Ireland: Sculpted Isle (2004)

The love affair between the horse and the Irish people has endured for centuries. Almost everyone in Ireland goes to the races. The programme begins with the only horse race in the world to be run where the sea meets the land - on Laytown Beach, a few miles north of Dublin. Over countless generations Man has shaped these racehorses for speed and endurance, fashioned them to his needs - just as he has Ireland's landscape. This small island in the Atlantic Ocean might seem like a land trapped in time, but appearances are deceptive. The Irish landscape has undergone some of the fastest and most profound changes of any in Europe. Change lies at the heart of Ireland's being - not only of its past but also of its present and future. From the enigmatic limestone features of the Burren to the wide, bleak boglands of County Mayo; from the inaccessible cliffs of the island of Little Skellig to the rich wetland meadows of the Shannon Callows Ireland - Sculpted Isle explores some of Ireland's most characteristic landscapes. We look at how they were formed and how natural events and the actions of man have since shaped and sculpted them into what is familiar to us today.