1. In July 1996, I drove past the farm on which I had grown up: remarkably, the landscape had changed. Most of the hedgerows had been removed to allow more effective use of machinery, and more efficient use of the land.
2. The same day I found some notes my father had made just before his death in 1958 - his death also effectively marked the end of the life of the farm. The notes included this map detailing the names of the fields, and records of recent usage of the land.
3. The family’s personification of the land had gone. The new owners hadn’t even asked what the fields were called; I don’t suppose they wanted to get involved.
4. “We couldn’t see it for the bushes” has often been said of the Irish landscape. The new owners had rectified that; I knew the beauty was there.
5. In 1969 I took this picture of a deserted farmhouse close to the farm; it was already islanded in the landscape.