In winter of 2001, Coillte and An Taisce celebrated an agreement to preserve a small, beautiful and tranquil area of trees at Bagwell's Folly. This is the conical peak that frames Marlfield Lake to the south and which defines the southwestern skyline of Clonmel.

After years of negotiations on the ground, Coillte came to an agreement not to carry out any further harvesting of the area of woodland surrounding the hilltop tumulus. Conservation of woodland areas described as "heritage sites" is now in accordance with Coillte's certification by the Forest Stewardship Council. And it conforms with An Taisce's policy to work towards the conservation and preservation of places and environments that are of significance to the people and to the heritage of Ireland. Special places!

Bagwell's Folly (Mount Neal) is one such very special place, which is overlaid with layers of history. The peak itself may well be a Bronze Age barrow which has suffered considerable disturbance, and the countryside which it overlooks has a number of sites which pre-date history. There are souterrains in farmland, and yet another barrow on a neighbouring hill and a number of ring forts. Coming into historical times, the surrounding countryside has associations with the Cistercian Abbey of Inishlounaght.

In a lecture some years ago to the Clonmel Historical Society, Father Colmcille (the Cistercian historian) linked the pre-fixes in the placenames of Kill - Kil - with Cille, a small church or chapel, usually built of wood. Every day, with the exception of Sundays, the monks would ford the River Suir and walk out to their monastic lands to work. Some of these lands were situated in the valley between Canon Hill and the Kilnamack Ridge. The Cistercian ritual involved several periods of contemplation and prayer during the day, and consequently these small places of prayer were built, to which the monks could retire, so that they would not have to make the long journey back to Inishlounaght. There is still a path in the wood - a casan - associated with this monastic period in the locality.

The peak acquired the name "Bagwell's Folly" early in the 19th century. The woods of Kilnamack were part of the Bagwell Marlfield Estate, and the folly was built to mark the defeat of Napoleon in 1814. It took the form of an observatory, which was largely a wooden construction, and no remnants of which can be found. But the immediate area does show some evidence of mining or mineral exploration.

The outstanding feature of this section of the Kilnamack Wood is, however, the sessile or scrub oak trees and also a small number of coppiced beech trees. These are all stunted because they were harvested by periodic cutting, probably as a source for making charcoal. Over the years, the stumps have resprouted and continue to grow, and under the terms of the agreement will never again be harvested or cut down, but will be managed by Coillte. This management may well involve a constant battle with invasive rhododendrons. The really beautiful feature of the small trees is that they are deciduous and thus add colour to the hilltop during all the seasons, in contrast to the prevailing forestry plantations of Sitka spruce and Lodgepole pine. In spring especially, when the soft greens of the young leaves overhang masses of bluebells on the wood floor, this is truly a magical place.

And now it is preserved as a heritage site, and Coillte and An Taisce hope that it will not only continue to be a place of beauty, of recreation, of enrichment, but also a place of education, especially for young people.