| Previous Site | Next Site |
Earth Science Conservation Review
| Garry Bog | Antrim |
| Site number: | 103 | ||
| ESCC: | IS | ||
| Locality Type: | Altitude: 50m, Inland exposure | Status: | ASSI |
| Grid Reference: | C9429 Approximate | ||
| Google maps: | 55.09981,-6.52742 | ||
| County: | Antrim | Council area: | Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council |
| Period: | Quaternary | ||
| Stages: | Holocene | ||
| Site Description | |
|---|---|
| Highlights: | |
Garry bog was the source of much of the dendrochronology that provided the internationally accepted and used radiocarbon calibration and also the site at which a fundamental link was made between the bog pine and bog oak dendrochronology that is now used extensively in England and Scotland. It is one of the sites at which tephrochronology was pioneered in Ireland and has the most complete known record of Icelandic tephra of anywhere in the British Isles. PAST AND CURRENT RESEARCH STATUS Garry Bog is the most northerly and most exposed of the sites described in this study. It is the largest area of lowland raised bog in N. Ireland (Northern Ireland Peat Bog Survey, 1956). Today there is still a sizeable area of uncut bog remaining, but much of the bog has been developed for pastoral farming with tracts under forestry. Apart from stands of conifers, the surrounding farmland is almost treeless leaving cattle in the large exposed fields with nothing behind which to shelter from the winter winds. The windbreaks which farmers have made for their cattle are an interesting feature on the landscape and are of great value to the palaeoenvironmentalist. Great heaps of the fossil pine and oak that have been dredged from the bog are scattered over the fields and provide the cattle with shelter and the dendrochronologist with samples. The oaks from Garry Bog have been a mainstay of the Belfast Long Chronology (Pilcher et al. 1993) used to construct the International Radiocarbon Calibration Curve (Pearson et al. 1983; Brown et al. 1986; Pearson et al. 1986). A large timber from one of the windbreaks was used in an international interlaboratory cross-checking exercise (Gullikson and Scott 1995). Studies of the fossil pines carried out at QUB (Brown 1991) provide the link between the oak and pine chronologies and thus enable calendrical dates to be applied to the pine timbers. They also form a link to pine timbers in England enabling English dendrochronologists to use the exact chronological scale developed in Northern Ireland (Chambers et al. 1997; Daniell 1997). Pollen analytical studies of Garry Bog have been carried out with some published (Hall, Pilcher and McCormac 1994). Recent research on Garry Bog shows that it has the richest record of Holocene Icelandic volcanism of any site so far studied in the British Isles. Tephrochronological studies, which include Garry Bog, are published (Pilcher et al. 1996). Pollen studies using tephra as chronological markers have been completed for recent centuries. Details of the surface area, maximum depth and underlying topography of the bog are in Grant et al. (1997 vol. 4). | |
| Conclusions: | |
The site is vital to future palaeoenvironmental studies as, like Sluggan Bog, it contains a wide range of materials for study. Blocking the drains which discharge into the numerous flooded workings would improve the hydrology of the bog dome whose centre has numerous bog pools. The central pool complex is rich in Sphagnum species. A management policy for the area presently under forestry must be developed so that in ten years time, when these trees will be harvested, there will be an action plan which may return this part of the site to a more natural state. The Forestry Division has indicated informally that they would be interested in discussing options for this area. One possibility might be to replant the area with an economically viable hardwood such as birch. | |
| Notes: | |
For general information on the Late Quaternary and Holocene of Northern Ireland see the following site: Key Site 101 - Introduction to the Late Quaternary and Holocene of Northern Ireland For site specific information on the Late Quaternary and Holocene of Northern Ireland see the following sites: Key Site 102 - Sluggan Bog Key Site 104 - Fallahogy Bog Key Site 105 - Slieve Gallion Key Site 106 - Garvaghullion Bog Key Site 107 - Claraghmore Bog Key Site 108 - Glen West Bog | |
| Keywords | |
|---|---|
| Structures: | tephra |
| Relations: | Interglacial deposit |
| Geomorph: | raised bog |
| Paleoenv: | grassland, temperate forest, tundra |
| Access | |
|---|---|
| Management: | |
The Forestry Division | |
| Threats: | Pastoral farming and commercial forestry. |
| Uses | |
| Uses: | Pastoral farming and commercial forestry. |
| References (11) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown, D.M., 1991. Studies on Pinus sylvestris L. from Garry Bog, Co. Antrim (Thesis) Unpublished MSc thesis, Queen's University, Belfast. | |||
| Brown, D.M., Munro, M.A.R., Baillie, M.G.L. & Pilcher, J.R., 1986. Dendrochronology - the absolute Irish standard Radiocarbon, vol. 28, pp.279-283. | |||
| Chambers, F.M., Lageard, J.G.A., Boswijk, G., Thomas, P.A., Edwards, K.J. & Hillam, J., 1997. Dating prehistoric bog-fires in northern England to calendar years by long-distance cross-matching of pine chronologies Journal of Quaternary Science, vol. 12 pt. 3, pp.253-256. | |||
| Daniell, J.R.G., 1997. The Late-Holocene palaeoecology of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in North-West Scotland (Thesis) Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Durham. | |||
| Gulliksen, S. & Scott, M., 1995. Report of the TIRI workshop Radiocarbon, vol. 37, pp.820-821. | |||
| Hall, V.A., Pilcher, J.R. & McCormac, F.G., 1994. Icelandic volcanic ash and the mid-Holocene Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) decline in the north of Ireland: no correlation The Holocene, vol. 4 pt. 1, pp.79-83. | |||
| Pearson, G.W., Pilcher, J.R. & Baillie, M.G.L., 1983. High-precision 14-C measurement of Irish oaks to show the natural atmospheric 14-C variations from 200 BC to 4000 BC Radiocarbon, vol. 25 In 11th Proceedings of the International Radiocarbon Conference In International Radiocarbon Conference, 11th Proceedings, pp.179-186. | |||
| Pearson, G.W., Pilcher, J.R., Baillie, M.G.L., Corbett, D.M. & Qua, F., 1986. High-precision 14C measurement of Irish oaks to show the natural 14C variations from AD 1840 to 5210 BC Radiocarbon, vol. 28, pp.911-934. | |||
| Pilcher, J.R., Baillie, M.G.L., Brown, D.M., McCormac, F.G., MacSweeney, P.B. & McLawrence, A.S., 1995. Dendrochronology of subfossil pine in the north of Ireland Journal of Ecology, vol. 83, pp.665-671. | |||
| Pilcher, J.R., Baillie, M.G.L., Schmidt, B. & Becker, B., 1984. A 7272-year European tree-ring chronology Nature, vol. 312 numb. 5990, pp.150-152. | |||
| Pilcher, J.R., Hall, V.A. & McCormac, F.G., 1996. An outline tephrochronology for the north of Ireland Journal of Quaternary Science, vol. 11 pt. 6, pp.485-494. | |||
| Record type: | ESCR report | Recorded by: | Jonathan R. Pilcher and Valerie A. Hall, Queen's U |
| Entered by: | E M Porter | ||
| Last updated: | 6 Jun 2005 | ||
| Enlander, I., Dempster, M. & Doughty, P., 2026. Garry Bog, County Antrim, site details. [In] Earth Science Conservation Review. https://www.habitas.org.uk/escr/site.php?item=103. Accessed on 2026-11-06. |
| Previous Site | Next Site |