Courtney McGrailThe Landscape of Clonmacnoise
by John Feehan
(Offaly County Council, €45; Heritage Office, Offaly County Council, Charleville Road, Tullamore, Co. Offaly; heritage@offalycoco.ie)
George Cunningham
Dr Feehan’s latest work is the fourth in his series of large format oblong atlases, following on from his very successful Birr, The Curragh of Kildare and Croghan Hill. All are exceptional publications of visual attractiveness, albeit somewhat awkward to handle, but showing that, as a complete artefact, the printed book is hard to beat. Such evocatively presented imagery may well prove to be the best defence against the all-invasive Kindle or ebook.
In defining this work, John Feehan’s belief is that his emphasis on geology is fundamental to understanding the full story of Clonmacnoise, that its influence is all embracing to its evolution.
Rightly, he recognises that as the “great monastery has been studied and celebrated in a voluminous literature”, his primary concentration should be on the landscape which makes up the parish of Clonmacnoise.
He goes against the local preference (and the polite preference of this reviewer who argued for such in his own recent publication The Round Tower at Roscrea and its Environs) by keeping the ‘e’ at the end of Clonmacnois(e), accepting the standard, official spelling. He also argues, following John O’Donovan, that it means the cluain, or bog island, of the pigs of Nós rather than of the sons of Nós.
Inclusive
This work is all inclusive as any definitive landscape study should be with almost two-thirds of the book dealing with the environment and how it evolved, the story of its rock, soil and water, and of its bogs and vegetation.
As befitting ‘Ciarán’s city fair’, as the poet Rolleston called it, eskers, pilgrim paths and the internationally important Shannon Callows receive special attention.
Nor are the “people in the landscape” ignored as the author teases out their stories down through the millennia. And on almost every page there is much delightful relevant imagery: old and new maps (using the latest digital technology) and diagrams, magnificent aerial photography, evocative farm scenes of past times and superb pictures of the flora and fauna.
Throughout all of Dr Feehan’s works – and Clonmacnoise is no exception – there is an undefined eco-theological dimension, not surprising when one considers that he is also the author of The Singing Heart of the World: Creation, Evolution and Faith (Columba Press/Orbis Books, New York, £15.99), a book described by Fr Seán McDonagh as “one of the best books in English on the relationship between science and religion”.
This magnificent book on the Clonmacnoise landscape with its deep love of nature is published by Offaly County Council in association with Bord na Móna whose large scale operations in the area are so vital for its economic wellbeing.
Offaly’s heritage office and its hardworking Heritage Officer, Amanda Pedlow, have an unrivalled record in publication and allied activities; what an improved national environmental awareness we would have if all local authorities followed suit?
As with all of John Feehan’s recent books (blockbusters like Farming in Ireland, The Bogs of Ireland, Wildflowers of Offaly, Geology of Offaly and Laois, not to mention a myriad of smaller works), Clonmacnoise is professionally and tastefully designed by Bernard Kaye and is printed in Ireland by Walsh Printers, Roscrea.
Its native production – generously sponsored by Bord na Móna – shows what can be done at home. Surely it is time to cease giving public monies to sponsor or subsidise books which are printed abroad?