Pork in Ireland has been a key part of the Irish diet since prehistory. Ireland's flora and fauna overwhelmingly arrived via a Neolithic land bridge from Great Britain prior to its submerging around 12,000 BP. When the very first hunter-gatherers arrived around 2,000 years later, the local ecosystem largely resembled that of modern Ireland. Dating back to Neolithic times, large amounts of pig bones have been found near habitations. There is evidence of wild boar consumption dating as early as 9000 BP, at a Mesolithic site in, about 1,000 years before farming began in Ireland. Evidence of Stone Age farming survives in the Céide Fields in north County Mayo. Discovered in the 1930s, they are the world's oldest known extant field system and among the world's most extensive Stone Age ruins. Excavations of animal bones at the Newgrange site in County Meath in the 1960s confirmed that cattle and pigs were the primary food animals circa 4000 BP, with pig bones the more dominant of the two.
Medieval Ireland Pink and black in colour, "long-snouted, thin-spare, muscular, and active" the breed of pigs most commonplace in ancient Ireland were called greyhound pigs; woodland animals, they foraged on fallen acorns, hazelnuts, chestnuts and other natural foodstuffs abundantly available in a landscape almost entirely under forest. This breed remained the basis for virtually all Irish pig farming until supplanted by new breeds in the 20th century. The Irish word for pig muc is closely linked with the Welsh equivalent mochyn and, further afield, the swine god worshipped by the ancient Continental Gauls Moccus. The wild boar has a significant place in Celtic iconography and Celtic myths, a telling example being the story of Diarmait and the Boar of Benn Gulbain. The role of pig-keepers (muccaid) in tales like The Contention of the Two Swineherds, and the Finding of the Rock of Cashel suggest a degree of importance. Stories like The Story of Mac Dá Thó's Pig, Bricriu's Feast and The Adventure of Cormac Grandson of Con seem to indicate likewise associations both with warrior-culture and hidden knowledge, though how much this reflected actual practice is debatable. Pork, perhaps because it was so freely and widely available, was a mainstay of consumption in ancient Ireland. Large herds were kept by kings and other nobles as they required no expense in their upkeep "beyond the pay of a swineherd". With the coming of Christianity and literacy from the 4th century onward, written records throw light on contemporary social and agricultural practice in Ireland. St Patrick, who was captured as a slave by Irish pirates in the early 4th century AD herded pigs as well as sheep while a shepherd on Sliabh Mish. The Brehon laws, Ireland's indigenous legal code, covered virtually almost every aspect of life and society. These were first written down in the 7th century and make frequent references to pigs and pigmeat both as a food item and a payment of tribute. The potential damage wrought by pigs, for example, was recognised as the most serious of all farm animals and "for the trespass of a large pig in a growing field of corn the fine was one sack of wheat."
Irish agricultural practice came under the scrutiny of the 12th century historian Giraldus Cambrensis who accompanied Henry II in the course of his invasion of Ireland in 1171. In his Topography of Ireland Giraldus notes the ubiquity of pigs in Irish life. "In no part of the world are such vast herds of boars and wild pigs to be found," he wrote. Unimpressed by the greyhound pig he described it as "a small, ill-shaped and cowardly breed, no less degenerate in boldness and ferocity than in their shape and size." Over 500 years later, the number of pigs in Ireland would continue to surprise observers. In 1780, one observer commented "hogs are kept in such numbers that the little towns and villages swarm with them".
Early modern Ireland Throughout the centuries, pigmeat invariably featured in any description of the Irish life and the Irish diet, particularly among ordinary people. Town bye-laws frequently regulate the keeping of pigs. In 1382, the citizens of Waterford agreed that any pig found wandering of the streets could be immediately killed by the specially appointed pig wardens. Writing in the 17th century one English observer commented of the "wild… mere Irish" that "they devour great morsels of beef unsalted, and they eat commonly swine’s flesh, seldom mutton." Over the period 1500 to 1800, the Irish landscape gradually underwent a process of deforestation which, among other consequences, eliminated the natural habitat of the wild boar. Although pork remained important to the Irish diet, from the 18th century onward, a new political climate saw the export of food become a significant economic priority. "Much [Irish] pork and bacon did not enter the Irish market, but was exported. Shipments of pork and bacon soared after 1760, probably at the expense of domestic consumption." Evidence of domestic records from households in Ireland in the late 18th century also confirms that pigmeat, previously cheap and plentiful, had become more expensive than other meats at this time, and that meat in general was a considerably more expensive commodity in Ireland than in Britain. In 1841, on the eve of the Famine, the number of pigs in Ireland was put at 1.4 million, and the link between pigs and the small farmer and the poor was demonstrated by the collapse in pig numbers to just over half a million by 1848.
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