamore - is truly an appalling prospect.
These woods comprise one of the very few fragments of tall, well-grown native woodland left to us today - all the more remarkable in their location in the fertile lowlands of the central plain, a region almost entirely denuded of its natural tree cover. They contain fine stands of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and a well-developed woodland ground flora.
The woods are in a remarkably healthy condition in ecological terms, with successful natural regeneration of the principal tree species (which is more than can be said of many other of our native woods). Moreover, we have found the woods to show features characteristic of ancient woodland, such as the presence of old pollard oaks, along with other majestic specimens such as the famous "King Oak" (c.f. Kelly, D.L. & Fuller, S., 1988: "Ancient woodland in central Ireland: does it exist?"). Ancient woodland in good condition is so rare in Ireland as to make this a living historic monument.
A particularly remarkable feature is the Island (a promontory projecting into Charleville lake); records show that no timber has been taken off this site for at least two centuries. In his book The History of the Countryside, the distinguished Cambridge ecologist Oliver Rackham shows a photograph under the caption "An Irish derry" (doire means oak wood) and comments: "On an island in a boggy lough in Co Offaly is an extraordinary wood of great ancient oaks, hung with ancient ivies . . . it has the largest hazel and largest spindle-tree that I have ever seen."
Any such feelings of awe would be harshly dispelled by the din of traffic from the proposed highway, a short distance to the south! The proposed route would also drive a wedge between Black Wood to the south and the rest of the Charleville woods. Much of the Charleville estate has, of course, been designated a Special Area of Conservation but, mysteriously, Black Wood was excluded from that designation. However, Black Wood contains impressive stands of native tree species and should be considered an integral part of the Charleville woods.
These woods are already bisected by the N52, the Tullamore-Birr road. The proposed new road would mean that the estate would then be divided into three parts. Fragmentation has been recognised internationally as a threat to the integrity of natural ecosystems. It leads to rapid depletion in animal populations and to a slower erosion of other components of biodiversity.
Although privately owned, these woods have long been open to public access. In a region where public parks are few and far between, they constitute an amenity that is much appreciated and used by the people of Tullamore and a wide area around. They are indeed rated as of "international importance" in Offaly's County Development Plan.
We believe that it is in the interests both of the local and the wider community that any new road development should be routed well away from this important site. The Charleville woods are too precious to spoil. - Yours, etc.,
Daniel L. Kelly, Ph.D, Senior Lecturer in Botany, George F. Smith, M.Sc., Postgraduate Student, Woodlands Research Group, Department of Botany, Trinity College, University of Dublin.