A scene from Glenomera 1828

Genealogy, Archaeology, History, Heritage & Folklore

Moderators: Clare Support, Clare Past Mod

Post Reply
Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

A scene from Glenomera 1828

Post by Sduddy » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:06 pm

Rachel Hewitt, in her book, ‘Map of a Nation – a biography of the Ordnance Survey’ (Granta, 2010), devotes two chapters (pp. 235-288) to the making of the Ordnance Survey 1842 map of Ireland, which began in 1824. She mentions some of the problems encountered by the officers, including hostility from the people (pp. 252 – 3):

“Both the Interior and the Trigonometrical Surveyors were faced with hostility from local residents as they made their way across Ireland. Dressed in military uniform, the men were unmistakable emblems of British occupation…But not all surveyors’ stories were full of woe. When they were not living out of tents, they brought welcome trade to inns and hostels. And in 1828 the Dublin Evening Post drew a charming picture of the collaboration between the Ordnance Survey and the local populace. The journalist described how the residents of Glenomera, in County Clare, helped the Ordnance Surveyors to build a trig station. Perhaps they were motivated by simple curiosity in the endeavour, or by good relations with some of the individual map-makers that they met while the latter were staying in local accommodation, or even by the hope that a cartographical image of Ireland might bolster national identity. Either way, a large crowd ascended the mountain, borne up by music from flutes, pipes and violins, and accompanied by young women carrying laurel leaves. However, even this contained a subversive element. The Glenomera residents insisted on naming the trig station, ‘O’Connell’s Tower’, after ‘The Liberator’ Daniel O’Connell, the Irish political leader who campaigned for the repeal of the Act of Union and for Catholic Emancipation, the right of Catholics to become Members of Parliament.”

I think “Glenomera” here may be Cragnamurragh, which is in the townland of Killeagy Ryan in the parish of Killokennedy. Cragnamurragh is in the Slieve Bernagh mountain range - there’s a trig station at the summit. Gragnamurragh was probably part of the Glenomera estate, owned by the Arthur family. Google “Cragnamurragh 526m mountain”, or copy and paste https://mountainviews.ie/summit/401/ into your browser and scroll down for a picture of the trig station – it's not a tower - more a small pillar.

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,562836,674994,8,7

http://thearthurfamilyoflimerickandclar ... omera.html

Sheila

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: A scene from Glenomera 1828

Post by Sduddy » Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:35 am

If the trig station looks like it’s made of cement, that’s because it is made of cement.
I’ve been reading “If Maps could Speak”, by Richard Kirwan (Londubh books, 2010) - a mixture of memoir, history and story - and he tells of starting work in the early 1970s with the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, for which he was required to join the Irish army. At that time, it seems, the calculations, which had been made from trig stations in the 1830s, were revised and the trig stations also got a makeover. Kirwan explains that, although the job of getting to the trig stations was a lot easier than it had been in the 1830s – ‘more compact theodolites, better observation lights, the advent of electronic distance-measuring equipment and motor transport made things more manageable”, there were still some difficulties: they needed permission from all the farmers who shared the commonage at the top of the hill (or low mountain), plus they needed a donkey to carry the cement etc., but not too heavy a load each time* - sometimes there was a bog to cross on the way and the donkey might get stuck. When they finally got to the top, they sat there until the mist cleared. Kirwan doesn’t say, but I suppose the donkey sat too.

So, did a new trig station replace a tower? Kirwan says “Originally, small triangles carved on rock or buried red tiles marked apexes” (p. 83), which leaves me puzzled as to how there could have been a newspaper story about the building of a tower. Maybe it was a very temporary tower - a solid, but temporary, base on which to rest equipment.

Sheila

*“ A ton and a half of gravel, cement, water and wooden casings” (p83).

Paddy Casey
Posts: 743
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:53 pm
Location: Внешняя Громболия
Contact:

Re: A scene from Glenomera 1828

Post by Paddy Casey » Sun Mar 18, 2018 8:58 pm

What a delightful scene there, Sheila.

The local official surveyor came round here to check the coordinates with his ultra-precise modern equipment. They do it every so often to correct the slight errors made by the older equipment (our house has moved by an eighth of an inch over the last 30 years, it seems). We got to talking about his job. I said it must be very healthy being out in the fresh air the whole day and walking up and down hills. He said yes, it is healthy, but a lonely profession. Nowadays with the modern electronic theodolites the surveyor doesn't even need the boy with the clipboard and reflector tripod.

Next time he comes I'll tell him that in the West of Ireland a surveyor is borne up hills and across bogs by music from flutes, pipes and violins, and accompanied by young women carrying laurel leaves. He''l be on the next plane over.

Paddy

Post Reply