Estyn Evans (1973) described the principal heritage of the Irish countryside as pastoral. This way of life evolved alongside different agrarian populations and field systems. Its history is characterised by the abundance of people and the scarcity of land. This heritage still traces its characteristics on contemporary rural morphologies. The traveller sees new houses on almost every by-road. It seems that the Irish prefer to live in small fields bordering roadways than in towns or cities. Traditionalists argue that this phenomenon, known popularly as ‘one-off’ housing, is part of the nation's pastoral heritage going back thousands of years. This paper shows that home development markets are layering new identities across rural spaces. It looks at rurbanisation as a phenomenon of Ireland's post-agricultural transformation, increased affluence and faster spatial mobility.
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