Enclosure, Dunbell Big, Co. Kilkenny

Co. Kilkenny |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Dunbell Big, Co. Kilkenny

In a tilled field in Dunbell Big, County Kilkenny, the ground holds a secret that only reveals itself from above.

A roughly circular enclosure, approximately 28 metres in diameter, lies buried beneath the soil, invisible at ground level but legible to satellite imagery as a cropmark, a phenomenon where buried features influence how crops grow above them, causing subtle differences in colour or height that become visible when viewed from altitude.

The enclosure is defined by a fosse, essentially a ditch dug into the earth, which in its original form would have ringed the interior space and likely supported an earthen bank. Circular enclosures of this kind are among the most widespread archaeological features in the Irish landscape, and while their dates and functions vary considerably, many are associated with early medieval settlement, the enclosed space serving as a farmstead or place of habitation. This particular example was identified and reported by Jean-Charles Caillère, whose attention to satellite imagery brought a feature that farming activity had long since flattened back into the archaeological record.

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