In this first volume of the Royal Irish Academy's multi-volume A New History of Ireland a wide range of national and international scholars, in every field of s

Cattle have been the mainstay of Irish farming since the Neolithic began in Ireland almost 6000 years ago. Cattle, and especially cows, have been important in t

The changing methods of crop and livestock production during the 'Age of Improvement' in Ireland, and some of the ways in which they shaped rural society and th