As the Pub Runners tour travelled along the winding roads on the west of Ireland in the “Hills of Connemara”  our drivers/guides, Mickey and Sean, would point out what appeared to be ridges evenly spaced on the steep hillsides. There’s quite a story behind them….

In the west of Ireland furrowed fields hug the coastline. Many a passer-by pays little to no attention to this ridged farmland, totally unaware these markings are the remnants of toil by the Irish people.

Referred to as “lazy beds”, these scars on the Irish countryside are evidence of an abandoned system of potato cultivation that once supported generations of the Irish, before the devastation of the Great Irish Famine.

Farmers would carry seaweed, sand and crushed shells up from the shore and pile it in parallel ridges in their fields. Seed potatoes were planted on the high ridges, then covered with earth scooped up from the sides.

The seaweed and sand mixed into the clay of the ridges nourished the growing tubers, ensuring they had a high level of iodine. The channels between the ridges followed the slope of the hills or the land, acting as drainage ditches.

Over the years the ridges grew higher and the furrowed ditches deeper.

Despite not being used for many years, these lazy beds remain untouched in parts of Ireland. They have withstood the winds and rains over a century and a half, to mark these fields as memorials to their makers.

And over a million men, women and children perished during the years of what the Irish call the Great Hunger (1845 to 1850).

Source: Irish American Mom

This is just one of the great highlights of our Musical Tour of Ireland. There were many more. If you’d like to join us on our next tour, click HERE for more information.

Return to Places We’ve Visited