Sir, – The celebration of bogs by Manchán Magan was a great piece about celebrating an important part of Ireland's heritage ("How Irish culture got sucked in by the bog", August 15th). I would like to add a couple of points. Carving and using bog wood – not just oak but pine and other woods preserved from ancient times – was not just a kitschy Victorian phenomenon; bog-wood was used over centuries by the Irish peasantry for all sorts of purposes when access to other woods was unavailable and unaffordable to them.
Bog-wood carving, on a professional or amateur basis, is a thriving phenomenon today; just look at Ronnie Graham’s sculptures from Galway or the numbers who have been through Eamon Maguire’s carving class at An Droichead in Belfast. Wood that is thousands of years old evokes a special feeling.
And if you want a musical evocation of bogs, you need go no further than Luka Bloom’s song I Am a Bogman. – Yours, etc,
ROB FAIRMICHAEL,
Belfast.