In April, the Reimagine Cloontuskert team hosted a spring Bog Walk for local residents on Cloontuskert bog, led by Global Action Plan’s Irene Nà Shúilleabháin.
Many of the people there had deep knowledge of and connection to the bog after years of working on it, and a lovely pause in the tour saw Irene and one local resident identifying the calls of endangered Irish birds who call the bog their home.
Parts of the bog retain all signs of working life, and in other areas new ecosystems are emerging.
Lots of discussions were had on the walk, on how to maintain community access to the peatlands through greenways and what new relationships the community will have with the bog outside of the traditional working one. Irene summed it all up nicely in saying ‘we need to create new bog rituals’.
The walk is part of the “Reimagine Workers’ Villages” project, which is run by the Irish Architecture Foundation, in partnership with Global Action Plan.