Historic dry stone wall restored in East Galway

YOU may talk of the Great Wall of China or the Western Wall of Jerusalem, or nearer home, Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland in the north of England. These great structures are the achievements of great armies or religiously inspired nations. Pat Lynch’s Dry Stone Wall in Abbeyland, between Clonfert and Eyrecourt, County Galway is the singular accomplishment of just one person.

The wall forms part of the boundary between townlands of Eyrecourt Demesne and Abbeyland Great. It is also the border between the historic civil parishes of Donanaghta (now Eyrecourt) and Clonfert and possibly at one time the dividing line between the estates of the Eyre and Butson families.

Pat Lynch’s family have been farming the land here for three generations and he considers the land on the slopes of Redmount Hill as among the best in East Galway. Judging by the huge number of archaeological monuments within a short distance of the wall, his ancient predecessors also esteemed the high quality of the land.

The surrounding landscape is dotted with an array of prehistoric, early Christian and medieval earthworks the significance of which is evident in local placenames such as Killevny Fort, Liscuilla, Liskeevan, Lisgar, Lispheasty, Lismoyle, Lisnarabia, Lisphubble, Lisdooaun, Killeleby Fort, Deerpark Fort and Donanaghta Graveyard. All of these are scattered over the slopes of the hill and stand within a mile or so of the wall.

Donanaghta Graveyard is among the principal of these monuments. It sits on the slopes of Redmount Hill which explains the original Irish version of its name, Dún An Uchta. Ucht cnoic is given in Niall Ó Dónaill’s Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, as the breast of the hill which describes exactly the location of this ancient graveyard. The burial ground is L-shaped and occupies most of what the National Monuments Service database describes as an ecclesiastical enclosure, with a church of probable medieval date and an early headstone dating to 1768. Redmount Hill reaches a height of 422 feet and is surmounted by The Seven Sisters, seven small groves of beech trees erected by one of the John Eyres of Eyrecourt during the nineteenth century.

When Pat Lynch retired from Bord Na Móna in 2019 he commenced this ambitious project. The wall was then completely overgrown, mostly collapsed and in need of much repair. Over the following four years he spent much of his time after his daily farming chores were complete in face of the wall, averaging fifteen or sixteen hours per week. Spread over four years or two hundred weeks this amounts to over three-thousand man-hours of self-imposed hard labour from which Pat derived great satisfaction and enjoyment. Had the wall been commissioned it would have cost a pretty penny.

While most of the stone required was found in situ from the previous building, additional stone was sourced from redundant walls on farmlands of obliging neighbours. The wall is 444 metres long, and averages one and half metres in height and three-quarters of a metre in width. This gives a total volume of 497 cubic metres of stone required for the structure. As each cubic metre weighs 2,700 kilogrammes, the total weight of stone incorporated in the wall is approximately 1,350,000 kilogrammes or 1,350 metric tonnes.

These statistics are remarkable by any standard and we are greatly indebted to Pat Lynch for his huge solo endeavours - and no little expense - which have restored a significant part of our local manmade heritage.

Séamus Murphy, (1907-1975), the renowned Cork stone mason and sculptor, wrote in his marvellous book Stone Mad that Art grows out of good work done by men who enjoy it. It is the wealth, surely, of any country. Undoubtedly Pat Lynch derived great satisfaction from his monumental undertaking. We too can enjoy the historical significance and enduring artistic beauty of his work.

Lawrence Garner in his seminal work Dry Stone Walls, (Shire Books, 2005) muses on the rationale for building stone walls, the why and the wherefore: “From the earliest times walls were an obvious method of enclosure, for stone usually littered the original unimproved pastureland or lay in plentiful supply a few inches beneath the surface.

But walls have more positive advantages. Many of the walls that enclose Britain’s (and by extension, Ireland’s), highest terrain have stood for over two hundred years. A good waller today will expect his work to outlive him provided that the owner gives the wall the small amount of maintenance needed. Compare this with a wire and post fence, which not only requires frequent attention but will rust and rot even in favourable weather conditions.

Where hedges are an alternative, maintenance once again becomes a chore if they are not to spread and encroach on useful land, and neither fence nor hedge provides shelter against cold wind and driving rain. At lambing time, a wall can be a life-safer to ewes and lambs and a godsend to the shepherd on exposed heights.”

Pat also points out that walls are an effective barrier in times of disease or fire but whatever were Pat Lynch’s motivations his wall will be a lasting memorial to him and an abiding enhancement to the local landscape, yet another monument on Redmount Hill’s imposing heritage list. Míle buíochas a Phádraig, ar son muintir na Gaillimhe Thoir. A thousand thanks Pat, on behalf of the people East Galway.