The Fascinating History Of Furze In Ireland

If you pass through the Curragh early in the morning, perhaps on your way to work, you might just happen upon horses and riders fresh from their exertions on the gallops. You will struggle to find a more evocative scene: the smoky blue Wicklow Mountains sharp on the horizon, spry jockey and frothing horse, both emitting double-barreled plumes that quickly dissipate into the morning mist. And around horse, rider, and you, everywhere, an oasis of yellow-flowered, coconut-scented furze.

It is just that plant, the deceptively ordinary ‘common’ furze, Ulex Europaeus that is the subject of Furze: A Survey And History Of Its Uses In Ireland, by A.T. Lucas. This work was published in 1958 by the Folklore of Ireland Society. You can read it, and many other articles, on JSTOR. This is an online resource, which you can access in Kildare Libraries.

This fascinating paper turns on its head the notion that furze is a prosaic, hardy weed, whose only merit is that it is not fussy about what type of soil it grows in. In fact, what emerges from Lucas’ work, is that furze was for many centuries intrinsically linked to the Irish rural and urban economy. It had a broad range of uses and was indispensable to survival in a land that was largely deforested and widely impoverished. The many uses that furze was put to makes one marvel at the ingenuity of those involved, and at the versatility of the plant itself.

Furze is hardy. As Lucas puts it: ‘All told … the furze is well adapted to flourish in situations where other shrubs could not exist while its very viable seeds are scattered by a sudden bursting of the ripe pods to encourage a colonial habit of growth which crowds out competitors and leaves it in undisputed possession of its territory’.

There are two types of furze in Ireland, the native dwarf furze Ulex Gallii and the above-mentioned Ulex Europaeus. It is the latter which was extensively cultivated and introduced to many areas, and will therefore be more familiar to most readers. As Lucas states, the dwarf variety became known as ‘Irish Furze’ and the common one was referred to as ‘French furze’.  According to Lucas: ‘There is a widespread belief that the names French furze and aiteann franncach were applied to the tall species because the seed is believed to have been imported from France up to comparatively recent times.’ This name will be familiar to Kildare readers, as the eponymous Frenchfurze is located just outside Kildare Town.

There is a regrettable tendency to regard areas where furze is ‘left’ to grow as ‘wastelands’. In the past, this was anything but the case. Referencing the Civil Survey (1654-1656), Lucas reminds us that “the surprising thing is that when it appears as ‘furze’ or ‘furry pasture’ it is always classified under the profitable lands.” The reasons for this become clear on further reading.

One obvious use for this prickly, sturdy, fast growing plant is for fencing. Furze seeds were planted along raised banks in the expectation that, before long, a lush and verdant young hedge would sprout from one end of the bank to the other. One rather ingenious way to spare the seeds and to guarantee regular spacing along the bank was, according to one of Lucas’ contributors: “‘When the fence was almost completed a pound of furze seed was bought in the shop (it was always dear) and was ‘fed’ into a rope made of hay, a few grains at a time, while a second person did the twisting with a crúicín [an implement for twisting hay or straw ropes]. The súgán was then wound into a ball and was later unwound and laid on top of the fence, all along from end to end. The rope was then covered with earth to a depth of one or two inches and trampled on firmly when covered.”‘ The skill and understated ingenuity of this technique is remarkable.

Seeds could be collected by hand, but where that didn’t happen because of a dearth of furze in the area or some other reason, they could be bought:

Irish Examiner, March 31, 1856:

If you have ever traipsed through a gap between two furze bushes, one distinct memory you will have is of how sharp furze spines are. One would naturally assume that these tough spikes are no good for grazing, and it is a rarity to see sheep on the Curragh who are partial to anything but the tenderest spring furze shoots. Actually though, Lucas shows that furze is a perfectly viable fodder crop, if gathered and processed in the right way. There are numerous references to furze being grown as a crop in the newspaper archives. The trick was to pound or tenderise the plant, then it could be fed to farm animals either as their main food supply or to supplement other fodder. There were different practices and implements used to make it more palatable to one’s livestock, one shown here:

Kildare Observer, August 02, 1902:

Fencing and fodder weren’t the only applications for this wonderful plant on the farm, though. It could also be used to fertilise the soil. The method was simple, but brilliant. The tougher woody stems were separated from the finer green ends. Then, as Lucas tells us: ‘…a large bulk of cut furze was spread in the farmyard in the vicinity of byres and stables, on lanes and passages leading from the yard to the fields, in gateways and in any other suitable place to which farm animals had access or which were habitually traversed by them. This mass of furze was trampled by the animals, enriched by their droppings and further broken down by the passage of carts and other farm traffic.’ After a prolonged period of enrichment and rendering by the peregrinations of the farm animals, the furze/dung mixture could be added to the manure heap for spreading on the land when the time came.

The previous examples show how furze was indispensable in rural settings, but it was also a feature in the urban economy. If you have ever watched furze burn, you will recall that it is very combustible and it catches fire quickly and burns intensely (albeit not for a very long time). This characteristic of the plant made it an ideal fuel for bakers’ ovens. Lucas describes the process. A large quantity of furze was added to the bread oven at night, before the bakers went home. It dried out and compacted overnight. In the morning, the furze filled oven was lit, and then ‘when the walls were hot enough the fire was raked out quickly, the oven swept clean, the batches of dough put in, the iron door closed and luted with clay to make an airtight seal and the bread left to bake by the heat which radiated from the oven walls. For heating these ovens furze was for long the favourite fuel wherever it was obtainable, probably because it lit quickly, gave intense heat and left the minimum of ash’.

The dried out stumps of furze that grow closer to the ground burn longer and emit a lot of heat. This also put furze in demand as the ‘poor man’s coal’. The demand for furze for use in bread ovens and as a domestic fuel led to a thriving urban trade. As Lucas remarks, this business, and the large amounts of furze that were being stocked for sale, led many Local Authorities to view it as an incendiary risk in already congested towns: ‘The furze brought into the city for sale to the citizens was stored in large ricks or stacks. At a period when fire-fighting equipment was scarce and rudimentary the presence of these great ricks of highly inflammable material was a constant source of worry to the city fathers on account of the danger of fire which they constitute’. Some of the accidents that ensued are documented in the Newspaper Archives.

Tipperary Free Press, May 25th, 1860:

It will be clear by now that furze has long been identified by a resourceful populace as a parsimonious substitute, where there was a dearth of alternative materials. In his book The Epic Origins Of Hurling, Liam Ó Caithnia recounted the travails of eager proto-hurlers, in the search of hurl making material: ‘When the landlords abandoned the populace, they had only two options to do: pull a stump of furze for themselves, either that or the stratagem of Ballinskelligs – go on the trail in the master’s wood at dead of night.’

The versatile plant had martial, as well as sporting applications. The publication Prosperous – A Village Of Vision, includes a piece by Alice Curtayne on The Battle Of Prosperous, which took place during the 1798 Rebellion: ‘The United Irishmen decided to burn down the barracks and other buildings in which the militia were housed. The simple plan for burning the barracks was to break in the windows and then thrust lighted furze into the rooms. Masses of furze had previously been cut and stored in readiness.’

In the absence of other materials that may have been available to more prosperous societies, and particularly during times of strife and want, the many uses of furze (and the ability of Irish people to identify these uses) really becomes apparent. You can see an upsurge in demand during the Great War:

Nationalist And Munster Advertiser, September 23, 1914:

It may be common, but furze is anything but ‘ordinary’.

By Kevin Dowling, Kildare County Archives And Local Studies.

Sources:

Furze: A Survey And History Of Its Uses In Ireland, by A.T. Lucas.

The Irish Examiner

The Kildare Observer

The Tipperary Free Press

The Nationalist And Munster Advertiser

The Epic Origins Of Hurling, by Liam Ó Caithnia

Prosperous – A Village Of Vision

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