Dún a Rí is our earliest map which Fingal inherited from Trim Orienteers
when they amalgamated with us in 1993. The main section of the map is a very nice mature
forest with a picnic area, deer enclosure, and wildlife area, with several walks marked out.
It was mapped in 1988 and first used by Trim Orienteers
for a Leinster Relay Championships. The survey was by Pat Healy and P. Callaghan and it was
drawn by Justin May. The map was redrawn in OCAD and resurveyed by Tom Burke, and Dónal
Ó'Murchú of CNOC and Heimo Poyry from Finland, and has since been
resurveyed and updated for an army event by Pádraig Higgins. We have since used it
succesfully for League events.
Ardgillan Castle is the first map produced by Fingal Orienteers. The map consists of mainly
open parkland with some mature wooded areas sloping down to the coast from the park entrance
and car park. The castle is in the center of the park, with tea rooms, a rose garden, and walled
traditional garden beside it. The map was surveyed over some years, 1991-1994,
by Pat Healy, and some current and ex-club members including Jean O'Neill, Frank Flood,
and Damien Kelley and was drawn by Pat Healy. It has been redrawn on OCAD by Tommy Burke.
This is a large park on Dublin's Northside between Clontarf and Raheny. It was formerly
the demesne of Ardilaun House, home of one of the Guinness families. It was given over to
Dublin Corporation and the house has long since been demolished. It contains football
pitches, a rose garden, a walled garden, a pitch-and-put course, a playground, a recycling centre,
and a recently planted arboretum. Although most of the park is flat there are some intricate
contour sections in the mature wooded areas as well as some fake greek ruins and other
interesting features from when it was a private garden.
The park was originally mapped by Ajax, Eoin Rothery and
John Ryan, in 1984. We have resurveyed and redrawn it in OCAD and have agreed a sharing
arrangement with Ajax.
This park was first mapped by GEN in 1986. We have bought the remaining copies of the map
and the copyright from them. It has been redrawn in Ocad and partially resurveyed by Doug Corrie.
It has been further updated by Val Jones and Fiach O'Rourke. The House was the former residence of
the COI archbishop of Dublin. The house is open to the public for tours. There is also a
traditional farm open to the public, a tea rooms, a children's playground, a wildlife sanctuary,
some football pitches and some nice walks through the demesne.
This was surveyed and drawn by Val Jones in 2003, and has been used for a number of local events.
The area covered includes Shielmartin hill, Ben of Howth, and the wooded area around Muck Rock.
The area is mostly rough open with lots of contour detail and rock features, lots of paths,
some mature wooded area, and also areas of rhodadendron, gorse, and brambles.
This is a large area near Dundalk, extending south east from the old ECO map of Ravensdale
and just touching the west tip of Carlingford at the Windy Gap.
The map was first used for the Leinster
Championships in 2005. The area was surveyed by Pádraig Higgins and Val Jones.
The area is mostly open mountain, similar to Rockmarshal, not as rocky and steep as Carlingford.
The pictures show an example of photogrametry compared to the final map. The photogrametry
covers about three time the area of the map produced for LOC 2005. We may extend it in future.
This is a small wood just north of Slane, Co. Meath. It is currently being
surveyed by Tommy Burke. It is mostly mature runnable forest with some paths and rides.
It is suitable for local and Come-and-Try-it events, and perhaps Night-O events.
Unfortunately it is a bit too small for a full Leinster League event.
This is a small linear park in Swords. It is mostly open with some contour detail.
Jean O'Neill surveyed the streets surrounding the park, while Mick Kellett surveyed
the park and the wooded area west of the park.
This area was originally by ECO. It was first used for an Irish
Championships more than 20 years ago, and was used for the Irish Relay Championships in
1989.
However since ECO have disbanded we have held a few events
there. We have also redrawn the map in Ocad.
It is quite a small area but nevertheless contains some very intricate contour detail in
the open section. Unfortunately the forest is
pretty much unusable being mostly young trees, mature forest full of brambles, or felled
areas also full of brambles.
We have generally been complimented when we have run events there
so we may resurvey it some time in the future.
We have come to an agreement with UCDO to share the Malahide Map. It has been updated
by Val Jones and John Craddock of UCDO. It is similar to our other parks in North Dublin. It is mostly open
parkland with a playground, football pitches, a golf course, tennis courts and a cricket ground. It also has some
mature woodland sections. Malahide castle is in the middle of the Demesne, along with formal gardens
a craft centre and a model railway exhibition
This area was surveyed and drawn by Pádraig Higgins for an army event. We have bought the Ocad file and the copyright from him, updated it and used it for a Leinster League event in 2006. The map covers a small but intricate wood behind the Deerpark Hotel on the shore of Lough Ramor.
This map was surveyed and drawn by Tommy Burke in 2006. It includes Morton Stadium, Santry and a new Fingal County Council park surrounding the stadium. It has been used for our September scatter league, Sprint events, and for schools events.
This is a very nice mixed forest just off the N54 Monaghan to Clones road, near Monaghan Town. It was first surveyed by Pat Healy in the late 70s, then by Ted Russell and ECO back in 1985. It was mainly been used for army events. Padraig Higgins, Val Jones, and Tommy Burke resurveyed it in 2007 and 2008 for the very succesful 2009 Leinster Championships.
This is a Demesne with open parkland and some mixed wooded sections, similar to Newbridge House. It was surveyed by Val Jones and Tommy Burke in the summer of 2007. It is near Celbridge, Co Kildare, and stretches from the M4 south to the river Liffey. The Hewlett Packard plant is to the east, with Celbridge town to the west. The house is the most spectacular of Ireland's 18th century Georgian mansions. Built between 1719 and 1725, the house was designed by an Italian architect, Alessandro Galilei, and the building was intended to reflect the power and wealth of the owner, William Conolly. He had risen from humble beginnings in Donegal to become Speaker of the House of Commons. The house is now owned by the state under the management of the OPW. It is open for guided tours.
Yes, that hill of Tara! No need to say any more about it's history!. Tommy has mapped it and Kathryn has already had an event for cubs there. One of the conditions imposed by the OPW was that controls had to be hung from fences or trees. Because it's a national monument nothing could be pushed into the ground. It's a small area but apart from the main hill there are some small woods. We have held a night event here also in 2009.
Another small wood in Co. Meath. mapped by Tommy. It's near Kentstown, just off the N2 between Ashbourne and Slane. We have used it for a sprint event in 2008
Dalgan park, near Navan, Co. Meath, mapped by Tommy. A park south of Navan town on the banks of the river Boyne, and on the N3.
Derrycassin is a small wood near Granard, Co. Longford. It is planned to survey it over the summer of 2009. The wood is on the shores of Lough Gowna, the source of the River Erne. It is mostly coniferous with some deciduous sections. Several walks are laid out in the wood. It also contains the ruins of Derrycassin House, an older ring fort, and a distinctive esker ridge. The wood is a bit small for a championship event but should be suitable for league events. It is not far from Mullaghmeen so perhaps a multi-day joint event with Setanta might be a possibility.
Trim castle grounds, and a linear park along the Boyne river has been mapped by Tommy. John Rowe has already held an event for the juniors in Trim Athletics Club there.
Tommy continues to produce maps in Co. Meath and one of his next projects is the Battle Of The Boyne site, at Oldbridge, west of Drogheda.
Our next major mapping project. We plan to get LIDAR data for this which promises to give us very good contour details of the sanddunes.