Judging by the array of coffee table books featuring dramatic mood studies of famous heritage sites, photographers here and abroad consider Ireland's national monuments highly photogenic. The Rock of Cashel, Newgrange and the Burren's Poulnabrone Portal Tomb rising against the sky like a great stone bird ready for flight are among the most photographed. Round towers, high crosses, ruined abbeys, tiny churches on lake shores, hilltop enclosures, the fascinating and diverse tombs found in fields across the country as well as those statements of power long gone - castles and tower houses - are evocative and beautiful images. The combination of stone as a natural material used by man in the construction of buildings or memorials hundreds - or thousands - of years ago with the natural landscape invariably creates wonderful pictures. But there is often a practical side. Far beyond the holiday snap or government tourism brochure, photography has helped to compile a vast archaeological record.
Duchas, the Heritage Service, has to date assembled a formal archive of about 300,000 slides. These pictures are used by publishers illustrating books and by the Service in its own publications as well as for site exhibitions, educational and promotional material. Most importantly of all, many of the thousands and thousands of pictures are part of what could prove to be the most cohesive and coherent contribution made by Duchas: the ongoing county by county archaeological survey of Ireland.
The surveys published include counties Carlow, Cavan, Cork (four volumes in five books), Galway (two volumes), Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Laois, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow. It is a massive project and involves teams of archaeologists surveying thousands of monuments, subdivided in many categories, from Mesolithic settlement to Megalithic tombs, to lake dwellings, earthworks, ecclesiastical sites, bridges, late medieval forts and castles. Estimated numbers have often been exceeded. The inventory of Co Cork, for instance, was expected to number about 8,000 sites (based on a 1982 count of sites marked on the Ordnance Survey six-inch maps). Instead, some 15,300 sites have been recorded.
An important point to be made about these county inventories is that although new sites are still being discovered, the surveys are about recording, not discovering.
From the 1940s onwards, the OPW was taking its own pictures, employing its first full-time photographer, Jim Banbury, in 1955. Long before then, however, Harold Leask (1882-1964), an architect and inspector of national monuments, was diligently cataloguing sites with the aid of a camera.
In 1973, photographer Con Brogan, having newly completed a seven-year apprenticeship, replied to a newspaper advertisement. Although some 30 others had also applied, he got the job and began working for the OPW as a second photographer.
"My job was to record the monuments and establish a photographic archive of negatives," he says. "I had no interest in archaeology. I'm a photographer."
Although by the late 19th century, some archaeologists had begun using cameras, the sketch-pad still dominated, as evident from the detailed drawings included in William Wakeman's Handbook of Irish Antiquities (1891). Thomas Westropp (1860-1922), an engineer known as the father of Burren archaeology, studied that area extensively between 1895 and 1915. Some photographs were taken of him posing at various monuments, but he clearly chose to work almost exclusively with pen and pencil.
Photography, however, was coming in to its own and had an important role in R. L. Praeger's monumental Clare Island Survey (Royal Irish Academy, 1911-15). By the time Sean P. O Riordain's Antiquities of the Irish Countryside was first published in 1942, photographs had entirely supplanted drawings. The first edition, a 57-page booklet, included 47 photographs. It was reprinted several times. By the publication of the fifth edition, revised by Ruaidhri De Valera in 1978, it extended to 180 pages and included 88 photographs.
One of the most useful by-products of war technology was also being acknowledged as a valuable technique - aerial reconnaissance and photography. Photographers taking to the air proved extremely helpful for archaeologists. Aerial shots feature in the Antiquities of the Irish Countryside.
Many would regard the late Leo Swan as one of the pioneering forces in the use and application of aerial photography for Irish archaeological studies. Swan, who died on March 5th, trained as an archaeologist while working as a full-time teacher, eventually completing research at postgraduate level. Having worked as an independent archaeologist, he set up his own archaeological business, Arch Tech, specialising in site assessment and evaluation. He was also an experienced pilot and photographed many sites from the air; his work features in many books. (An appreciation of Swan appeared in the The Irish Times on April 2nd).
Whatever about the drama of aerial shots, they have proved vital as well as practical in the indentification and recording of earthworks and enclosures. Through his work in the air, Swan discovered many ecclesiastical enclosures, most notably Kilpatrick, near Killucan, Co Westmeath. His major contribution was to establish that these sites were far more extensive in area than had been previously thought and that they were also more widely distributed across the country.
Brogan has travelled Ireland cataloguing sites by camera. "The archaeologists do their work and then give me a list of the sites they want photographed. They choose the best examples of the various monuments." As thousands of sites are recorded, obviously not all are photographed.
For his aerial work, he prefers using helicopters, which are more versatile than light aircraft. It is possible to visit between 20 and 30 sites in a day. Vital to his work is the navigational device, GPS - Global Positioning System. The study of Tara benefited hugely from the use of aerial photography. Trying to explain that site and other earthworks is far easier from the air. Brogan is proud to have done work for Conor Newman's Tara - An Archaeological Survey (Discovery Programme, Royal Irish Academy 1997). He mentions the difficulty he encountered trying to photograph the ancient hill-top fort and meeting place of Dun Aillinne in Co Kildare, a magic place and seat of Kings. "We were up at about 2,000 feet and I heard myself saying, `I can't see it.' Then we went up to 3,000 and there it was." What are the practical problems? "Our great Irish weather - although I can't say that it has ruined all that many days working." Then there is the grass. "In the summer, it's very long, it makes it difficult to photograph some monuments. The best time of year for taking many of the pictures I want is the spring, before the grass really gets growing."
In common with all photographers, Brogan stresses the magic of perfect light. And his dream photograph? "Any high cross in the right light." There are also the special shots, such as the beautiful medieval bridge at Cadamstown, Co Offaly. This picture was so lovely it was chosen for the cover of the Offaly County Inventory.
When photographing Fenagh Portal Tomb for the Leitrim County Inventory (due to be published shortly), Brogan en countered an exceptional monument made all the more distinct by its layer of moss and grass. "I liked the way the stone and earth were one."
Sometimes even being on the ground with a map, a monument proves difficult to find. "Then you ask a local, they always know."
Through taking these pictures, and by being part of a highly specialist team, Brogan says he has become interested in archaeology. "My work is a privilege," he says. His job has brought him to places he otherwise would never have seen. Photographing national monuments is fascinating - perhaps only a wildlife photographer could claim a more attractive brief. He remains first and foremost a photographer and proved this with an exhibition mounted in 1991. "I decided I would concentrate on west Cork standing stones, tombs and alignments. And I would be steered by their beauty rather than archaeological merits alone." He chose 21 sites and enjoyed himself. He has no difficulty with coffee table books. "Many of them are very well done. They are decorative, but the pictures are also educational. And there are plenty of textbooks. I've seen Duchas photographs I've taken in my daughter's history books. That tells me we're doing important work."
Duchas Photographic Unit is based at the Education and Visitor Service, Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, 6 Upper Ely Place, Dublin 2.