1. Chapter 4 Human environment elective
Settlement
Chapter 4
Human environment elective

2. Settlement: a place where people live
Settlement: a place where people live. Settlements vary in size, location and functions.

3. Site: the piece of land a settlement is built on
Site: the piece of land a settlement is built on. Physical factors often determine the location of a settlement as things like slope, water supply, defence, building materials and resources often were and are considered.
By examining the land of an area you can explain why or why not this site is suitable for settlement

4. Situation: this is when you describe the settlement in relation to the surrounding lands and other towns.
The land around a settlement is the area the settlement might expand into and is important to recognise positive and negative factors in the situation.

5. Physical factors that influence the location of settlement
Drainage: water supply is vital but the land must be well drained (fear of flooding)
Soil quality: Is the surrounding land fertile for crops
Altitude: lowland areas are easier to build upon and farm in contrast to exposed highland areas.
Aspect: the direction an area is in can see an increase in sunshine hours, temperatures and less rainfall.

6. Density and Distribution
Amount of people per km2 Spread of people across an area

7. Factors influencing each pattern
4 Settlement Patterns
Factors influencing each pattern
Dispersed / Random
Clustered / Nucleated
Linear / Ribbon
Absent / None
2/3 details on why and when each type of pattern occurred

8. FAVOURED SITES
Early settlers wanted a water supply so chose sites beside a water (river, sea)
Early invaders chose river / coastal sites for defence and ease of escape
Early Industrial revolution, factory owners chose sites beside water for energy supplies
They also chose sites beside resources such as coal and iron ore
Recently, government policies determine the site of new towns (Adamstown, Shannon)
Settled upland areas offer some kind of natural defence, shelter and a sunnier aspect and are not prone to flooding
Dry point settlement were established above the regular flood levels along rivers
Routeways through mountains led to the development of settlements at the meeting place (focus) of all routes

9. 7000BC – Old Stone Age
Middens (ancient rubbish heap)
Nomadic hunter-gathers
No fixed home territory
Wandered the landscape in search of fruits and animals
Stone weapons and tools which were found by archaeologists
Remains of food found in middens showing what they ate and cooked

10. (Neolithic) settlement
3500BC – New Stone Age
(Neolithic) settlement
Mainly tombs: Megalithic tombs, barrows, portal dolmens, passage graves and court cairns, stone circles, standing stones, rock art, earthworks, fulacht fia
Cultivated wild grasses and kept animals = Ireland’s 1st farmers
Built burial chambers on high places in the landscape (hill) to remember their dead
Tombs found on fertile landscapes, close to water supply and at dry points above a river
Sheer size of tombs shows the skill used in handling huge stones and boulders
Little evidence of houses but thought to have been tentlike structures with animal skin stretched over curved branches
Understood sun and seasons (Newgrange) and aligned tombs to the rising sun

11. 2000BC – Bronze Age settlement
Copper mines, barrows, cist graves and wedge tombs
Much smaller graves
Their tombs (cist and wedge tombs) were buried in small barrows or stone chambers
Found mainly on low-lying land
Many tombs found close to copper mines which was needed for making bronze and reflected use of resources

13. 600BC-IRON AGE
Celtic Settlement
Mainly homes: Ring forts, promontory forts, hill forts and crannogs, barrows
Isolated dwellings across countryside
Used landscape for shelter, farming and dry points
Homes were built on defensive sites (hillltops, cliff edges and lakes)
Ring forts built of earth and stone
Earthern ringforts (raths) in Ireland east and stone ringforts ( dun/caiseal) in ireland west where there is less soil
Crannogs main settlement in lakes and poorly drained areas of the midlands
Barrows built as burial places

14. AD – EARLY CHRISTIAN
Mainly religious sites: Holy wells, cross-inscribed stones, round towers, high crosses, monasteries, churches, graveyards
Lived near religious sites
Sites chosen were isolated for peaceful prayer and defence purposes
Location of church often liked to an important existing well etc.
Houses built of wattle and daub (interwoven tree stems packed with mud) and enclosed with circular fences or embankments
Crosses carved on Stone Age standing stones. Shown as cross-inscribed stones
Monasteries and round towers were important and social centres

16. AD Vikings

17. 1100 – 1500 Normans

18. 1500 – 1700 Plantation era

19. 1700 – 1800 Georgian

20. 1900 – 2000+ Industrial, Dormitory, New Towns

21. History of settlement in Ireland
7000BC Old Stone Age
3500BC New Age
2000BC Bronze Age Settlement
600BC Iron Age/Celtic Settlement
500BC Early Christian Settlement
800 / 1000AD Vikings
1100 / Medieval / Norman era
1500 / Plantation era
1700 / Georgian settlements
1900 / Industrial – Resort – Dormitory – New Towns

22. Counter - Urbanisation Urban workers moving to the countryside

23. 1 Aim: To protect the future of rural Irish society
Duration:
Investment: €183.7 billion
Methods:
Transport links (rural to urban)
Support rural-based industries (Farming/Fishing/Forestry)
Village renewal (make villages more attractive to live in)
Boost tourism in rural areas
Improve water supplies
Provide education and training schemes

24. County development plans2
Each county in Ireland has its own development plan to control urban and rural settlement.
The plan includes lists of committees, organisations, agencies and groups who deal with local concerns and development.

25. Functions of Urban SettlementsP O T S

26. Functions of Urban Settlements Religious, Residential, Recreational
Industrial
Functions are the services and activities that an urban area provides for its residents and people of the surrounding areas
Commercial
Education
Port
Open spaces
Transport
Services

27. Central Place Theory

28. Central Place
A central place is a town which provides goods and services for the people who live in and around the town.

30. Threshold: The population needed to keep a services in business
Range: The maximum distance people will travel for a product or service
Frequency of demand: How often a service is needed.
Rank order: a range of cheap daily items (milk, bread etc) to expensive and rare goods (car, yacht etc)

32. Hierarchy of settlements
Urban settlements are grouped according to their size and the number of functions they have.
Basically this is a ranking system from smallest to largest. It makes sense that the larger the urban area….the more functions the city will have….supply and demand.