The following bibliography includes sources that span a range of subject matters: palimpsest within architecture; image manipulation and degradation; the history of derelict stone cottages and their inhabitants in Easkey, County Sligo; the relationship between writing, memory and place; the destruction of The Public Record Office of Ireland in 1922; and, the restoration techniques used by The National Archives of Ireland. Each source acts as a puzzle piece to disentangle the layered history of The Stone Cottage. These references act as a dataset. The knowledge obtained through this long-form annotated bibliography creates a foundation of research, which is cross-referenced, consolidated and re-represented in the accompanying studio work. The viewer is invited to piece together their own interpretation of the historical narrative of The Stone Cottage by engaging with the material within The Palimpsest Archive.
[References marked with an asterisk are included within the written response. The written response explores the position of these sources within the context of my studio enquiry in greater detail].
Aalen, F. H. A. (1966) ‘The Evolution of the Traditional House in Western Ireland’, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 96 (1), pp. 47–58.*
Arquitectura Viva (2022) Ghost Signs. Urban Palimpsests. Available at: https://arquitecturaviva.com/articles/ghost-signs (Accessed: 15 April 2026).
‘Urban palimpsests help us understand the cities we live in. These evanescent traces, from the diachronic superpositions of buildings or streets to the faded remains of a sign or writing on a party wall, tell stories about the lifestyles and concerns of past dwellers’ (Arquitectura Viva, 2022).
Arquitectura Viva (2022) attempts to define urban palimpsest. Architectural palimpsest is a concept central to my developing line of enquiry, evident from the second week of Unit 2 when I pivoted from the theme of maker’s marks to urban palimpsest. Arquitectura Viva (2022) introduces the concerns of the past dwellers within its definition. This theme remains central to my line of enquiry as architecture is inextricably dependant on its inhabitants. This informed my own position as I piece together the stories of the past dwellers of The Stone Cottage.
Barthes, R. (1977) ‘The Death of the Author’ in Image, Music, Text. London: Fontana Press, pp. 143-148.*
Central Statistics Office (2022) Census of Population 2022. Available at: https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/population/censusofpopulation2022/ (Accessed: 12 May 2026).
2022 was the most recent population census in Ireland. The database evidences the way in which censuses have changed in Ireland since the first in 1821. Free from English rule, Ireland has autonomy over the data categories collected. There is an impetus to celebrate its agricultural population, which is vastly different from the 1821 census where land and farmers were treated as commodities by the English government who orchestrated the census.
Department of Culture, Communications and Sport (2023) Artist interprets precious records of the State in unique exhibition at the National Archives. Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-culture-communications-and-sport/press-releases/artist-interprets-precious-records-of-the-state-in-unique-exhibition-at-the-national-archives-2/ (Accessed: 5 May 2026).
‘The archive box, with its unique reference code, is a practical storage device for the work of the National Archives, but it is also a signifier, a ‘container’ of history, of multiple histories, and in the exhibition the unfolded, open-plan archive box becomes both a framing device, and a formal reminder of the archival processes that underpin the construction of history’ (Department of Culture, Communications and Sports, 2023).
The archival box creates a physical infrastructure that facilitates the ability to share multiple histories simultaneously. Understanding the archival box as a container of history is a key theme throughout the studio enquiry.
Google Maps (2009, 2011, 2022) ‘R297 County Sligo’. Available at: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Shannonspark+West,+Easky,+Co.+Sligo,+Ireland/@54.2852534,-9.0045726,3a,75y,290.11h,60.72t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-5a0w1F6QNH9sLkl4BXMtg!2e0!5s20240801T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D29.283709885176975%26panoid%3D-5a0w1F6QNH9sLkl4BXMtg%26yaw%3D290.1097437894028!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x485ed2987a82ae73:0xa00c7a99731aab0!8m2!3d54.286325!4d-8.9623692!16zL20vMDZseXJ5?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDUwNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D (Accessed: 12 May 2026).
The visual data from Google Maps Street View (2009, 2011, 2022) provides information about the degradation of The Stone Cottage. In 2009, the eaves and batons were still somewhat intact, and the roof still has around one third of its tiles. It is in a state of disrepair in 2009 and has clearly been abandoned for some time by this point. When jumping forward to 2022, the further decline of the structure is apparent. The roof is almost entirely destroyed and the weathering of the external materials is more apparent. Google Maps (2009, 2011, 2022) provides visual information about the speed of the decline of the building, helping pinpointing the timeline of its abandonment.
Heritage Data (2011) ‘Megalithic structure : FINNED (Tireragh By.)’. SL011-110. Available at: https://heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0c9eb9575b544081b0d296436d8f60f8&query=18a4b61b268-layer-9%2CSMRS%2CSL011-110—- (Accessed: 12 May 2026).
The Heritage Data (2011) website provides historic 6 inch maps and satellite imagery of Finned. Information can also be accessed about the settlements that have once existed on the land. The plot of land in which The Stone Cottage is situated on has been occupied for thousands of years. This was confirmed in 2011 when remains of a Megalithic settlement were found on the site.
Ireland 2050 (no date) The story of electricity in Ireland. Available at: https://irelandenergy2050.ie/past/electricity/ (Accessed: May 12 2026).
Ireland 2050 (no date) provide information on the story of electricity in Ireland. Rural Electrification in Easkey started in 1947. As The Stone Cottage still displays remnants of extensive electrical wiring, it must have been occupied much later than the 1940s. This source aids the timeline of construction, inhabitation and abandonment of The Stone Cottage.
Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum (no date) Learn About the Great Hunger. Available at: https://www.ighm.org/learn.html (Accessed: May 12 2026).
This source provides a succinct timeline of The Great Hunger, contextualising the historic culture of emigration in the west coast of Ireland.
The Irish Cultural Centre (2021) Artist’s Corner: David Creedon – ‘Ghosts of the Faithful Departed’. 20 April. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9xO_2QHGxg (Accessed: 29 April 2026).
‘Between 1949 and 1989 over 800,000 people were forced to leave Ireland. By 1956 the population had fallen to 2.8 million, the lowest ever recorded’ (The Irish Cultural Centre, 2021).
Artist David Creedon takes photographs of abandoned homestead dwellings in rural Ireland. The phenomena of abandonment is widespread within the west coast of Ireland. This is highly reflective of the hardship and reality of life in poorer counties, such as Sligo and Mayo.
Lloyd, D. (2008) ‘Overture: Ruins/Runes’, in Irish Times: Temporalities of Modernity. Dublin: Field Days Publications.*
The National Archive (no date) Window tax. Available at: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/georgian-britain-age-modernity/window-tax/ (Accessed: May 12 2026).
This article is useful in locating the timeline of The Stone Cottage. Fenestration is likely to have been introduced to The Stone Cottage after the repeal of window tax in 1851, as this is the first time windows would have been affordable.
The National Archives of Ireland (2022) Public Record Office of Ireland: The Story of a Building. Available at: https://nationalarchives.ie/engage-and-learn/exhibitions-and-loans/public-record-office-of-ireland-the-story-of-a-building/ (Accessed: 7 May 2026).*
National Library of Scotland (no date) ‘Ordnance Survey of Ireland, Sligo Sheet 11 (Easky; Kilglass; Kilmacshalgan; Templeboy)’. Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/view/269879651 (Accessed: 4 May 2026).
The 1836 Ordnance Survey is the first known reference of The Stone Cottage. The map shows that it once existed within a small hamlet of cottages. The spelling of Easkey and Finned is noteworthy as they appear differently on every census and map found through my research. I found this poignant as it this is likely to be reflective of the way knowledge has historically been shared in Western Ireland: through dialogue.
National Museum of Ireland (no date) Irish Emigration to America. Available at: https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Folklife-Collections/Folklife-Collections-List-(1)/Other/Emigration/Irish-Emigration-to-America (Accessed: May 12 2026).
This sources provides further context in understanding why so many homes have been left abandoned in the west coast of Ireland (National Museum of Ireland, no date). The Great Hunger, industrialisation and post-war economic hardship are reasons that contributed to periods of mass emigration of rural people from Ireland to America since the mid 1850s. It is important to acknowledge the role of the English in orchestrating the hardship in Ireland. This theme must be sensitively acknowledged and explored within the studio work.
Perec, G. (1999) ‘Species of Spaces’, in Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. London: Penguin, pp. 46–56.*
Ren, Z. (2021) Architectural Palimpsest and Its Effect on Cultural Identity A Tool of Manipulation and Its Social Power. Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture.
‘Palimpsest is a re-editing process in which the existing layers of objects or traces were covered or removed, partially or completely’ (Ren, 2021).
Ren (2021) succinctly explains traditional palimpsest as the process of effacing a writing surface and relaying text in a different direction through a rotation of 90 degrees. This article provides a robust foundational understanding of how palimpsest can be translated to the field of architecture, legitimising and supporting my efforts to do the same.
Sloane (1675) ‘Iter Hibernicum or the Ramble, being the voyage and adventures of Three Knights Errent’ [Manuscript]. Western Manuscripts, Sloane MS 360. British Museum, London.*
Steyerl, H. (2012) ‘In Defense of the Poor Image’, in The Wretched of the Screen. Berlin: Sternberg Press, pp. 31-45.
‘The poor image is a copy in motion. Its quality is bad, its resolution substandard. As it accelerates, it deteriorates’ (Steyerl, 2012).
‘A ghost of an image’ (Steyerl, 2012).
Steyerl’s (2012) arguments about ‘the Poor Image’ support my work from the second week of Positions through Iterating brief. Image-manipulation was used as critical research method to speculate the past and future of The Stone Cottage. The experiment iteratively degraded the images of building, mirroring the degradation of The Stone Cottage itself. The visual quality of the exploration also explored the notion that the structure will return to the land, as each iteration looks more like the landscape of West Ireland.
Till, J. (2009) ‘Contingency’, in Architecture Depends. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 45–61.*
Virtual Record, Treasure of Ireland (no date) Census 1821; Preliminary returns and letters; Sligo County; 1821. Available at: https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/PROI-M-9-6-1-30 (Accessed 5 May 2026).
The 1821 Census that thoroughly documented the inhabitants of Sligo County was destroyed in the 1922 fire. The document is now categorised under: ‘Document Repository: Public Record Office of Ireland (Reconstruction of Collections Destroyed, 1922)’ (Virtual Record, no date). This fragment of documentation would have been key to understand the lives of the dwellers of The Stone Cottage.
Virtual Record, Treasure of Ireland (no date) Gleanings and Fragments from the Censuses of Ireland, 1813–1891. Available at: https://virtualtreasury.ie/gold-seams/census-gleanings (Accessed: 6 May 2026).*
Virtual Record, Treasure of Ireland (no date) 1821 Census: Finid (Finned) townland. Available at: https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/VRTI-CEN-1821-4-44-7-3-Finid (Accessed: 6 May 2026).*
Whiteread, R. (1992) House Study (Grove Road) [Correction fluid, pencil, watercolour on colour photocopy]. *
Wiatr, A. (2025) Layers of Meaning: How Palimpsests Shape the Way We Think [Video]. TEDx. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY9LMmXZ1rc (Accessed 5 May 2026).
‘We can discover what has been erased but not totally lost’ (Wiatr, 2025).
Wiatr (2025) discusses the resurrecting quality of traditional scripture palimpsest, as the effaced text can now be traced using modern technology. This notion is intertwined within my studio project, where I attempt to map what has been erased, but not totally lost, by the 1922 fire that destroyed The Public Records Office of Ireland.
Wyld, F. (2016) ‘The Moving City as Palimpsest’, Landscape Architecture Australia, (151), pp. 65–68.*
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