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HISTORICAL RESEARCH

Ardee Bog has been visited and studied by botanists and historians. The famous botanist Robert Lloyd Praeger visited the bog in 1897 and spent three days studying and recording wildlife.

“When ice finally withdrew from Ireland about 10,000 years ago, it left a barrier of sand and gravel lying across the valley of the River Dee where Ardee stands today. The dammed-up waters of the Dee flooded the valley west of the town, building up a shallow lake which was 7km long and reached almost to Drumcondra. Plants invaded the shallow waters, and over the course of thousands of years raised bogs and fens gradually replaced them.” - Frank Mitchell and Breeda Tuite, The Great Bog of Ardee, 1993. 

Click here to access “The Great Bog of Ardee” by Frank Mitchell and Breeda Tuite.

The Irish Peatland Conservation Council undertook a survey of Ardee Bog in 1990 and 1998 and identified a core area for conservation surrounded by a bufferzone of supporting habitat.

We are grateful to Kev McKenny for his generous support sharing local knowledge and old maps of Ardee. Kev is a local historian currently working on a bog about the history of Ardee, forthcoming in 2023. Click here to visit Ardee History.

turfman from ardee

For sake of health I took a walk one early morn at dawn
And I met a jolly ould Irishman as he slowly jogged along
A hearty conversation rose between himself and me
That’s how I became acquainted with the Turfman from Ardee.

We walked along together and we talked along the road
Says he I’m getting tired and I’d like to sell this load
For I had no refreshment since I left home at three
And I’m sick and tired of travelling said the Turfman from Ardee.

You know this cart is made out of the very best of wood
And you know it has been on the road since the time of Noah’s flood
The axle never sees greasing only one year out of three
Oh but it’s a grand ould Carrick axle said the Turfman of Ardee.

And now me cart is racked and worn and me ass is getting old
You know its fifty summers since the animal was foaled
The morning I was born was in September eighty three
And he galloped for the midwife said the Turfman from Ardee.

A female voice at last I heard that I knew very well
And she asked this gentle Irishman his load of turf to sell
He took me by the withered hand and he whispered unto me
Oh we’ll meet some other evening said the Turfman from Ardee.

Source: Irish Traditional Music Archive

We are inspired by Kate Flood’s historical and ecological research into Girley Bog in Meath. We hope to one day be able to share in depth information like this on Ardee Bog. Click here to see the Girley Bog timeline.