READING THE MAPS: A GUIDE TO THE IRISH HISTORIC TOWNS ATLAS

READING THE MAPS:
A GUIDE TO THE IRISH HISTORIC TOWNS ATLAS

By Jacinta Prunty and H.B. Clarke

What percentage loss of population did Kildare town experience during the famine decade 1841-1851? Why do you think Maynooth was chosen in 1795 as the location for the Royal College of St. Patrick? How does historic Maynooth or Kildare compare to other Irish towns? The answer to these and many other questions can be found in Reading the Maps: A guide to the Irish Historic Towns Atlas. This is a user’s guide to the 23 atlases that have been published in this series.  The book compares and contrasts the development of 21 towns around the country.

• This new publication from the Irish Historic Towns Atlas, Royal Irish Academy uses an historical and geographical approach to understand the evolution of Irish towns and cities through the ages.
• The book is richly illustrated with maps, historical plans, views, illustrations, reconstructions and photographs with several featuring Kildare.
• It explores themes such as ‘buying and selling’ and ‘amusements and pastimes’ and has chapters dealing with particular periods of urban development in Ireland from the monastic town to the nineteenth-century resort town.
• Reading the Maps is a book for everyone but also a particularly useful tool for teachers and students, with ‘test yourself’ boxes to encourage reflection and further study.
• The book draws upon the work of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas. This project is based in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, and has been producing scholarly atlases on Irish towns for over 25 years. Irish Historic Towns Atlas no.1 Kildare was published in 1986
• Previously in the atlases the stories of these towns were told individually; now in Reading the Maps they are told collectively as well.
• The authors Dr Jacinta Prunty and Professor Howard Clarke are both editors of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas series and have published widely on Irish towns and map history.
• Reading the Maps can be purchased for €25 from your local book shop or online (free postage until end June 2011) at www.ria.ie
• For further information please contact Maria Shanahan, Publications & Communications Intern at m.shanahan@ria.ie

The answer to these and many other questions can be found in Reading the Maps: A guide to the Irish Historic Towns Atlas. This is a user’s guide to the 23 atlases that have been published in this series.  The book compares and contrasts the development of 21 towns around the country.

Reading the Maps: A guide to the Irish Historic Towns Atlas by Dr Jacinta Prunty and Professor Howard Clarke