Céide Fields Leaflet

The Céide Fields
Beneath the wild unspoilt bogland of North Mayo lies the Céide Fields, the most
extensive Stone Age monument in the world dating from 5000–6000 years ago
Pine stumps exposed in cutaway bog
Background: Céide Fields dwelling enclosure
Neolithic field walls after excavation.
in 1970 and 1971. Within the
Enviromental Change
enclosure, the postholes of a round
The vast area of bogland forming
house about 6m in diameter were
a soft blanket over the landscape
found. The house would have been
from cliff edge to hilltop in
constructed from wood and other
north Mayo today is a result of
organic materials, which have
the continually damp but mild
Megalithic burial and ceremonial
the Céide Fields Visitor Centre these
soil filling the grooves. Areas of stone clearance
extends to the south and east of Ballycastle as
left no trace. Typical habitation
climate. Here there is well over
monuments survive in many areas
walls seem initially to follow the contour
and some lynchetting (fine loose soil washed
far as Rathlackan, 15km away. Here a complex
debris of Neolithic round-based
the minimum of 1,250mm of rain
of Ireland and Western Europe, but
of the Behy valley and then continue
downslope), may also indicate tillage. A broken
of field walls and house structures of various
pottery and stone material mostly
spread over at least 225 days per
little or nothing remains of their
over the spur of the hill, merging with a
stone tip of an ard was found in the same area
shapes and sizes have been found. Excavations
of chert, as well as charcoal from
year required for the growth of
at Rathlackan revealed a fine three chambered
a hearth indicated this was a
blanket bog in Ireland. This is a
court tomb. A 20m diameter enclosure,
dwelling house of a single family.
very different vista and climate
to what our Neolithic ancestors
contemporary landscape. North Mayo
not only has the greatest concentration
of court tombs in the country but,
uniquely, the entire layout of the
second similar parallel system following
the alignment of the Glenulra valley.
and one had also been found in the dwelling
enclosure. A saddle quern used for grinding
This continues onto the next hillside.
the corn was found on the east side of the
surrounding a small 3m wide stone square
The enclosure wall is similar in
Despite “meanders” in the walls, the
Glenulra valley.
shaped house was built onto its side. The only
construction to the field walls
encountered nearly six millennia
gaps in the pre-bog field systems between
and would probably have served
ago. They would have found a
associated farmed countryside. The
parallel strips remains remarkably
story of the Céide Fields (Céide in Irish
consistent in width. Each strip of land
The field walls were originally uncovered
Céide Fields and Rathlackan are in low-lying
to exclude farm animals rather
forest of predominantly pine
means “a flat topped hill”) is not just
was subdivided by “cross walls” into
during turf-cutting in the 1930’s at Belderrig
areas such as around Ballycastle where bog
than being a defensive structure.
and birch with some hazel, oak,
the story of the oldest known enclosed
rectangular fields, but these cross walls
by a local schoolteacher, Patrick Caulfield.
never developed. However the existence of
Similar enclosures in other strips
willow and alder in a drier and
landscape but is also that of a changing
do not continue directly from one strip
However, their significance only became
court tombs in this area provide evidence of
of land are presumed also to be
warmer climate. However, some
climate and natural environment over
into the next.
apparent when his son Seamas began their
Neolithic occupation.
dwelling enclosures and they show
low-lying areas such as that west
a settlement pattern of dispersed
of Belderrig and a small basin
archaeological excavation a few decades
several thousand years.
Most of the fields are quite large, up to
later. An old technique of probing the bogs
The pathway to the rear of the Visitor Centre
single-family dwellings, with each
about 100m diameter in Glenulra
The Neolithic or Stone Age farmed
several hectares in size, and were used
with metal rods to locate tree stumps was
follows the outline of a field, two hectares in
family possibly owning or using
were already covered by bog.
landscape which is the Céide Fields
as pastureland. At that time, the climate
used to locate the stone walls, which are
size. The bog has been excavated in places,
one strip of land.
Detailed analysis of the pollen
dates to between five and six thousand
was on average up to 2°C warmer than
still totally hidden beneath up to 4.5m of
exposing the walls on the Neolithic land
years ago. It consists of ten square
today, and this would have resulted in
bog. The walls are not confined to the Céide
surface. When built, these walls were quite
Down the slope from the
this basin has revealed much about
kilometres of enclosed farmland divided
grass growth for at least eleven months
Fields but extend 7km to the west as far as
substantial, and at least 1m high, but had
dwelling enclosure, a small egg
the changing environment. Peat
up into regular field systems bounded
of the year, allowing permanent grazing
Belderrig. Beyond Belderrig there is a gap
generally collapsed before the bog formed.
shaped stone walled structure,
preserves pollen and so counting
by dry stone walls as well as dwelling
for cattle. A few smaller more irregular
in the archaeological remains for a further
The walls have been left as they were
7m by 4m, incorporating part
the various species of pollen found
enclosures, which survived under the
shaped fields in the vicinity of the
distance of 15km. It appears that the bog was
discovered so that what you see are stones
of the cross wall was discovered
at any particular level in the core
that have not been moved in over fifty
during excavations of the field
will give an indication of the trees
centuries. Where the walls have not been
walls prior to the construction of
and vegetation growing in the
excavated, white stakes mark their location.
the Visitor Centre. At first it was
vicinity at the time the bog was at
thought to be a dwelling house but
that level. These levels can also
blanket bog. On Céide hill the fields
are the most regular, indicating they
Visitor Centre may have been used for
growing cereal, probably emmer wheat.
already well established there by Neolithic
times, as indicated by radiocarbon dating of
pine stumps preserved in the bog. Further
of the Centre uncovered some plough
west, in the area north of Carrowmore Lake,
of parallel walls over 1.5km long divide
marks, or grooves in the subsoil made by
pre-bog Neolithic field boundaries, including
Within this rectangular field a separate oval
showed no evidence of this when
be dated by radio-carbon analysis.
the land into long strips, varying from
an ard or primitive plough while cereal
some earthen banks, have been located. To the
shaped stone walled enclosure, measuring 25m
excavated. It may have been used
The Neolithic farmers cleared most
90m to 150m in width. To the west of
pollen was identified in samples of the
east of Céide Fields the Neolithic landscape
by 22m was excavated by Dr Seamas Caulfield
as an animal pen.
of the forest in order to lay out
and highly organised operation. A series
Neolithic field wall behind
Visitor Centre.
preserved in a deep core through
Excavations prior to the construction
were carefully measured in a large scale
4,300 year old pine tree in
Visitor Centre.
Background: Butterworth
The Visitor Centre has
won many awards for it’s
innovative design
continued overleaf >
The Céide Fields
VISITORS’ GUIDE
Céide Fields
Bog asphodel, (Narthecium ossifragum).
Céide Fields
Visitor Centre
Bog cotton, (Eriophorum vaginatum).
Behy
Tomb
Céide Cliffs
magnificent example from Patrick
resources as firewood, materials for
Caulfield’s turf bank in Belderrig,
building, baskets, tool handles
which forms the centrepiece in the
and food such as hazelnuts. Huge
Visitor Centre. The pine forest died out
increases in the amount of pollen
about 4,600 years ago due to increased
from grasses and herbs such as ribwort
wetness in climate and since then the
plantain, dock, buttercup, dandelion
ever deepening bogland would have
and white clover in the peat core
appeared much like today.
100
150
200
confirm the archaeological evidence
for extensive pastureland.
The overall significance of the Céide
0
25
Fields is that they reveal a unique
changes to a cooler, damper, climate
farming system. A population of
came about. This lead to the widespread
a few hundred people in the Céide
expansion of the blanket bog leaving
Fields area alone were living in a
their way of life unsustainable. The
peaceful settled community for five
fields were abandoned, maybe over
centuries from about 5,700 to 5,200
a couple of generations, and, when
years ago. Initially the communities
not kept maintained, the stone walls
co-operated in clearing the forest
collapsed bit by bit and quickly became
and dividing 1,000 hectares of land
hidden under the bog vegetation.
amongst the families, indicating a
There was some regeneration of
high degree of social development. A
woodland and, later, a widespread
major question is whether these field
colonisation of the bog by pine trees,
systems were unique at the time or are
many of which have been preserved
simply unique in their preservation.
200
Ballyglass
House and Tomb
0
30
0
10
insight into a highly organized
N
Megalithic Tombs
pre-bog wall
50
15
Court Tomb
Contours in metres
Portal Tomb
Ceide Fields Centre
Unclassified
ha
Background: Heath spotted orchid
50
After about five centuries, however,
Bunatrahir
Bay
150
undoubtedly kept to provide such
50
in the peat. These include the
0
10
their field systems. Some trees were
1km
0
© Seamas Caulfield
Co. Mayo