#abbeyleix

[mirtapersonal]

postcard from the bog

[k00281262]

Blueprints Workshop

Today I did the blueprints workshop with Gemma, and I really enjoyed it. Cyanotype is a process that I have heard about in the past but never got a chance to try out before, so I was excited to get the opportunity to try it for myself!

Gemma began by showing us some examples of artists who use cyanotype, as well as explaining a bit about its history and the safety precautions we need to take. Then, we headed to the darkroom, where we spread a thin layer of solution onto paper.

I completed two prints: for the first one, I used the silhouette of my crochet blanket.

It is important to make sure to rinse the solution from the developed cyanotypes very thoroughly, so that they do not continue to expose once they have left the UV light machine.

My second print was of a photograph of the bog, which was exciting for me because it meant I finally got to figure out how to use the photocopier! To make these prints, we had to photocopy a negative image of our photo onto a special acetate. This was confusing at first, but I'm pleased that it's a skill I now have the hang of.

Above is my second print, of a picture I took of some soft mosses and grasses in Abbeyleix bog. Its not perfect, I definitely should have trimmed the edges and lined it up a bit straighter, but I think it has a lot of potential to work back into.

Overall, I really enjoyed this workshop, and am curious if there's ways I can integrate this process into my project going forward.

[chronivore]

Halfling Name of the Day:

Myriel Abbeyleix

[sciencespies]

Eight Thousand Years of Bog Bodies Reveal a Grim Burial Tradition

https://sciencespies.com/news/eight-thousand-years-of-bog-bodies-reveal-a-grim-burial-tradition/

Eight Thousand Years of Bog Bodies Reveal a Grim Burial Tradition

When Roy van Beek was a teenager in the Netherlands in the early 1990s, he made a field trip to a local museum to see an exhibit of bog bodies: ancient human remains, both skeletal and naturally mummified, interred in the wetlands and spongy turf of northern Europe. He recalled one cadaver on display that was remarkably intact and oddly disorienting. The contorted body of a female about his age, roughly 4 feet 6 inches tall, who had lived in the first century A.D. “She had been left in a shallow mire south of the modern-day village of Yde,” said Dr. van Beek, now an archaeologist at Wageningen University & Research. Her skin had been tanned in the dark tea of the bog.

The Yde Girl, as she became known, was unearthed in 1897 by peat diggers so spooked by their gruesome discovery that they reportedly chorused “I hope the Devil gets the man that dug this hole” and fled the scene. The corpse was wearing a much-darned woolen cloak, which concealed a stab wound near her collarbone. A seven-foot-long strip of cloth, perhaps a waistband, was wound around her neck three times and its slipknot indented below her left ear. “The cloth was probably used to strangle her,” Dr. van Beek said. Most of the bog mummies that have turned up also show signs of multiple traumatic injuries and are presumed to be murder victims.

This month, Dr. van Beek was the lead author of the first comprehensive survey of bog bodies — a burial tradition believed to span 7,000 years. The multidisciplinary study, published in the journal Antiquity, created a database of more than 1,000 such bog people, some arrestingly lifelike, from 266 historical bog sites across a swath of northern Europe, from Ireland to the Baltic States.

Relying on recorded folklore, descriptions and depictions, newspaper reports and antiquarian records, a team of Dutch, Swedish and Estonian researchers focused on the rise of bog burials starting around 5200 B.C., in the Neolithic period and into the Bronze Age. The team took particular interest in the tradition’s efflorescence from 1000 B.C. to 1500 A.D., from the Iron Age to the medieval period.

“While a number of bog scholars have been arguing that we need to reconceptualize bog bodies to include the skeletonized remains from more alkaline bog lands and wetlands, this is the first major study to do it systematically,” Melanie Giles, a British archaeologist not involved in the study, said in an email. “The results are really quite important, showing a formal burial phase in the Bronze Age and a rise in violent deaths during the time in which these bogs, within certain hot spots, grow exponentially.”

The raised bog of Abbeyleix, Ireland, one of the sites included in the recent study of bog bodies.Roy van Beek

Tollund Man, a bog body dating to the fifth century B.C. and recovered in 1950, at the Museum Silkeborg in Denmark.Tim Graham/Getty Images

Cases are divided into three main categories: bog mummies, whose skin, soft tissue and hair are preserved; bog skeletons, with only the bones surviving; and a third group composed of the partial remains of both. “Many finds have been lost in the distant past or are only known through published sources,” Dr. van Beek said. “These ‘paper’ bog bodies are documented with varying degrees of detail and reliability.” Before the 19th century, bodies pulled out of bogs were often given a Christian reburial.

The cadavers owe their state to the natural chemistry of bogs. Layers of sphagnum moss and peat help pickle bodies by saturating the tissue in a cold, immobilizing environment that is highly acidic and almost devoid of oxygen. The decaying mosses release humic acids and sphagnan, a complex sugar, that make life difficult for the microorganisms that would normally cause rotting and decay. Sphagnan also leaches calcium from bones, eventually softening, breaking and warping them.

‘A dark elderberry place’

Bog-mummified people are mainly found in raised bogs — discrete, dome-shaped masses of peat that typically form in lowland landscapes and reach depths of 30 feet or more. (Blanket bogs are generally shallower and spread out widely over wet or upland areas.)

Uncovering the Past, One Discovery at a Time

Appian Way: An archaeological dig that began last summer, searching for the long-elusive “first mile” of the ancient Roman thoroughfare, has been stymied by ground water.

Friends on a Mission: Three hobbyists hunting for Bronze Age rock carvings have transformed Norway’s knowledge about prehistoric art.

Animal Mummies: The discovery of 10 mummified crocodiles in an Egyptian tomb shed light on ancient mummification practices and the many lives of a necropolis.

Meet the Neanderthals: Analyzing fossils from a cave in Russia, scientists have identified the first known family of Neanderthals.

The first recorded body emerged from Schalkholz Fen in Holstein, Germany, in 1640. Since then, the cold-weather swamps of northern Europe have yielded such regional curiosities as Windeby Girl, Haraldskjaer Woman, Lindow Man, Clonycavan Man, Old Croghan Man and Koelbjerg Man. The bones of Koelbjerg Man, recovered in 1941 on the Danish island of Funen, date to 8000 B.C. Seamus Heaney’s melancholy “Bog Poems” include a lament for Grauballe Man, whose throat was slit in the third century B.C.:

The cured wound

opens inwards to a dark

elderberry place.

Of the 57 bog people whose cause of death could be determined in Dr. van Beek’s study, at least 45 met violent ends, and quite a few were bludgeoned or suffered mutilation and dismemberment before they died. Tollund Man, dating to the fifth century B.C. and dredged from a Danish peat bog in 1950, was hanged. Bone arrowheads were found embedded in the skull and sternum of Porsmose Man, recovered from peat elsewhere in Denmark. Seven victims appear to have been slain by several means, a practice that scholars call overkilling. Almost all of the overkills in Dr. van Beek’s study occurred from 400 B.C. to 400 A.D.

The bog of war

While most sites held just a single deceased person, some were used repeatedly, with one Danish bog, Alken Enge, estimated to hold the disarticulated remains of more than 380 ancient warriors killed in a brutal conflict and left in open water. The bones, exclusively male and predominantly adult, date to early in the first century A.D., when Germanic tribes engaged in intratribal warfare. Researchers believe that the dead were cleared from the battlefield and dumped into the bog with their weapons and personal ornaments.

This would have been one of the lesser indignities that befell bog people. Many were hastily extracted or improperly conserved; in the Netherlands of the late 18th century, four bog corpses were even ground into mumia — mummy powder — and sold as remedies.

A fundamental question about these Iron Age victims is why. Were they murdered? Executed? Sacrificed to the gods, perhaps as fertility offerings? Miranda Aldhouse-Green, emeritus professor of archaeology at Cardiff University and author of “Bog Bodies Uncovered,” has argued that ritual sacrifices may have been undertaken at times of crisis in a community: famine, extreme weather, war threats, the perceived need to kill foreign hostages.

Grauballe Man’s throat was slit in the third century B.C. He was discovered in Denmark in 1952.Moesgaard Museum

Grauballe Man on display at the Moesgaard Museum in Aarhaus, Denmark.Christina Gascoigne/Robert Harding, via Alamy

Two features recur among Iron Age bog bodies: youth and disability. Many bodies were those of adolescents, at the cusp between childhood and adulthood. “In some traditional societies, such individuals were perceived to have shamanic powers, enabling them to segue between the material and spirit worlds, just as people at puberty contain elements of childhood and adulthood,” Dr. Aldhouse-Green said in an email.

The Yde girl had severe scoliosis, a twisting of the spine that meant her growth was stunted and she would have walked with a lurch. Dr. Aldhouse-Green has proposed that disabled people may have been perceived to be “touched” by divinity.

“Ceremony was key to keeping communities bound together, and ritual killing would provide spectacle similar to Roman gladiatorial shows,” she said. Recent findings from Denmark and north Germany suggest that the people chosen may sometimes have been of high status and had therefore undertaken long journeys in the months before their deaths.

Disease was the likely culprit in a few instances, and from 1100 A.D. on, there were six possible suicides and four accidental deaths. In 1674, a man and a woman died in a snowstorm on the upland peat bog of Hope Woodland in Derbyshire, England. Far to the north in Shetland, during a cold spell late in the same century, the so-called Gunnister Man is believed to have succumbed to exposure. In 1828, a German traveling salesman and falconer named Johann Spieker died in Lower Saxony, probably by drowning.

“His grave was marked with a wooden cross and a fence that remained visible for a long time,” Dr. van Beek said. “During the excavation, only his cloak, some coins and a prayer book apparently were found.”

Arguing against suicide theories, Dr. Aldouse-Green noted that many ancient bog bodies were naked, some found with clothes placed beside them. “Leather and linen survive in bogs due to the presence of sphagnum moss,” she said. Dr. van Beek countered that “nakedness is a very difficult factor to take into account” and that other fabrics can degrade without a trace even when a body is preserved.

For peat’s sake

The bog site of Aschener Moor in Germany.Roy van Beek

The growth of boglands was stimulated more than 10,000 years ago by the collapse of the Eurasian Ice Sheet and release of freshwater, which abruptly raised sea levels and groundwater tables. Plant decomposition is slowed to such an extent in these areas that dead vegetation accumulates to form peat, effectively storing carbon dioxide. As a result, preserving bog lands is considered a powerful tool to help mitigate climate change.

“Many bogs across Europe are currently protected nature reserves, often with attempts to restore and expand them,” Dr. van Beek said. He added, with chagrin, that in the Irish Midlands, the Baltic States and parts of Germany, peat is still being cut.

“Never before have we needed to care as much about peatlands,” said Dr. Giles, whose book “Bog Bodies: Face to Face With the Past” explores what she calls “the black hole of the peat pool.” “Yet for hundreds of years we’ve told awful tales about these maligned landscapes, encouraging people to steer clear, to drain and damage those precious places.”

Yde Girl and Tollund Man are a reminder that humans once had very different and more respectful relationships with the bog, she said: “Bog bodies — and artifacts and eco-facts — become strange kinds of ambassadors from deep time. They re-enchant us with these landscapes through their stories.”

#News

[lovinireland]

Attention all nature lovers💚

Abbeyleix Bog is situated on the outskirts of Abbeyleix town in Co. Laois and encompasses an area of almost 500 acres of diverse habitats including degraded (but recovering) raised bog, lagg, cutaway, wet carr woodland and meadows.

This enjoyable outdoor trek would suit walkers, photography enthusiasts, nature and wildlife hobbyists and families who love the outdoors. Explore the bogs boardwalks and habitats.

Then enjoy a yummy coffee from the food truck at The Manor hotel,Abbeyleix. They have a fabulous homemade pizza menu on offer too,all for take away.🍕☕

[germanlander]

Silly me, I had forgotten that I actually a video recording of our rehearsal. Jim’s wife sneakily taped us through the back door. It lets you get an idea about the landscape situation I described in the earlier post.

Bear in mind that I (fiddle) had never heard this song in my life before, as far as I’m aware. Obviously, I cut the first minute, where I’m trying to get to know the song.

[theirishaesthete]

An Italian Hour

Looking positively Italianate in the early autumn sunshine, the west end of the garden front at Abbeyleix, County Laois. A series of terraces descend to a final series of circular stone steps, an architectural device highly reminiscent of similar work designed in 1906 by Edwin Lutyens for Heywood barely five miles away: might he have had a hand in this too? A sunken area immediately below…

[logi1974]

Irland 2018 - Tag 8

Freitag, 18. Mai 2018,

Herrschaften!

Heute Morgen verließen wir Tullamore in Richtung Kilkenny. Man könnte auch sagen: wir fahren vom Whiskey zum Ale.

Auf dem Weg dahin gab es nat��rlich auch einiges zu entdecken.

1. Stop war für uns Emo Court , ein neoklassizistisches Herrenhaus in der Nähe des Dorfes Emo, in der Grafschaft Laois.  Es wurde 1790 von dem Architekten James Gandon für John Dawson, den ersten Earl of Portarlington, entworfen.

Das Haus und die Gärten wurden in den 1990er Jahren vom irischen Staat in Besitz genommen und wird ebenfalls von diesem verwaltet.

Die Gärten des Herrenhauses umfassen 35 Hektar Naturlandschaft, mit formalen Bereichen, Waldwegen, vielen Statuen und einem 20 Hektar großen See - ein Merkmal des neoklassischen Landschaftsdesigns.

Viele der ursprünglichen Statuen aus dem Park wurden später im See gefunden und es wird vermutet, dass sie von den Jesuiten dort "versteckt" wurden, die zeitweise in dem Anwesen lebten. Die Nacktheit der Skulpturen war offenbar zu viel für die frommen Brüder.

Emo Court ist nahezu komplett rollstuhlgerecht ausgebaut worden. Nicht nur die Gärten sind rollitauglich, sondern auch das Herrenhaus ist über einen Seiteneingang per Rampe zugänglich.

Auf der linken Seite des Hauptgebäudes sind die ehemaligen Stallungen, Remisen und Quartiere der  Bediensteten.

Dort befindet sich ein sogenannter Teegarten mit Café und Souvenir-Shop. Bei gutem Wetter kann man schön im ehemaligen Kräutergarten sitzen.

Bei schlechtem Wetter sitzt man halt drin. Sogar hier wurde ein Rollstuhl-Aufzug angebracht!

Während wir so im Garten sitzen und unseren Cappuccino schlürfen kommen 2 Damen mit einem Sportkinderwagen und einem alten Jackie an der Leine und nehmen ebenfalls im Garten Platz. In dem Moment, wo sich der Kinderbuggy zu uns dreht, sehe ich, dass sich in diesem überhaupt kein Baby befindet - sondern ein Irish Glen of Imaal Terrier!

Da musste ich erst einmal dem Monsieur le Chauffeur kräftig vor das Bein treten! Andere Gäste staunten auch nicht schlecht und ein Mann fragte dann doch nach: Aha, die Hundedame ist stolze 16 Jahre alt, hat Ataxie und ist taub & blind.

Der Monsieur le Chauffeur raunte mir zu: "Der Jack Russel ist erst 14 1/2 und muss deswegen noch selber laufen..."

Der Eintritt in den Park und “Teegarten” ist kostenlos, die Besichtigung des Herrenhauses ist durch die Heritage-Card abgedeckt.

2. Besichtigungspunkt war für uns die Abbey in Abbeyleix.

In diesem Örtchen machten wir auch unsere Mittagspause und zwar in dem kleinen Laden "Bramley".

Niedlich sind die Tischnummern: ein alter Holzlöffel auf den mit Edding die Nummer gemalt wurde. Einfach, aber effektiv!

Fun-Fact: der Ort Abbeyleix war lange für seine Teppichfabrik bekannt, die Stücke kamen sogar in der Titanic zur Verwendung.

3. Punkt auf der Fahrt nach Kilkenny war Heywood Gardens.

Ursprünglich handelte es sich um das Heywood House mit seiner Parklandschaft, das 1773 von Frederick Trench geschaffen wurde.

Der Eintritt zu Park und Gärten ist kostenlos! Der Parkplatz ist ebenfalls frei. Am Parkplatz, hinter dem prachtvollen Eingangsportal, befindet sich Toiletten & auch eine Behindertentoilette.

Der letzte Schrei war eine dem gotischen Baustil nachempfundene Burgruine, die gar keine Ruine war, die lediglich nur zur Unterhaltung der Gäste errichtet wurde.

In den frühen 1900er Jahren beauftragte der damalige Eigentümer, Colonel Hutchenson Poe, den berühmten Landschafts-Architekten Sir Edwin Lutyens mit dem Bau von Gärten rund um das Heywood House.

Die Gärten wurden wahrscheinlich von Gertrude Jekyll gestaltet.

In den 1950er Jahren fiel das Heywood House tragischerweise einem Feuer zum Opfer und brannte bis auf die Grundmauern nieder.

Obwohl das Haus nicht mehr steht, gehören die Gärten immer noch zu den best erhaltenen in Irland.

Der visionäre Mister Trench bewegte Hügel, ließ Seen graben und Bäume anpflanzen.

Der Besuch von Heywood Gardens & Park ist zu großen Teilen auch für Rollifahrer machbar.

Tipp: oben auf dem Berg befindet sich eine Schule mit umfangreichen Parkmöglichkeiten, von dort aus ist der Zugang zu den Gärten einfacher möglich.

Von Heywood Gardens aus fuhren wir weiter nach Kilkenny.

Hier haben wir im frisch renoviertern Newpark Hotel unser Quartier bezogen ....

....wir bekamen ein Zimmer im Erdgeschoss, dass großzügig geschnitten war.

Hier kann man es wirklich gut aushalten.

Am heutigen Abend waren wir im hauseigenen Restaurant “Scott´s” essen....

...mit einem Smithwick´s Ale-Tasting zur Einstimmung. Dazu werden auf einem Holzbrett 3 verschiedene Half-Pints serviert.

Als Nachspeisen genehmigten wir uns 1x den Applecrumble für den Monsieur le Chauffeur....

....und für mich gab es den britishen Dessert Klassiker “Knickerbocker Glory”.

Recht herzlichen Dank für die Aufmerksamkeit! Es grüßen Angie, der Monsieur le Chauffeur und der Hasenbär

[the-beauty-of-small-things]

#laois #colaois #abbeyleix #bog #boardwalk #ireland #greenireland #irish #irishpassion #eire #visitireland #discover #discoverireland #emeraldisle #dordeduca #travel #travelgram #travelphotography #instatravel #nature #spring #thinkgreen #margeluta #siragurideganduri (at Abbeyleix Bog Walk)

[soapsandroses]

A great exhibition at the Abbeyleix library last week. Enjoyed the works! Shame I didn’t note down the author so if you’re seeing your painting, do get in touch and I’ll edit the credits! #abbeyleix #library #abbeyleixlibrary #local #localart #art https://www.instagram.com/p/B5H9_gDFk1U/?igshid=8139p3ych9m1

[mirtapersonal]

Abbeyleix Bog Walk, Ireland

[k00281262]

After a conversation with Rebecca in studio last Thursday, I have decided to start trying to intertwine all of my ideas and find some links. I began by quite literally intertwining my imagery- weaving together photos of my home in Laois and in Limerick.

I wasn't particularly neat with my weaving- it turned out a bit haphazard and messy, but I kind of like this freestyle approach.

I photocopied my weaving and then wove in another photo- this time, a picture of myself. My work is going down a path of examining my own place in my two homes, so it makes sense to include me in this weaving.

The weaving process is definitely reminiscent of fabric and textiles, which is interesting, and also ties into my research around fashion and clothes as a material culture. Also, almost as an aside, I wear a lot of plaid and chequered clothing, which is almost echoed in this weaving.

Related to this, Rebecca recommended I do some research into tartan, and how this often ties into people's heritage. Abbeyleix, my home town, used to have a big textile industry and carpet factory, so I will also research this.

[k00265755]

Movement

An organic world of constant change, Isabelle Tree, Conservationist.

I took a wander around Abbeyleix Bog after getting the title of my next project. My eyes were drawn to the Birch trees that surround the bogland. Spring is just begining and the trees which are always in constant flux have begun to shed their bark for the next stage of growth.

I have found inspiration in the change of our seasons. I want to focus on the flora of the bog and in particular the Birch trees.

This outward sign of growth through the shedding of bark put me in mind of a new begining a new possibility, a chance to start again.  

[elizabethanism]

Francis Bacon outside Farmleigh, Abbeyleix, County Laois, Ireland, ca. 1924

[germanlander]

Back with the Band

For the past two weeks, I've been back with Abbeyfolk, the band from Abbeyleix. We're playing regularly in Kyteler's in Kilkenny, which is very convenient for me, because I can cycle there.

Yesterday, we had a rehearsal in Jim's garden in Abbeyleix, which was pretty cool. Apart from the fact that playing music is fun, his house is at the edge of town, so we're overlooking (or being overlooked) by a herd of cows and a tractor was going up an down the other field harvesting. And the sun slowly set and the light was gorgeous. You get it, I'm sure.

I should've taken pictures, but my hands were full with fiddle and now and I was plugged in, so it was like being on a leash.

[irish-artist-ie]

#Repost @kieran__hyland

• • • • • •

Abbeyleix

REBIRTH

21cm x 29cm Acrylic Painting 🎨

#modernexpressionism #modernartist #new_and_abstract #abstractexpressionism #actionpainter #artcollection #contemporaryart #dinkunst #contemporaryartist #irishartistsofinstagram #modernabstract #multicolourart #homeartideas #laoisartist #abstractlovers #colourful #abstract_post #moderngallery

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