Smyth, W.J.
(2012)
Flax Cultivation in Ireland: The Development and Demise of a Regional Staple.
In:
Anniversary Essays: Forty Years of Geography in Maynooth.
National University of Ireland Maynooth, pp. 158-178.
ISBN 9780992746605
Abstract
Throughout much of his writings tom Jones Hughes has returned again
and again to the theme of Irish regionalism. Notwithstanding his
acknowledgement of the role of cultural, and indeed ethnic, factors in the
identification of patterns, he has most frequently employed economic
variables in a search for regional indicators. His classic cartographic
portrayal of the extend of eighteenth and nineteenth century landlord
improvements was based on a detailed interpretation of the Griffith
Valuation, and analyses of agricultural statistics provided him with the
configuration of major regions of economic specialisation in post-Famine
rural Ireland. Even his more recent writings have placed considerable
emphasis upon economic data, as witness his mapping of farms with a
valuation of one hundred pounds or more. While the ultimate goal of all
this analysis has been to identify and measure the nature, scale and
intensity of spatial differentiation within this island, and while he would
probably recoil from being labelled an economic geographer, it is
nonetheless apparent that Tom Jones Hughes’s writings suggest a strong
interest in regional economies, their landscapes and their socio-cultural
manifestations. This essay seeks to identify the agricultural background
of probably the most distinctive regional economy to have matured in
nineteenth century Ireland, the linen industry of the northern half of the
country. Specifically, this essay will explore the regional dimension of
flax cultivation and its immediate proto-industrial offshoot, scutch
milling. The secondary stages of textile production – the spinning,
weaving and bleaching processes – do not form part of the present study.
| Item Type: |
Book Section
|
| Additional Information: |
First published in Smyth, W.J., Whelan, K., Hughes, T.J. (1988) Common
ground: essays on the historical geography of Ireland presented to T. Jones Hughes.
Cork: Cork University, pp. 234-252 |
| Keywords: |
Flax Cultivation; Ireland; Regional Staple; Anniversary Essays; Geography; Maynooth; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography |
| Item ID: |
5589 |
| Depositing User: |
IR Editor
|
| Date Deposited: |
04 Dec 2014 17:42 |
| Publisher: |
National University of Ireland Maynooth |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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