Enclosure, Curragh More, Co. Kerry

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Enclosures

Enclosure, Curragh More, Co. Kerry

On the high ground between the Bridia valley and the upper reaches of Cummeenduff Glen, a small stone enclosure sits on a saddle of land that most walkers pass without a second glance.

It does not appear on Ordnance Survey maps, and there is nothing to announce its presence. Yet the ring of boulders, both large and small, still traces a near-complete subcircular outline roughly eleven metres north to south and twelve and a half metres east to west internally, with a wall that survives to around forty-five centimetres in height and up to ninety-five centimetres wide. A single entrance, a metre across, opens to the south.

Enclosures of this kind, found across Ireland's upland and coastal fringes, are notoriously difficult to date without excavation. They may have served as animal pounds, as boundaries for small agricultural plots, or as sheltered spaces for more domestic purposes. What can be said about this one is that it was built with some deliberateness, sited on a natural pass between two substantial glacially carved glens on the Iveragh Peninsula in south Kerry. The interior now holds a considerable amount of collapsed stone, suggesting the wall was once more substantial than what remains today. The site was recorded by archaeologists Aidan O'Sullivan and Jerry Sheehan as part of their comprehensive survey of the Iveragh Peninsula, published by Cork University Press in 1996, and it remains one of many quietly catalogued sites that have attracted little attention since.

The location itself, on the watershed between the Bridia and Cummeenduff glens, would have made it a natural waypoint for anyone moving livestock or travelling between valleys. The southern entrance aligns with the downslope direction toward Cummeenduff, which may or may not be coincidental. Without excavation, the enclosure keeps its purpose largely to itself, an arrangement of boulders on a windy saddle that gestures toward past use without quite explaining it.

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