'Who shaped the agenda's for the study of historical geography in Ireland? How did they contribute to our understanding of the 19th Century?'

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Historical Geography: Exam question 2003:

‘Who shaped the agenda’s for the study of historical geography in Ireland? How did they contribute to our understanding of the 19th Century?’

                        The study of Irish Historical geography is now somewhat mainstream; it has become a popular subject undertaken by many 3rd level and postgraduate students throughout various Universities nation-wide. However the topics that are looked at, the methodologies used to support these studies and the geographical perspective that is put froward regarding this aspect of Irish geography is largely due to two geographical pioneers, Tom Jones Hughes and Estyn Evens. Although other geographers such as Freeman were influential to our understanding of this geographical realm, they failed to have the same lasting and shaping effects on education and research agenda’s.

                        Tom Jones Hughes was a Welsh non-conformist who joined UCD in 1950, in order to set up a geography department. The strict rules imposed by the Catholic Church at the time meant that had he attempted to join larger departments such as History there would have been little doubt that a man with his background would not have been allowed to lecture or study. By 1954 Hughes was head of the Geography dept. were he remained on his own for a further 10yrs. Hughes was the complete Geographer never straying to other disciplines or areas of study, unlike Evens who took an active interest in archaeology. Hughes’ contribution to Irish Geography particularly historical geography in the 19th century should not be under-estimated, as he sought to gain a greater insight into the social geography of that period primarily through documentation’s and features in the physical landscape. His extensive knowledge of the Irish landscape widened continuously by virtue of his willingness to travel throughout the country taking in every detail of the surroundings, through his students but primarily through his use of the Griffith Valuations. Just as Petty will forever be associated with the infamous ‘Downs survey’, Hughes name is synonymous with the Griffith Valuation which detailed the exact locations of farm and urban houses, names of the tenants and valued the land and buildings occupied. However the valuations had never before been used as a source for constructing an understanding of the social and physical geography of Ireland. The primary purpose of the Griffith Valuations had been for taxation and were not laid out in an easily readable manner nor were they supplemented by a ‘Griffith’s Atlas’. Thus Hughes’ task to decipher such documents was both ingenious and extremely brave. Prior to this large-scale nation-wide analysis Hughes had worked on a smaller regional field study on the ‘Acidic Granophers’ in Cooly illustrating his ability to look at both macro and micro features of the Irish Landscape.

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                        As Hughes constructed his Geography dept. he was careful not to let it be a continuum of 2nd level, giving students knowledge and perspectives beyond the ability to list counties and Rivers nation-wide. His dedication to Irish Historical Geography is not reflected however in volumes of published works as he was not an extremely prolific writer, however he was very active in ‘Baile’ ‘Geography’ and ‘The Geographical Society of Ireland’, and although he looked at various aspects of the landscape there were common themes in which he took a specific interest; regions and regionalism, land tenure (distribution, ownership, size, quality etc) ...

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