Cratloe Woods is a forested area around the village of

Cratloe Cratloe () is a village in County Clare, Ireland, situated between Limerick and Shannon in the mid-west of Ireland. It is possible that the name derives from ''Croit-shliabh'' meaning "hump-backed hill", referring to Woodcock Hill. The present ...

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Much of the original oak forest has been replaced with coniferous softwoods during the past century; however, small pockets of native oak survive. The largest such pocket is the Garranon (or Garranone) Wood, which is visible on the hillside just north of the N18 road from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

to Shannon.

In literature

The woods at Cratloe Hill are the subject of poems and stories going back to at least the seventeenth century. Notable writers who have mentioned the site include

Elizabeth Bowen Elizabeth Bowen CBE (; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London. Life E ...

, who used the woodland at Garranone to symbolise the continuity of the Irish landscape and

Samuel Ferguson Sir Samuel Ferguson (10 March 1810 – 9 August 1886) was an Irish poet, barrister, antiquarian, artist and public servant. He was an acclaimed 19th-century Irish poet, and his interest in Irish mythology and early Irish history can be seen ...

, whose love poem "The Lapful of Nuts" describes his happy times in Cratloe collecting nuts with his sweetheart. This poem dates to at least the mid-19th century.

Traditional tales

Local tradition claims that a

highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footp ...

hid his treasure under a tree in the woods, and an oblique reference to this (or to a contemporary villain) is in ''The Midnight Court'' by

Brian Merriman Brian Merriman or in Irish Brian Mac Giolla Meidhre (c. 1747 – 27 July 1805) was an Irish language bard, farmer, and hedge school teacher from rural County Clare. His single surviving work of substance, the 1000-line long Dream vision poem ( ...

. Some veracity is given to this tale by the hanging of an alleged criminal in Ennis around this time. The outlaw is described as a cross between Ned Kelly and Robin Hood; the tradition maintains that he buried his takings under "a tree marked with the Ace of Spades". The roof beams of the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and the

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- Massa ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

are said to have been made from ancient oaks felled when Cratloe Woods were cleared. Traditionally, it is claimed that wood from the forest was used in St. Mary's Cathedral in Limerick. The church has its original roof, constructed with Irish oak and with a set of carved

misericords A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object) is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a par ...

—one of the few remaining in Ireland dating from before the 16th century. Sources for the history of the site are given in an unpublished doctoral thesis at the

University of Dublin The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

, Trinity College. The woods are described as Foruisbh in medieval manuscripts, and the site of the O'Brien hunting grounds. They have been well-known across Ireland since the Middle Ages.

Garranon

The Garranon (or Garranone) Wood is a sizable area of native Irish species. The area is predominantly native

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

, with concentrated efforts made in recent years to cull introduced species (such as

Spanish chestnut ''Castanea sativa'', the sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut or just chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. A substantial, long-lived ...

) from the wood.

Palynological Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and ''-logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposit ...

research at the site indicates that woodland has covered the spot from the present to at least the late Middle Ages. Ownership has been by the McNamaras or the O'Briens for the past 1,000 years.Clare County Library
Retrieved 2011-08-03. The oak in this wood is very valuable as was proven in 1215 when

Geoffrey de Luterel Sir Geoffrey de Luterel I (c. 1158–1218), was a courtier and confidant of King John, whom he served as a minister. Origins He was born around 1158 in Gamston, Nottinghamshire, England, the son of Alfred de Luterel (1105-1170). Relations w ...

, the granted owner of the woods and the townland of Cratloe, sold oak trees to

Philip Marc Philip Marc (also Mark) was a High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests in 1208. Marc has been proposed as a candidate for the role of Sheriff of Nottingham in the legend of Robin Hood. The Garranone site was managed as an oak (

Quercus petraea ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Cornish oak, Irish Oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an unofficial emble ...

)

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...

since at least the 16th century. In the mid-19th century the wood was converted from coppice to free-standing trees (employing Continental techniques) when Scots pine (

Pinus sylvestris ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...

) was planted between the coppices. Each coppice was singled to one bole and these were forced upwards by the quick-growing pines. Also included with the pines are a number of sweet chestnuts and other trees. The original management to convert the coppice would have involved cutting down the non-native trees once the oak were sizable and growing straight upwards. However, this was done in a desultory way, and many pines and other trees survive. This management was revealed by palynological study, and supported by a forester's handbook now in the keeping of the

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ga, Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland is ...

. This management is unique in Irish woodland history.

Mapping

Mapping the site dates back to the surveys of the 1680s, when the wood is first indicated in Petty maps. Scientifically, if a woods can be shown to continuously exist from the

late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...

(1600 AD in England, later changed to 1700 AD by

Oliver Rackham Oliver Rackham (17 October 1939 – 12 February 2015) was an academic at the University of Cambridge who studied the ecology, management and development of the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and wood pasture. His books incl ...

for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

), it is classified as an ancient wood. Historical records indicate the wood as present since at least 700 AD, cartographic records show the wood present from 1680 AD and palynological records from before 1600 AD. These findings indicate that Garranone is an ancient wood. There are less than a handful of this caliber in Ireland; as a result, the site is historically important in Europe.

References

{{Coord, 52, 42, 10.69, N, 8, 44, 48.08, W, scale:12500_type:landmark_region:IE, display=title Forests and woodlands of the Republic of Ireland Geography of County Clare Protected areas of County Clare