Belonging to the countryside: rural place attachment and staying in the Clogher Valley

Abstract

The focus of academic discourse upon residential migration have placed considerations of mobility at the forefront. Little attention has been given to those who are residentially immobile with stayers often being treated as a residual in most studies. Who this group comprises of and their motivations for staying, such as place attachment, are often overlooked particularly in urban areas. Adopting a pragmatic approach and employing a mixed methods design, this study statistically analyses a survey of no.880 respondents from the Clogher Valley (Northern Ireland). This analysis created a quantifiable profile of long-term stayers and their predictors. An index of place attachment was developed to understand its influence in staying behaviour. Semi-structured interviews (no. 22) were used to explore the lived experience of long-term stayers’ attachment.

The results of these analysis highlighted that there are certain characteristics which predict long-term staying behaviour, and highlight factors such as belonging as the most prominent. The index demonstrates that long-term stayers more attached, but that different groups relate more prominently to various components (personal, social, landscape, community). In exploring how long-term stayers experience this attachment it is shown there are accentuating layers with nuanced meanings. While contrasts to the urban is at the fore of this experience, latent understandings of spaces of assurance and a Childhood Hinterland highlight the role of mundane spaces, anchor points and the physical landscape in aggregating their attachment. The findings of this study indicate that place plays a more unique and central role to both stayers and their place attachment in rural areas than indicated by previous studies. Subsequently it has implications that place and especially its physical aspects must be given greater consideration by both scholars and policy-makers.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2026.

Date of Award	Jul 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Northern Ireland Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Gemma Catney (Supervisor), Richard Waldron (Supervisor), Aileen Stockdale (Supervisor) & Sara Ferguson (Supervisor)