Black Pig's Dyke

The Black Pig's Dyke (Irish: Claí na Muice Duibhe) or Worm's Ditch (Irish: Claí na Péiste) is a series of discontinuous linear earthworks in southwest Ulster and northeast Connacht, Ireland. Remnants can be found in north County Leitrim, north County Longford, County Cavan, County Monaghan and County Fermanagh (see the map below). Sometimes, the Dorsey enclosure in County Armagh and the Dane's Cast in County Down are considered to be part of the dyke.

Similar earthworks can be found throughout Ireland, although the Black Pig's Dyke is the best known. A notable example is the Claidh Dubh ("black ditch"), anglicised Clyduff or Cleeduff, in eastern County Cork. It has three sections, the longest of which runs north-south for 24 kilometres (15 mi) from the Ballyhoura Hills to the Nagle Mountains.

Name

In counties Leitrim and Cavan the earthworks are generally called the Black Pig's Dyke or Dike. In County Longford it is called the Black Pig's Race, while in the Cavan–Monaghan border area it is called Black Pig's Dyke or Worm Ditch. The ditches take their names from Gaelic folklore. One tale says that a huge black boar tore up the countryside with its large tusks. Another says that the ditches were made by a huge worm.

Black Iberian pig

The Iberian pig is a traditional breed of the domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) that is native to the Iberian Peninsula. The Iberian pig, whose origins can probably be traced back to the Neolithic, when animal domestication started, is currently found in herds clustered in the central and southern part of Portugal and Spain.

The most commonly accepted theory is that the first pigs were brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Phoenicians from the Eastern Mediterranean coast (current day Lebanon), where they interbred with wild boars. This cross gave rise to the ancestors of what are today Iberian pigs. The production of Iberian pig is deeply rooted to the Mediterranean ecosystem. It is a rare example in the world swine production where the pig contributes so decisively to the preservation of the ecosystem. The Iberian breed is currently one of the few examples of a domesticated breed which has adapted to a pastoral setting where the land is particularly rich in natural resources, in this case acorns from the holm oak, gall oak and cork oak.