So open the first lines of the poem on Kilcash in south Tipperary and the disappearance of Ireland's native forests which it portrays. Forestry and the timber trade in Ireland do not seem to figure highly in history books and historical journals, even economic journals. This may be in the belief that all the "woods [are] laid low" and there is little to talk about. This article examines the export trade in Irish timber over the centuries, charting its high point in the 17~(th) century and its low by 1800 to the revival by 1914 with some account of the exports from ports along the south-east coast.
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