IQUA 2020 Field Trip to West Cork

The Interactive map

This map incorporates a large amount of data and may initially take a while to load. Read the following as you wait for it to load.

This interactive map is built in layers which can individually be switched on and off. The map can be zoomed in and out by use of the + and – buttons in the top left, or by the use of a mouse wheel.

The measure icon (under the '+' and '-') will activate when clicked. Left click to start a line of measuring, double click to stop that line of measuring; and click again on the icon to turn off measuring. Lengths are displayed in metric units.

The legend for all layers is found by moving the mouse pointer over the icon in the top right. The map is displayed within it's own frame and can be moved by dragging with the mouse left button.

Clicking anywhere on the map will raise a popup box that describes the layers active at that point.

Yellow lines indicate glacial lineations (mainly striations, and mainly on elevated ground) , purple lines indicate glacial outflow channels identified by the BRITICE project, and green lines glacial outflow channels. Red lines are roads, including tracks, drives, yards, and paths. Black spots indicate locations to be visited on the field trip, or features of interest; red spots are locations which are illustrated by photographs; and yellow spots are ringforts (raths or cashels).

Up to four photographs of the landscape features are displayed when a red spot is selected. Each photograph can then be selected to open in a new browser tab if required.

When the map first opens all base layers except for hillshading are switched off, as are the 1m and 2m contours, and townlands.

  • Townlands – a lot of townland borders follow streams and rivers which are better exposed.
  • 1m and 2m contours - they accentuate the relief and are best when zoomed in to an area. These have been generated and are not accurate in all areas. These will be updated when accurate surface elevation data is obtained.
  • Deglaciation Landforms
  • Quaternary Sediments
  • Glacial Features
  • Bedrock Geology – these four layers complement each other but can also mask each other. These layers are all highly relevant of course and can be switched off and on as desired.

Click here to go to the Interactive Map

The Area of the Map

The map covers an area 7 km north to south by 8.5 km east to west – a total of 62.6 km2 – of lowland West Cork.Orientation is with North at the top - the slight skew is a result of the Coordinate System of the rectangle that I selected to display.

  • NW corner - 09° 16' 11.45" W, 51° 41' 42.59" N (ITM 549959.8378, 513315.7506)
  • NE corner - 09° 08' 37.62" W, 51° 41' 42.59" N (ITM 549815.7785, 520930.2367)
  • SW corner - 09° 16' 10.66" W, 51° 37' 48.00" N (ITM 542711.0926, 512104.9134)
  • SE corner - 09° 08' 37.62" W, 51° 37' 48.00" N (ITM 542567.2200, 520816.7219)

Initially, note the relief and the drainage pattern. There are four main drainage streams. The Brewery river drains the Three Lakes out through the north east corner of the map and on through Dunmanway. There are two rivers that drain south west from the three lakes, the Ruagagh which flows through Drimoleague close to the western side of the map, is the northerly one, and the Rua the southerly. These meet, and then exit the map in the lower part of the western side. The Saivnose is a major river draining south west across the bottom of the map, originating from Curraghlicky Lake in the east just off the map, and entering the Ilen just off the south west of the map.

Ringfort locations have been included because they are visible entities within the landscape.

Of particular note in this area are;

  1. Three glacial outflow channels (green lines) at Clashnacrona (NE), the River Ilen between Ahanafunshion and Moyny bridges (W), and Minanes Bridge (S);
  2. Lahanaght Hill, a prominent hill just south of the centre of the map, noticeable in the area for the five wind turbines on top.
  3. The area of low relief ('plateau') of Derryclogh Upper townland lying to the south of Lahanaght hill, drained by the Minanes river;
  4. The lakes and bogs at Three Lakes, Loughaneleigh, and Driminidy Lough and their drainage;
  5. The Kilnahera watershed and bog to the west of Three Lakes;
  6. Moraine deposits in the Ruagagh valley between Three Lakes and Drimoleague, including quarrying of a hummocky moraine or drumlin to the north of the road into Drimoleague;
  7. Hummocky moraine deposits in the Saivnose valley in the south; and
  8. Hummocky moraine deposits in the upper Ilen valley in the north of the area.

How this map was made

The map has been generated, using a program called QGIS2Web, from an Open Source GIS called QGIS. This software is constantly being improved and, like all open source products, is highly efficient and free. The layers have all originated from data made freely available to the public domain. There are some inconsistencies in the map, arising partly through the different sources the data came from not being in alignment either with accuracy, completeness or definition.

Read more about how these maps are made and where the data comes from.

Click here to centre the map in the screen

Click here to centre the map in the screen