Just outside Macroom is a strange site called ‘The Gearagh’ – a spooky cemetery for what was once the last surviving full oak forest in Western Europe. Trees in the forest were ancient – some had survived medieval times.
Unfortunately, with a disregard to both heritage and nature, we flooded the forest in the ‘50s to build a dam.
Once the oaks were dead, The Gearagh was declared a special area of conservation – sadly too little too late!
Oak is one of our 21 native trees – ‘Dair’ in Irish and ‘Quercus pataea & Quercus robur’ in Latin, depending on the type, and I wish I could have experienced them in all their splendour beside the River Lee.
#irish #native #21trees #trees #oak