This blog feature many aspects of social change in rural Ireland from the time of which it was first inhabited, its survival as a hunter gatherer type of society, the ingress of new peoples from abroad, the introduction of new technology, and new ways of living. In order to appreciate the circumstances which its people had and have to contend with, special emphasis has been placed on its geology, soils, and its climate. The purpose is to construct a narrative from its early history right up until the present day. Up to the first millennium change happened slowly. The conversion to Christianity and the coming of the uninvited Vikings were the major social influence on Irish society in the first millennium, while the Normans and particularly the British were the main influencing factors for most of the the second. In the twentieth century, Britain, self government, separation from our Northern Ireland neighbors and EU membership were and still are main influencing factors on Rural Ireland as a whole. Continue reading →