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Monday 9:30am - 5:30pm Tuesday 9:30am - 5:30pm Wednesday 9:30am - 5:30pm Thursday 9:30am - 5:30pm Friday 9:30am - 5:30pm

EastWest Mapping

Name: EastWest Mapping
Address: Clonegal, Enniscorthy, CO.WEXFORD, IE
Telephone: 053 9377835
Price range: £
Rating: 4.9

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EastWest Mapping

Surveyor, cartographer & publisher of detailed maps and guides in Ireland - www.eastwestmapping.ie

EastWest Mapping has been involved in recreational mapping for the past twenty years with two strands to our business. We publish & sell detailed mapping for recreational activities in the Leinster region. We also provide a nationwide survey and cartographic service for the tourism, local authority and publishing sectors. The hallmark of EastWest Mapping publications are careful survey work and at

tention to detail. We like to ensure that the detail on our maps and in our guidebooks matches what the walker or cyclist will encounter on the ground.

20/01/2025

Independent Bookshops

This story on the RTE website caught my attention last week: https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2025/0116/1491143-bookshop-closures/

It concerns the unintended (one hopes) knock on consequences caused by changes in state policy. In this case a policy to ensure all primary & in time all second level schools have book rental schemes, thus relieving some financial pressure on parents in terms of buying text books.

A ‘Mom & Apple Pie’ policy – what could go wrong? Well whereas before the local bookshops provided and relied upon school book sales to parents for a good portion of income, schools now buy in bulk with related tendering requirements as it’s public money they are spending. Local bookshops can’t compete on price with the bigger distributors who quote for these contacts. The distributors use their financial muscle to get large discounts from the book publishers and thus can easily undercut the local shop, whilst still making a good profit.

But these local independent bookshops are often at the very core of community service in their towns and villages. Not just stocking books and encouraging reading but helping with fundraiser events, arts & crafts events for children etc. In addition, they often support local authors, local histories and maps for that matter that other bigger chains of bookshops or government tourist information offices won’t touch nowadays. So it’s a great pity to see some closing.

The Blessington Book Store, pictured here closed after the pandemic but was typical of this valuable service and indeed were good supporters of EastWest Mapping, selling our maps to local residents and visitors. Over recent years, I can think of several such book shop stockists who have closed and it’s a great loss. We still have a number and are grateful to the likes of Bridge Street Books, Book Centre Waterford, Books At One, Tertulia, Bookworm, Castle Books, Seamus Duffy Books, McLoughlins, Polymath Books, Di**le Bookshop, O’Connors in Killarney. We can’t make maps if we don’t sell them and similar applies to many local publications – the government needs to think hard about ways to redress the loss of income to local independent bookshops.

13/01/2025

Coumshinaun in Winter

Mario Macrory of Muddy Boots Guiding took this fine winter photo of Coumshinaun in the Comeraghs last week and which clearly shows several of the notable features of the hill. First note the spelling, it’s either Coumshinaun or Comshinaun as you wish but note there is no ‘g’ sound in the name at all.

Most people will make the circuit of Coumshinaun in a clockwise direction, starting from Kilclooney Wood. After the initial steep climb, the spur levels out and this is Drim a’ Chapaill – the horses back. Fás Chom – the wild hollow lies down to the left. The final steep climb to the plateau is up above the shoulder of the Caisleán – the castle, a big towering buttress. The fairly level path along the perimeter of Coumshinaun at the top is along Barr na hAille – the top of the cliffs.

The descent route down the right hand spur first crosses Stailcín Mín – the smooth peak, then the lower and more rocky Stailcín Garbh – the rough peak. Whilst the deep valley to the right of the descent route in the photo carries the Uisce Solais – the bright water, so named as the water runs down over rocks and glints in the sunshine.

There are several other interesting names in the area and all found on our detailed Comeragh 1:25,000 scale map.

10/01/2025

Tough times in the Galtees when weather like this hits.

06/01/2025

Coolasnaghta

For the artic like week that’s in it, this photo is of a place called Coolasnaghta in Co.Carlow. You’ll pass above this valley if you take the narrow ‘Nine Stones Road’ from the Corraby Gap. It is of course marked on our 1:25,000 scale map Blackstairs & Mount Leinster published a few months ago.

The Irish form of this name is taken as Cúl a’ tSneachta, where cúl is the corner or back of a valley and sneachta is of course meaning snow. The ‘snowy corner’. The valley is north facing and sheltered from the winter sun so holds the snow that bit longer than elsewhere.

16/12/2024

Happy Christmas 2024

Wishing all our customers a Happy & Peaceful Christmas. And to thank you all for your support in 2024 and previous years. We very much rely on map sales to sustain the work and all your purchases are greatly appreciated 😊

It’s also gratifying to see many people now making good use of our detailed maps covering several important mountain upland areas of our country. Trusting the detail and learning the local placenames. So when you’ve eaten and drank your fill, dig out the maps & plan a few routes to burn off the calories and freshen the head.

09/12/2024

Dúchruach

Pictured here is the rocky wild summit of Dúchruach with two of it’s several locháns. It lies less than three kilometres as the crow flies from the well known Diamond Hill in Connemara. But the contrast could not be greater, whereas hundreds of people will file daily in summer along the constructed paths over Diamond Hill, Dúchruach would barely see more than a few souls in a week, if at all.

The reason lies somewhat in the name Dúchruach, where ‘dú’ is a form of black or dark and ‘cruach’ is a stack or peak. Literally the ‘dark peak’ but ‘dú’ here really means rough, wild, bad ground, little grazing for animals etc. This hill may only be a bit over 500 metres in height but it’s littered with crags and rock. It’s a challenge for anyone hillwalking to pick their way up and down around the various obstacles.

Both Dúchruach and Diamond Hill are mapped in good detail on our Connemara Mountains map at 1:25,000 scale.

02/12/2024

She Summits

Among the various different users that find value in our maps are the various groups of mountain runners and trail runners etc. Mountain racing organised by the Irish Mountain Running Association has been around since the 1970s at least but the last decade or so has seen the development of adventure racing and group running on the hills and trails etc.

Whilst I’m not associated with them in anyway, I’m impressed by the activities of the She Summits group. Essentially a trail & mountain running group for like minded women, they are very active with both midweek and weekend meets. Mostly in the Dublin & Wicklow region but also further afield in the summer months.

What’s to be admired though is that they are not just about pounding out the kilometres and the uphill gain on familiar tracks. But in learning skills to plan and manage more varied and adventurous routes and to learn about the uphill environments through which they trek and run. And of course, the social side along with managing a variety of people with different levels of fitness.

Which is what every visit to the hills should be about and not primarily an exercise in speed and burning calories.

.summits.trailrunning

25/11/2024

Bluestacks

Our valued & patient Donegal customers will be glad to hear that I’ve started out on two new maps for parts of Donegal. These are planned to be printed on B1 size Polyart paper, similar to our Cooley & Di**le Way maps of 2023.

I’m currently working on the sheet that will cover the Bluestack range just north of Donegal town. The outline map here shows the extent of the mapped area for digital purposes, the actual printed area will be slightly smaller. All the main peaks & approaches of these hills will be shown.

The Bluestacks is a translation of the Irish Na Cruacha Gorma, the blueish stacks or reeks. Though I believe locally they are often simply called The Cros said as ‘crows’. But we’ll find out more of that in due course.

The second sheet will cover the Derryveagh range and north to Muckish of which more detail in due course.

I have no idea of publication dates at this stage so there’s no point in asking! But if you wish drop me a line via email to [email protected] and I can add you to our mail list for notifications of progress and publication etc.

18/11/2024

Finance Bill 2024
The Finance Bill 2024 was passed in early November, paving the way to the current general election.

I would like to advise the Irish map user community that once again no changes have been made to the discriminatory and what I believe is an anti-competitive application of VAT to Irish print maps.

Discriminatory in that other publishers operating in the print market such as book publishers and newspaper publishers have a 0% VAT rate on their publications. Maps remain at 13.5% VAT rate and lumped in with the ‘Hospitality’ sector, a group who we are given to believe are ripping the public off.

As regards map publication, nothing could be further from the truth. Our maps are sold well below the true cost of production and thus the VAT we must hand over is a tax on us, it's not a consumer tax. Not only do the state not fund topographic mapping but cartographers like ourselves must thus bizarrely pay the state for the privilege of making better maps for the public.

For the fifteen years or so that we’ve been publishing such maps, we’ve raised these VAT & funding issues with several politicians and ministers for finance including: Michael Noonan, Brendan Howlin, Enda Kenny, Pascal Donohue, Heather Humphreys, Michael Ring, Brian Hayes & Michael McGrath. Malcolm Noonan current Minister for Heritage took an interest in the issue too, but to no avail.

The amounts involved in the VAT paid over are pathetically small as far as the state is concerned but significant to us, it’d fund a set of data for a new area or a map printing. It’s not my business to advise anyone who to hold accountable but look at the list above and see who has had control of the public finances for most of that time……

18/11/2024

Ordnance Survey Map Prices

The retail price of a standard Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Discovery sheet in 2024 is €8.80 inc VAT at 13.5%. Looking at an old price list from 2005 I observe that the price of the same sheet was €7.90 inc VAT at 13.5%.

That’s a rise of just €0.90 in practically 20 years.. when the costs of data, labour & printing have risen substantially. How is this credible? Even going by average inflation figures, there should be a 37% increase in this period. Such a sheet should be retailing at least at €10.80 .... not €8.80.

This high degree of public subsidy may on face value appear to be good for the public but it’s entirely counterproductive to anyone else developing & selling maps into the Irish market. Who are faced with the full commercial costs of production. It’s hard enough to find retail outlets these days to stock print maps but when you stack Ordnance Survey maps at €8.80 on the shelf alongside maps from ourselves at €14.99 or Harvey maps at €20, the choice is simple for the casual map purchaser.

The public in fact should be demanding that all mapping products from Ordnance Survey Ireland now Tailte Éireann should be entirely free of charge. As they are developed entirely with public funds, so they should be free to the public. This would both be useful to the public and also remove them from the shelves of retail outlets, levelling the playing pitch for publishers who have to rely on sales.

12/11/2024

Learn to Navigate

The Irish hills are not generally high or even particularly rocky by international mountainous standards. But they have their own challenges, it’s not for nothing that we live on what is sometimes called the Misty Isle. The prevailing wettish Atlantic climate often sweeps in rain & mist and what starts as a fine clear day turns bad or vice versa.

It behoves anyone heading out onto our hills to take responsibility for looking after themselves, even when things turn bad. That involves having adequate clothing and food but also the ability to find a way along the chosen route and/or down off the mountain.

Phone apps showing position are common now but these won’t help you to know or decide what direction to go in, what route to follow. They may have a outline route line to follow but what happens when that’s not practical anymore? Or the phone runs out of power?

The solution: learn how to navigate using the map detail, how to understand contours and route selection. How to know what direction to walk in and for how far. How to look after yourself. There are many providers of such courses, running training weekends at various venues around the country. The Mountain Skills course covers all the above topics and more besides. Look up www.mountaineering.ie/content/MountainSkills/122 to find a local course.

04/11/2024

Night Walk & False Teeth
https://eastwestmapping.ie/night-walk-amp-false-teeth/
I was out with Tullow MC on Friday evening gone, a small group of ten headed up to the Moats of Craan & Mount Leinster crossing soggy ground in a lightly wetting fog. Ably led by John Byrne pictured here, who knows the ground well in both day & night.

After a sup of tea in the lea of the masts, we headed onwards in the mist and John was able to locate a couple of rocks the club has names for. This lump of granite is the False Teeth, named for obvious reasons. It’s so regular that it looks helped by the hand of man but is surely the result of natural weathering.

To find your way around these hills, get our new Blackstairs & Mount Leinster 1:25000 scale map!

28/10/2024

Knockmealdown Update

Thanks to Maureen O’Brien for spotting and sending on details of a substantial new track that has recently been constructed across the Knockmealdown hills at Knockshanahullion. The northern part was built about a year ago but it now runs all the way across the hills to reach a forest corner on the south side.

If you have a copy of our Knockmealdown 1:25,000 scale map or use same on the Hiiker app, please see the attached map graphic which outlines this new track and related photo of it.

21/10/2024

Hut Sites & Sheep Pens
https://eastwestmapping.ie/hut-sites-amp-sheep-pens/
This is Blanche’s Pen, a small sheep pen or ‘pin’ used in the past by local hill farmers to gather a few ewes in, so one or other can be treated for lameness etc. It lies at the top of Blanche’s Hollow, a valley just north of Blackstairs Mountain. I’m told that Blanche’s were landowners here once, Blanchfield or Blanchard but there are no records for this name in the 1901/11 census for the area, so maybe they were gone by then and it’s an older name.

It's marked on our new map Blackstairs & Mount Leinster, along with many other small circular enclosures. Some of these are pens like above, others hut sites of indeterminate age. This is one of the great assets of uplands landscapes, as they have been regarded of lesser economic value in the past, so the archaeological and vernacular heritage sites tend to survive. The same is true for placenames, particularly those relating to wet or rocky areas.

But the uplands are always under pressure as others will raise their eyes upwards and wonder how to make money from them. Forestry, windfarms, turf extraction, hydro electric schemes, communication masts.. the list of threats is long. This is why we should value & support the hill farming tradition as when well managed it can keep the land in use without excessive change. That certain mountain valleys remain open hillsides is down to the unwillingness of previous generations of hill farmers who refused to sell out and allow their slopes to be engulfed by trees or other developments. As a group, hill farmers would certainly be at the top of my list for farm support schemes.

17/10/2024

New 2024 Map for Blackstairs & Mount Leinster

I’m pleased to advise that we have a brand new edition of the 1:25,000 map ‘Blackstairs & Mount Leinster’. It replaces the map ‘Blackstairs, Mount Leinster & The Barrow Valley’, published 2013 and which has been out of print for several months.
This new 2024 edition is in fact a complete new map, we went back to a blank sheet of paper and started again, so as to bring the map detail of this area up to the same standard as our 25Series maps for other regions. Many new features have been mapped and there has been a thorough review of placenames inc many corrections & additions.
This new map is published in the same format as most of our other sheets, with the full range fitting on one sheet. It’s now available in standard paper folded, laminated & weatherproof folded as well as a small number of flat, unfolded sheets suited to wall display. Priced the same as others in this series and remember that orders in excess of €50 exc delivery are posted free in Ireland. https://eastwestmapping.ie/product/blackstairs-mount-leinster/
This new print map covers 550 sq kms, a larger digital version will follow in 4 months. In the interim, the older map detail will remain on the Hiiker phone app. This new edition has taken €60K+ to develop, and we need to sell a lot of maps to recover some of this, so if you want to see maps like this being developed in Ireland please hit the buy button and tell your friends! Thanks for your support, Barry.

08/10/2024

Strikeen Mountain Trail will be closed until further notice following the adverse weather this weekend. The heavy rainfall caused a landslide high up in an area away from trails but the resulting landslide did remove a short section of path near the base of the mountain.
We ask that people please respect the trail closure as we do not want to see new paths created due to people walking on soft ground, which will cause unnecessary damage and erosion

07/10/2024

Cahore Point Trail
https://eastwestmapping.ie/cahore-point-trail/
We went for a ramble along the Cahore Point Trail recently. Cahore is on the coast of Wexford between Gorey/ Courtown and Curracloe/ Wexford Town. There’s good car parking here and a café etc beside the small pier.

A fine signposted walk goes south from here, firstly along a cliff top path and then descending to a very fine beach that stretches into the distance. You can return the same way or follow the designated route back along minor roads. If the sea conditions are suitable before or after your walk, it is popular to swim off the beach just north of Cahore pier.

Well worth the visit if you’re in the area and you’ll find further details and a map here: https://wexfordwalkingtrail.ie/Trails/cahore-point-trail/ The map itself is typical of many I make for community and local tourism groups around the country.

30/09/2024

Too Many Maps

Too many maps, taking up too much storage space.. so off for recycling! We needed to destroy a batch of these sheets recently. Curiously maps for ‘South Wicklow’ featured often in requests ten years ago when we did a survey. When published, there was a reasonable level of sales but this has dried to a relative trickle since and they were just taking up valuable space.

It's a pity that these fine maps haven’t received more support from retailers in the area. Wicklow tourist offices used to be good for stocking but that stopped quite some time ago. The odd local retailer has been supportive but that would be the exception and most including the campsite/ holiday estates showed no interest, so it’s just the odd sale online now!

Don’t worry, we’ve kept a stock of both the paper & laminated that should last a good few years yet.

Address

Clonegal
Enniscorthy
CO.WEXFORD

Opening Hours

Monday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Friday	9:30am - 5:30pm

Telephone

053 9377835

Website

http://www.eastwestmapping.ie/

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EastWest Mapping has been involved in Irish mapping for the past thirty years with two strands to our business. We compile, publish & sell detailed topographic mapping in Leinster, Munster and Connacht. We also provide a nationwide survey and cartographic service for the tourism, local authority and publishing sectors. The hallmark of EastWest Mapping publications are careful survey work and attention to detail. We place particular regard on recording local landmarks and place names.

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