When I was doing the research for my ACES project “The Long Engagement” last year I spent a lot of time tracking down places where my family had lived over the generations. Because 19th census information is missing for our part of the world, one of the best ways to find ancestors in the 19th century is to look at the Griffiths Valuation. If you know a surname and or a townland where someone in the family lived there is a chance of finding a relative. Each property has a  number on the Griffiths Valuation Maps so it’s possible to see how much land someone owned or rented -the exact fields.

The class in Donaghey had already researched their townland on Google maps in the present day but now everyone found their townland on the Griffith map by comparing field boundaries and roads and lanes and placenames. It was like detective work. In an area with a lot of change it was difficult to pick out the route of a road. Some boundaries have really changed and towns and built up areas showed more change than country areas. Everyone made a screen grab of their townland that was as close the google map image as they could manage.

Then we drew the maps in pencil on cloth that was the same colour as the background on the Griffith Map, putting in as much detail as we could -fields, roads, sometimes plantations or buildings. This was really concentrated work. It was great to draw on the material with pencil. I really enjoyed the texture of the fabric under the pencil.

The big question then was whether or not to add colour. We had experimented with watercolour on the cloth a few weeks back and I thought it looked really good. There was a bit of concern that adding red paint would spoil the images as the paint was more difficult to control. I scanned in the map that I had done and the class thought it over. They decided to experiment with the paint and the results were really strong.

They will be sending me pictures of their work over Easter. This was such a satisfying day. Through the creative process, the children have gained an awareness of changes in the landscape of their townland and their work is so mature. This project continues to inspire me -I hope that they feel the same.