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The Céide Fields
The Céide Fields
In July 2025, I returned for my second visit to an interpretation centre which is truly unique. When I first visited here, almost 20 years ago, I was hypnotised by the wild beauty of this place, on the deserted North West Atlantic coast of Ireland.
This year I saw it through different eyes, as I was completing my studies in Heritage Education and Interpretation, at Charles University in Prague.
The Interpretation Centre at The Céide Fields has understandably won many wards for its architecture and design.
Under the wild landscape of deep peat bog, there is a vast system of stone walls, which were constructed by the local farmers about 5500 years ago (3500 BC).
The challenge facing the designers of this centre, was to inform visitors to the site of story behind the 100km of walls which are all still buried, untouched, many meters below the surface.
A good interpretation centre should be designed with many types of visitors in mind. Academics, tourists, school groups, and families with young children. So the many displays should be interesting, and easy to understand. They should be entertaining, and most of all, they should transport the viewers to the distant past. The experience should be memorable.
Within the peat bog the past is preserved. The dense soil is always wet, and acidic, and without oxygen at depths below 50cm. Therefore wood and clothing, and even bodies can be preserved for thousands of years.
This tree is a Scots Pine which was discovered within the bog land. It dates back 4,300 years.
The surrounding walls and halls discuss the history of the archeological site and help us to answer questions about the past. How was the site discovered? Who were the people who once inhabit this beautiful landscape on the North West Atlantic coast, and how did they live?
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