The development of post-medieval and industrial archaeology in Ireland

The development of post-medieval and industrial archaeology in Ireland is a tale of two islands: one which remained in the UK after the British partitioned Ireland in 1922 and the other which became an independent, sovereign nation. In six counties of the northernmost Irish province of Ulster, the Westminster parliament created what remains, to this day, a loyal, Protestant enclave. By this means the province of Northern Ireland could be relied upon not to secede to the self-styled Irish Free State, which was to declare itself a republic in 1949. In each jurisdiction competing identities – loyalist and unionist in the six counties and nationalist and separatist in the south – created very different views of Ireland’s past. The present paper evaluates how these attitudes both advanced and impeded the study of Ireland’s post-medieval and industrial landscapes.