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Introducing Cleaveragh — traversing home-ground
‘It is not of the wickedness of mankind’, says Helvetius, ‘that we
ought to complain; but of the ignorance of legislators, who have
always set private at variance with public interests’.1
1 Source: Miss Owenson,
‘Patriotic Sketches
of Ireland Vol. 1’ p.33.
Claude Adrien Helvetius
(1715-1771), French
philosopher and host to
the Enlightenment group
of French thinkers known
as Encyclopedists, who
concerned them­selves
with materialism and
skeptical critiques of
tradition, religion, and
society. Helvetius thesis
was premised on how
societal formations can
determine knowledge
through political and
social positioning
and self-interest.
Re-drawing of the c.1872 estate
map of Cleaveragh
XX / i Wood-Martin’s house
XX / XX / XX / 10
1 Colonel William Gregory
Wood-Martin (1847-1917),
‘History of Sligo, County
and Town’, (Dublin, 1882,
1889, 1892).
2 The term ‘demensne’
‘In the same places, the same ground has to be traversed’
1
Colonel William Gregory Wood-Martin (1847-1917) a keen antiquary,
conducted studies of ancient dwellings and customs throughout
Ireland and Europe. He lived at Cleaveragh Demesne2 the grounds
on which Doorly Park is sited – a reclaimed wetland . In 1880, he
3
published his first work, Sligo and the Enniskilliners, followed in 1882
by the first trilogy on the History of Sligo, County and Town. WoodMartin joined the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of
Ireland, based in Kilkenny as a fellow and a member of the Royal Irish
Academy. He was editor for three years, while continuing to write
and publish a number of books including; The Island of Innismurray
collaborating with the artist William F. Wakeman, and The Rude Stone
Monuments of Sligo. He drew from archaeology, history, geology and
folklore to arrive at an notion of the past whilst positioning himself
as custodian of the landscape, skilled through practical ‘spade
knowledge’, in-depth fieldwork, ‘delving’ in to the past and writing
in great detail about the value of Irish monuments, its inhabitants
and land4.
or ‘demaine’ is Norman
French in origin and
denotes a portion of land
farmed by the landlord
incorporating woodland,
farmland, garden and
ornamental grounds
as well as a range of
buildings. The concept
of ‘demesne’ survived in
Ireland until the early
twentieth century and
once occupied over 5
per cent of the country.
‘The Natural History of
Demesnes’, by Terence
Reeves-Smyth, p. 549572. Ed. John Wilson
Foster, ‘Nature in Ireland
– A Scientific and Cultural
History’, The Lilliput
Press, Dublin (1997).
treaty. This is the
Ramsar Convention
(The Convention on
Wetlands of International
Importance especially
as Waterfowl Habitat),
adopted in 1971 (RCB
2001b).” Marinus L.Otte,
‘Wetlands of Ireland’,
University College Dublin
Press (2003). John S.
Dryzek, ‘The Politics
of the Earth’, Oxford
University Press (1997).
4 Aideen M. Ireland,
‘Colonel William Gregory
Wood-Martin Antiquary’,
The Journal Of Irish
Archaeology (X. 2001).
Memory Tour
A walk with Richard Wood-Martin, grandson of William Gregory
Wood-Martin,through the grounds of Cleaveragh Demesne,
C.M: These stones – these would have been the original stones of
the house?
R.W-M: I imagine they must have been, they must have bulldozed
the lot.
C.M: What would have stood here then?
R.W-M: I am trying to work this out now…the out buildings were
immediately behind the house…these ones…there’s no driveway
leading into the house anymore…
C.M: There’s a road going down there…where does that lead?
R.W-M: You could walk down that road which led to the farmyard.
C.M: I was curious about the buildings down there – were they
part of the estate?
R.W-M: Yes, the farm was mainly grazing – cattle grazing.
C.M: This archway suggests an entry point into the main house?
3 Wetlands were
R.W-M: Ah yes, a doorway in from here to there.
originally called swamps,
areas of drained marshy
land. There are now
recognised as valuable
habitats for wildlife,
the stabilization
of ecosystems, and
absorption of pollutants.
They represent a unique
cultural and natural
heritage site(s). “They are
the only ecosystem-type
to be the subject of a
global intergovernmental
C.M: When was the house sold?
R.W-M: I think in 1948. The outbuildings were immediately behind the
house, you entered the house through the main hallway. The sitting
room was on this side, on the right, and the dining room was on the
left. Then there was a passage way which led down behind the dining
room and ran into the bedrooms on the lower floor and there was a
stairway which led to the bedrooms above. Going back to the hallway
– the hallway led straight into the kitchen area here. The sitting room
had another room off it – which I think was called the ‘morning room’,
or the ‘library’, that about extinguishes my memory of the house.
XX / 12
XX / 14
Cleaveragh Demesne – ruins of the Wood-Martin home
Field dig: collection of found objects
XX / 16
i Where will picture captions be used?
f Where will picture captions be used? I imagine they will
be short and sweet?
XX / 18
XX / 20
XX / 22
Site-work: Cleaveragh orchard
Seed notes – collected and interspersed with extinct
XX / 24
varieties sourced from historical botanical catalogues
Response drawing
inspired by Robert
Lloyd Praeger’s
topographical division
of Ireland (Sligo)
XX / 26
‘The dead surround the living. The living are the core of the dead. In this core are the
dimensions of time and space. What surrounds the core is timelessness’
1
1 John Berger from
Twelve Theses on the
Economy of the Dead,
paragraph 1, ‘Pages of the
Wound – Poems Drawing
Photographs 1956-96’,
Bloomsbury Circle
Press (1996).
40 botanical divisions
(Ireland)
XX / 28
The following text is a transcription of a conversation with Sam Moore at Abbey
river in to South Connaught. This is an important fording point
Quarter North (Garavogue Villas).
in pre-history.
C.M: Sam, what is the significance of this monument here at
C.M: Was the crossing point always here at Buckley’s Ford?
Abbeyquarter, and why is it situated on top of this hill overlooking the
river Garavogue?
S.M: Probably not. Fording systems change. The crossing point may
have been up near the Town Hall where the original medieval castle
S.M: Ok, the reason why, I think (and a couple of other people believe),
was. But in pre-history it was believed to be down at Abbey Quarter.
this monument at Abbeyquarter is located here, is because of the river.
This is the narrowest point on the river Garavogue, both historically
C.M: Are there other reasons why you think this was a major crossing
and pre-historically. It goes from nearly 200 meters wide across
point and route-way through Connaught?
just here to about 42 meters across there. You can see how wide the
river is coming out of Lough Gill and narrows in to relatively slow
S.M: The other reason is because of this monument behind us. What
moving water.
we have is slightly flat land to the east here, curving around this hill
and then when you cross the ford the first thing you are going to see
C.M: What is the name of this point on the river that we are looking at?
(take away all these houses) is this monument on the top of the hill.
Let’s take a walk up to the top and have a look at the monument
S.M: In the late 19th century and up to the 20th century, it was called
from there.
‘Buckley’s Ford’, a crossing point over the river, and both WoodMartin and John McTernan talk about it in their books and I think it is
So we are now in Garavogue Villas. It is very difficult to work out the
mentioned in Kilgannon’s book. In pre-history the river would have
Sam Moore is an
gone up to the ‘Waste-Gardens’, now called ‘West Gardens’.
archaeologist currently
original ground level because of the housing estate, but you can see
the ground is sloping down and the highest point on this little ridge is
based in Dromahair in
C.M: Where is that?
S.M: It is in Sligo town. It was a rubbish dump for Sligo back in the
medieval-post medieval times.
C.M: Has the shape and course of the river changed much over time?
where these boulders are situated.
Co. Leitrim. He has lived and
worked in Co. Sligo for 12
C.M: Are all these stones part of this monument?
years and is very familiar
with the region’s landscape
and its archaeology.
S.M: No, there is an obvious difference in the limestone rocks
He is currently pursuing
supposedly put there to protect the monument from traffic driving
a PhD in Archaeology at
on to the roundabout and the gneiss boulders that are part of the
NUI Galway on the
monument.
S.M: Yes, the river would have been much wider in pre-history, than
pre­historic landscapes
it is today. It has been narrowed, and all kinds of different additions
of Carrowkeel and its
added from the medieval period up to the modern day. So, because
environs. He has written
the river has altered, and the narrowest point in pre-history based on
and contributed to a
S.M: These are glacial erratics brought over from the Ox Mountain
the shape of the land and the width of the river is here at Buckley’s
considerable number of
during the last glaciation and deposited in the landscape. They were
Ford, myself and a number of other people have commented that this
local history articles,
then picked up and moved to make this monument.
would have been a major route way from North Connaught across the
books and guides.
C.M: What exactly are they?
XX / 30
C.M: Do these rocks share a similar time frame to Carrowmore?2
S.M: Yes, both this and the Carrowmore monuments are dated
approximately 4000 BC. So imagine, this monument is dating right
back to the very beginning of farming. This is one of the first types
of megaliths built in Ireland.
2 Carrowmore (Ceathrú
Mór), a Celtic name
meaning ‘Great Quarter’,
a megalithic cemetery
in the Knocknarea
Peninsula, in County
Sligo.
3 “At a short distance
C.M: Are there specific dates on record for this monument?
S.M: No, there are no dates for this monument, but it is believed
that this is identical to a number of monuments in Carrowmore.
Morphologically these are the same rocks used in Carrowmore.
C.M: Has it ever been excavated?
S.M: Yes, by Wood-Martin.3
C.M: Has he written about it in any of his books?
S.M: Yes, in the ‘Rude Stone Monument’s of Sligo’, and there
is a drawing by Wakeman.4
C.M: I have it here with me. Can you take a look as I want to establish
from what angle Wakeman would have drawn this monument?
S.M: I did try once but it is not easy.
C.M: Well, if you couldn’t do it then, I am not sure I could.
I have a copy of the Cleaveragh estate map with me also.
S.M: Is this monument marked on it?
C.M: No.
S.M: Let’s walk around it.
from Carns Hill, townland of Abbeyquarters,
and within the bounds
of the borough of Sligo,
there is a stone circle,
situated on a rising
ground, about fifty yards
from the southern bank
of the river Garavogue,
and close to the walls
of the county prison.
Strange to find a pagan
burial-place in such a
position, within hearing
of the hum of the now
busy town, and the
constant shriek of the
steam-whistle that
obtrusively remind us of
the present, and of the
thousand years that have
probably elapsed since
the human remains we
were disinterring had
been deposited here
in the calm solitude of
a primitive landscape.
The circle of boulders is
nearly perfect, forming a
ring on a raised mound
65 feet in diameter; the
inside surface is perfectly
level. On the north
there are two stones
seemingly the remains
of an inner circle; in
the same direction, but
on the exterior of the
circle, there are three
large boulders, which
have been rolled out of
their place. Of the cist
or cromleac only two
stones remain, one of
these being of the usual
dimensions; the other is
a mere slab.” Col. WoodMartin, ‘Rude Stone
Monuments of Co. Sligo’,
Reprint from Jr.R.S.A.I.
(1885-86).
C.M: See, what we are looking for is this higher stone and I think it is
4 The inscription on the
in the stones?
drawing reads; “Stone
circle at about half a
mile from Sligo, on the
road to Cleaveragh. 30
stones above ground.
Diameter 27 paces. Drawn
for Colonel Cooper, by
W.T. Wakeman, 23rd
September – 1882.”
William F. Wakeman,
(1882-1900) b. Ennis­
killen. He was a
draftsman and advisor
to Wood-Martin and the
collaboration between
the Wood-Martin family
and the Wakeman family
dates back to 1883.
possibly this one because it’s so distinct from the others.
S.M: It’s difficult to work out, because some people believe that this
monument has been altered.
C.M: When would the stones have been moved around?
S.M: This may have happened during the Iron Age. When excavated,
archaeologists could tell that a number of stones had been moved out
from the original circle to make this entrance point. The presumption is
that if you come up on the ridge by crossing the ford, it’s very difficult
to tell, but this is potentially an original entrance. Can you see the gap
C.M: Would this have been built up much higher?
S.M: Probably not. You can see up here inside the boulders that we
are higher then the original ground level. We are up on an artificial
platform that has been scarped. They have levelled this off, placed
the stones in a circle and made this mound. This is a huge monument
about 23 meters in diameter. You nearly have a complete circle, though
some of the stones have slipped out and some are in-situ. There are 44
boulders. Bergh estimates that there was a total of 55 boulders in the
original circle.
C.M: This stone in the middle of the inside circle, would this always
have been here, or what is it exactly?
S.M: The stone in the middle of the inside circle is the remains of a
dolmen shifted from its original position. You can tell.
C.M: How?
S.M: If you look at the bottom of the stone it is much darker in colour.
This indicates that the stone has been lifted out of the ground from its
XX / 32
original position. This was buried much deeper then it is today. You
5 The Marion Year was
7 “Maeve’s Cairn
that way. So you would go past Dunne’s stores, continue on to the
have a shadow on the stone, which indicates the ground level at which
1952.
Courthouse, up to the Lungy.
it was buried.
6 He found cremated and
(Miosgan Maedhbha)
on top of Knocknarae
overlooking the large
cemetery-cluster of
Carrowmore. Although it
has not been excavated,
we can only surmise
that Maeve’s Cairn is a
passage tomb.” Frank
Mitchell & Michael
Ryan, Reading the Irish
Landscape, Town House
Dublin (1996), p.172.
8 Listoghil, (Tomb 51
So that’s on the same ridge. You walk on past the Cathedral, between
according to George
Petrie’s 1837 survey),
from the Four Masters
‘Lois Tuathail’. The
position of Tomb
51, in the centre of
the cemetery and its
unusual features give
it a significant, focal
role. The huge cairn,
still partially present
(diameter 32m), is in
sharp contrast to all of
the other monuments at
Carrowmore, which had
no covering mounds.
The burial chamber, a
rectangular cist under
a flat, limestone roof
slab, is unique. Circular
carvings on the front
side of the roof slab
are the first examples
of megalithic art found
in this cemetery. www.
britarch.ac.uk
the Bishop’s Palace and the Cathedral. You are actually on the same
C.M: When do you think the dolmen was shifted?
S.M: It was probably moved when the crucifix was erected before the
Marion year (1950).5
C.M: Would the dolmen have been complete?
S.M: Yes at one time and we know from Wakeman’s drawings and
Wood-Martin’s description that there were more stones.
C.M: Can you see it in the Wakeman drawing that I have here?
S.M: No, you can’t see it in this drawing, but if you look at WoodMartin’s book there are more drawings of this circle and a plan of the
actual circle.
C.M: What did Wood-Martin find when he excavated here?
S.M: He dug in the chamber, and found charcoal - burnt human
remains, and various bits and pieces. I have a list of the find, which I
can email you.
6
C.M: That would be great, thanks. Could you describe the surrounding
landscape in relation to this monument? Are there any other significant
tombs near by?
S.M: You have Cairns Hill over there, which has a passage tomb on
the top and on the hill to the right, which is just out of view there
is another passage-tomb sited. Where we are on this ridge, which
sweeps along Sligo, goes over the Courthouse - if you were to look at
a contour map of Sligo, take away all of the housing estates we are
un-burnt human bone,
three molars and one
incisor tooth of a young
individual; the tooth
of a goat, and another
probably of a dog; also
the bones of a goat or
sheep.
C.M: Where is that?
S.M: It’s at the back of the Hawkswell – the Peace Park there.
There was actually another monument at the Peace Park which was
completely demolished.
C.M: What was it called?
S.M: The ‘Sligo Stones’ and it was marked on a map dated 1766.
hill that this is on, just a slight elevation and then you are at a place
called Caltra - where they found the causeway enclosure 4200BC,
that’s on the same ridge then as Carrowmore. They are all on slightly
elevated terraces. These monuments are possibly part of the route-way
and are all connected.
C.M: Do you think this monument has regional significance?
S.M: Yes. This is relating to the pre-historic landscape of the Cuil Irra
region, with Ballisodare Bay to the south and Sligo Bay to the north
and the Atlantic to the west and this area here, including Queen
Maeve,7 Carrowmore, Cairns Hill and this monument are all part of the
same ritualized landscape of predominantly passage tombs. This might
be part of a ‘ritualized avenue’, bringing you to the holiest of holy
‘Tomb 51’8, the centre-piece of Carrowmore.
C.M: It is incredible. I am going to have to look at a map to see all
of these monuments in relation to each other. Do you think the people
here know what this is?
S.M: Most of the people who live here have no idea what is here.
They call it the fairy fort (ring fort), but ring forts date to the 8th
standing on a slightly elevated site. The river is meandering down
century, or thereabouts.
XX / 34
C.M: Do you think this will ever be dug again?
S.M: No. Look here, this is a bit of chert - but it’s difficult to tell if it’s
been hit.9
C.M: What is that?
S.M: Part of a waste tool, god knows what you would find when you
really start to look. You get chert in limestone and flint in chalk - flint
is a much better quality tool. The Neolithic tools that you find in Sligo
were made from chert. I know a guy who will look at this for me and
can tell what it is and if pre-historic it could be argued that something
must be done about the damage caused by traffic crossing parts of the
monument because it is disturbing archaeology.
C.M: Is there a preservation order on this monument?
S.M: Yes, it’s protected now, but obviously when the housing estate
was built it wasn’t. I think you can see the relationship between this
and the location of the river and the river and this monument are
integrated in terms of why this is located where it is. Like I said on the
top of that hill you have a huge cairn and on the adjacent hill another
one and it does seem to fit in to this notion of a ritualised landscape
- a marker, which signifies that you are now entering somewhere
important and it is definitely linked 100% to Carrowmore. I made a
plan of this for Stefan Bergh, so I can give that to you.
C.M: Has it ever been published?
S.M: In Stefan’s book; ‘Landscape of the Monuments’, he has a very
good analysis of this site and a synopsis of Wood-Martin’s excavation.
It’s amazing isn’t it?
C.M: Yes, the more I come up here, the more I am blown away by it,
taking photographs, looking at the river and the land. I have been
over to the other side of the river to Fintan’s Quay and the view from
that side of the river is incredible. What do you think they would find
9 Chert is a sedimentary
rock composed mostly of
the mineral chalcedony—
cryptocrystalline silica,
or quartz in crystals
of submicroscopic
size. It can form in
parts of the deep sea
where the tiny shells
of siliceous organisms
are concentrated,
or elsewhere where
underground fluids
replace sediments with
silica. Chert nodules
also occur in altered
limestones.
buy out their houses,
now they are being asked
to spend their later years
behind these eight to
10 feet-high walls with
a major carriageway
on their doorsteps.”
http://buckplanning.
blogspot.com. (www.
buckplanning.ie)
new bridge)?10
S.M: They would possibly find polished stone axes. The analysis shows
from previous excavations elsewhere that they weren’t accidental ‘loss’
but that they were placed into the river as some kind of offering. And
some times what you find is oyster, broken bits of oyster if you are
lucky. If you look at the seal for Sligo town, there is a hare and a shell,
but originally in Wood-Martin’s book he talks about the Sligo Stones
- which were signified as six oyster shells on the original seal for
Sligo, but again over time they altered the design of the seal from six
oyster shells into a scallop shell, which has nothing to do with Sligo.
The predominant shells that you will find in Sligo are oyster shells. So
again this points to the fact that there was some settlement going on
here and that’s why I would be concerned about this monument.
10 “The €18 million
project, which is seen
as a vital infrastructural
service for the
establishment of Sligo
as a Gateway City,
could be ready to go
to the planning stage
in the latter half of
2008. Crossing points
of the Garavogue have
been identified in the
preliminary design
for the new bridge at
the Doorly Park/Martin
Savage Terrace green
area and the Molloway
Hill/Ash.” September
13th (2007) Leo Gray,
Sligo Champion. “Most of
these people moved here
as the original tenants of
these in the 1950’s when
this part of town was
still countryside and they
worked hard all their
lives so that they could
if they were to excavate the river near Buckley’s Ford, (site marked for
C.M: Could you tell me about your practice as an archaeologist?
S.M: As a landscape archaeologist I work with a number of notions.
The notion of a node - which is a point in the landscape, a network
– which connects the nodes and the space that they inhabit and
topography - detailed features and patterns on the surface of the land.
Combining these strategies; networks, nodes, space, and mapping
reveal how those meanings might be manipulated, changed or altered
through time.
C.M: In relation to this monument how would you read it’s positioning
in the landscape?
S.M: Our main question would focus on whether this monument was a
nodal point, referencing a complex network of similar monuments and
the spaces they inhabit and then you start to get closer to answering
questions about the landscape, its inhabitants, use and value.
XX / 36
fziMaps kindly reproduced from ‘Landscape of the
Monuments – A Study of the Passage Tombs in Cúil Irra
Region, Co. Sligo’ (1995), Dr. Stefan Bergh.
XX / 38
fAbbey Quarter North (2007).
p‘Stone Circle near Cleaveragh’ drawn by
William F. Wakeman, July 29th, 1879.
Copyright; Sligo County Library.
a‘Groundplan of Monument in Abbey
Quarter’ (original at scale of 20 feet :
1 inch) from ‘Rude Stone Monuments of
Ireland’, Wood-Martin.
XX / 40
XX / 42
View from Fintan’s Quay