Buaile
A Photographic Study of “Booleying” in the Galtee Mountains
Booleying
Since the beginning of 2023, I have been focusing on historical evidence of “booleying” - the Irish term for transhumance - in the Galtee Mountains. Transhumance is defined as “the act or practice of moving livestock from one grazing ground to another in a seasonal cycle, typically to lowlands in winter and highlands in summer.” In Ireland, this was more commonly known as “booleying” - an anglicised form of the Irish “Buailteachas”. The practice all but died out in the Galtees in the nineteenth century.
By driving animals into the uplands for the summer months, herders could take advantage of seasonal growth at higher altitudes, while simultaneously freeing up space for the growing of crops back home. This ensured that no land was overworked and that farmers could employ a hybrid system of livestock and crop cultivation on separate tracts of land.
Booley Hut
What fascinates me about this practice is the semi-nomadic nature of it. A key feature of booleying is that herders actually moved into the uplands with the animals, usually living in a small dwelling known as a booley hut (or “buaile”), only returning to the homestead with the animals when summer had ended. Lots of evidence still exists in the Galtee mountains of booley huts and associated sites, which I have been visiting and photographing as part of this project.
If you’d like to immerse yourself more deeply, you can read more about the project in my blog or indeed in a video interview I did with Bitesize Irish, linked below.
Interview with Bitesize Irish
I was absolutely delighted to speak about booleying and my photography project with Niall over at Bitesize Irish as part of their celebrations for Bealtaine, an ancient Irish festival which took place at the beginning of May - very much coinciding with the time frames around booleying. Watch the video below!
