The research unit 'Architecture & Landscape' was focused in the Nore River Catchment Area which includes Laois, most of Kilkenny and small areas of Tipperary & Carlow. My project takes place in a fertile floodplain along a tributary to the Nore: the River Erkina. ‘The Curragh and Goul River Marsh’ known locally as The Curragh lies approximately 4km west of Durrow, Co. Laois. It was historically a marshland but has since been drained for agricultural use (under the Arterial Drainage Act 1945). Despite the flood mitigation attempts there is still severe flooding annually, making the site important for wetland birds (Irish Wetland Birds Survey I-WeBS) such as Whooper and Bewicks Swans, Lapwings, Curlews and Golden Plovers, though numbers of some species have lacked in recent years.
Local news attributes the flooding to a lack of management and build up of silt and debris (LaoisToday, 2020), but knowledge of wetlands tells us the importance of fen and marsh habitats for water attenuation and flood management, so the loss of the important marsh and fen habitats over the last century could also be a contributor to the flooding. A straight road runs through the floodplain, and at the center there is a canoeing club called Woodenbridge Paddlers, so named due to the wooden bridge spanning the river. Recently, a local man canoed for 100 days to raise money for the new Erkina Blueway that has just been granted permission. Each day he saw something, or someone different: photographers, bird watchers, cyclists, farmers; and he documented this (See Woodenbridge Paddler's community facebook page). There are informal walking routes through the site and several festive occasions take place in the local area around the river. The allure of the site for wetland birds has earned it its designation as a proposed Natural Heritage Area (pNHA). Subsequently it was granted more protection through the EU Birds and Habitats Directives through the Nore & Barrow Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and the Nore Special Protection Area (SPA). It is an ecologically sensitive site with a strong community. |
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Details from Site
A series of images photographed on a site trip to Durrow |