Enclosure, Inchinanagh, Co. Kerry

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Enclosures

Enclosure, Inchinanagh, Co. Kerry

On the steep south-facing slopes of Knockantooreen, in the rough hill pasture of Inchinanagh, a small circle of tumbled drystone walling sits quietly on a break in the gradient.

It measures roughly four metres east to west and three and a half metres north to south, which makes it a modest thing, barely larger than a good-sized room. The wall, where it still stands, reaches about a metre in height, though much of it has partially collapsed, leaving rubble scattered across the interior. Large stones anchor the base, and the construction is rough rather than careful, the work of someone building for function rather than permanence.

Enclosures of this kind are common enough across Kerry's uplands, small circular or subcircular areas bounded by drystone walls, the precise original purpose of which is often difficult to pin down without excavation. Some served as animal pens, others as small field enclosures, and some may have had domestic or ceremonial uses. What makes this particular example a little more interesting is its location and its neighbour: a second enclosure adjoins it along the south-western arc, the two structures sharing a boundary at that point. That pairing suggests a deliberate arrangement rather than a casual act of walling, though what activity the pair once framed remains an open question. The hillside setting, on a distinct break in the slope, would have made the spot conspicuous to anyone working the land below, which may or may not have been part of the point.

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Pete F
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