Monument farming: just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there

With over 240 archaeological sites in Rathcroghan, Co Roscommon, you would be forgiven for thinking that it’s completely off limits for farming.

Ancient trackways, enclosures, mounds and pillar stones are among the monuments which are scattered over approximately 6.5km² in the area.

It is here that 45 farmers are taking part in the Farming Rathcroghan EIP project, a results-based scheme which aims to manage the farming landscape in a sustainable way, with a focus on the delivery of good archaeological condition.

Thirty farmers are fully involved in the project and another 15 are involved in discussion groups.

These farmers are managing over 100 monuments through the scheme, project manager Petra Kock-Appelgren told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“Some farmers would be completely red-lined on their farms, they would be very restricted.

“Anything that breaks the ground is restricted; there’s no fencing, no drain digging, no tree planting and ploughing is an absolute no-no.

Even though I haven’t a lot of archaeology on my land, just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there

"If you want to do work, you’ve to apply for permission to the National Monuments Service, there’s a lot of paperwork and a decision takes about two months.

“As part of the project, we do that and apply for the farmers,” she says.

While the project is focused on archaeology, both above and below the ground, it also focuses on water quality.

“We have 27 different actions in the scheme, it varies from farm to farm. The absolute priority is to maintain grass cover on the monuments and to farm them to protect what’s there.

“Reinforcing water troughs to prevent poaching has been a huge thing for us. We have also developed our own equipment ourselves, such as our fencing post.

"The base sits on the ground and is not driven in. We have the Rathcroghan resting frame for smaller areas, to keep cattle and sheep away.”

Swallow holes

“Rathcroghan is also a limestone area, it’s really sensitive from a water quality point of view.

“We restrict cattle from swallow holes and drains. We’ve a mad amount of swallow holes. We also had a lot of old ponds that were not in use, we’ve done a good bit of pond retention, making habitats.”

So far this year, the average score out of 10 is six, attracting a payment of around €2,000/farmer and most of the land scored last year has improved again this year.

The scheme works on a results basis – the better the habitat and condition of a farmer’s land, the better the score and the higher the payment.

Gerard Healy is the fifth generation of his family to farm in the area and a number of years ago he was one of a number of people who set about getting funding for the scheme.

Healy farms 30ha and used to keep sucklers, but now buys in 40 or 50 continental store cattle every year from local marts for finishing.

He has the ruins of an old church and ancient roads on his land, with more archaeology below the surface. He has used the Rathcroghan resting frame to prevent poaching.

“I use it to keep cattle from poaching, I fence off areas from grazing. It’s all about management of the ground. It’s not rocket science.

“I had stone troughs on the ground and had pinch points for poaching. When I wasn’t in the scheme, I had a run for the cattle into the shed that was poached. This year, that area is all in grass and I’ve changed where I was feeding them.

“The scheme changes your attitude and appreciation to farming. I’m also not going to get a good score if I poach the land,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“We’ve based the scheme on the landscape. Even though I haven’t a lot of archaeology on my land, just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

Healy also has non-intrusive fencing, where he has used recycled plastic for a fence which doesn’t need to be posted into the ground and fences a mound on his land for certain parts of the year.

Healy is happy with the scheme and the payment from it.

“It’s a payment that wasn’t there a few years ago. Anything you get is a bonus.

“Planning permission-wise, the archaeology became a negative, but the EIP has brought back the positivity to the area.

“It’s nice that the farmers who are minding these monuments are getting something back. There could be a spin-off from the tourism side of it. Maybe there’s a Rathcroghan food brand, it could be something down the road for us.”

Andrew Freeman joined the Farming Rathcroghan EIP a few years ago.

“Delighted to be part of it to preserve the mounds and burial chambers that are on my land. I have fenced off the mounds and burial chambers so the animals do not damage it.

“There has been a bit of damage over the years so we are trying to protect that and let it heal and to pass it on to the next generation even better than I got it.”