ABSTRACT
Construction made a significant contribution to the Irish economy during the nineteenth century; it covered a wide variety of activity from the provision of basic dwellings to large public institutions and other public works, industrial, commercial and agricultural buildings, and transport infrastructure, as well as renovations and repairs. Moreover, it also gave rise to a range of related industries such as quarrying and preparing building stone and slate, the production of lime, brick and tiles, in addition to the operation of saw mills and joinery works for the preparation of timber, just to name a few examples. As such, construction was one of the major employers of male labour in the Irish economy throughout the period in question. Yet, with the notable exception of D’Arcy’s series on building wages,1 trends in construction between 1801 and 1921 remain largely uncharted. This chapter will trace the trend in building activity (insofar as this is pos-
sible given data limitations) over the entire period of the Union by utilising timber imports as an indicator. In addition, for the second half of the nineteenth century (when timber import statistics improve) it will focus on the varying regional incidence of building activity across Ireland, with the assistance of import data at different ports in addition to data on house construction returned in each of the census years between 1821 and 1911. The final section of the chapter will examine the development of cognate industries supplying raw materials to the construction industry.
