Esker Riada

jman0

I wonder, if someone knows of reference material that would show the Esker Riada drawn out on a map?

I'm intrigued by this landscape feature and it's role in irish history, tho i am not a student of archaeology.

"In ancient times the Sli Mhor (Great Way) ran right across the midlands from Tara in Meath to Connaught. It was used as a pilgrim route connecting the monasteries of Durrow in the east of Offaly and Clonmacnois in the west, and was for a long time the Country's most important thoroughfare.

Flanked by bogland, the Esker Riada runs in an east/west direction across Ireland, dividing the island into two roughly equal parts. So it was that the Esker Riada (meaning "chariot way") was also a political division separating the north of Ireland from the south as it was understood in pre- Christian Ireland.


Three eskers are mapped to the north and south of Tullamore - Kilcormac, Geashill and Ballyduff, which form part of an extensive esker system thorughout the midlands. The esker system on which Clara was built extends from Galway to Dublin. Other examples of eskers include the ridge between Birr and Banagher running at right angles to the road."
http://www.offaly.ie/offalyhome/visitoffaly/Attractions/natural/Eskers.htm

boneless

I'll have a look through the material I have at home and see if there is a map in any of it. The esker systems were used throughout history and indeed prehistory as routes through the landscape. This lanscape was a lot more boggy and wet than it is today so these ridges were obvious for such use.

The defensive nature of the eskers is best illustrated by the Iron Age creation of a pallisaded bank and ditch system stretching from Donegal to Dundalk, the so-called Black Pigs Dyke. This used the natural esker and drumlin features, along with rivers and lakes, as a definite structure in the landscape to demarcate different regions. Offahs Dyke between England and Wales is another example of this.

Fore more information on the Black Pigs Dyke read Raftery, "Pagan, Celtic Ireland: The Enigma of the Irish Iron Age."

lostexpectation

a complete free pdf book tracing the route
http://www.crsbooks.net/road.html
what more could you ask for

boneless

lostexpectation wrote: »

a complete free pdf book tracing the route
http://www.crsbooks.net/road.html
what more could you ask for

Great link.

Cheers!!

jman0

Wow, great find!
Exactly the type of thing i was looking for.