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"esker"esker, eiscir /es'k'ər'/ long, winding ridge of sand and gravel deposited at right-angles to the edge of an ice-sheet by a meltwater stream flowing under a former glacier. The largest esker in Ireland, Eiscir Riada, divides the island from east to west, and provides access through bog and forest. The main east-west roadway, the Slíghe Mhór, followed along this esker, which crosses the Shannon - the other main transport artery - at the important monastic site of Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly. Note that the genitive singular of eiscir is eascrach, hence Ahascragh in east Galway (Áth Eascrach 'ford of the esker'). [1852<eiscir<Old Irish escir] "This map shows Ireland at two stages in the Ice Age. The dark purple line shows the maximum extent of the ice 20,000 years ago. The light purple line shaows how far the ice had retreated by 13,000 BC (15,000 years ago). The division between the two shades of blue indicates the approximate coastline in 13,000 BC. Also shown on the map are the distribution of drumlins, Eskers and Corries, which are all glacial landforms." "The common place-name elements 'clon' and 'cloon' (cluain) connote a meadow or a dry site. They are abundant in wet or boggy regions where meadow land was a valued resource; cloon place-names abound, for example, on the esker ridges of the boggy central lowlands and across the drumlin belt." |