Enclosure, Glantrasna, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Enclosures
On a break in the north-east-facing slope of Droppa Mountain in south-west Kerry, a small enclosure sits in rough pasture, its stones half-swallowed by bog.
What makes it quietly arresting is the way its construction shifts around the perimeter: a curving drystone wall runs along the southern and northern sides, while two straight grass-covered banks define the north-east and south-east edges, giving the whole thing a roughly rectangular interior measuring about fourteen metres by eight and a half. The lower courses of the drystone wall are built from large stones that now protrude visibly above the surrounding bogland, a sign of how the ground level has changed around them over time.
The enclosure is a modest structure, its wall standing only around half a metre high and narrowing slightly as it rises, which is typical of drystone construction where builders tapered the upper courses for stability. Much of that wall has partly collapsed. The grass-covered banks on the other two sides are lower still, little more than subtle ridges in the landscape. No date has been firmly established for the enclosure, and its original purpose is not recorded. Enclosures of this kind in Kerry could have served any number of functions, from stock management to more ancient ceremonial or domestic uses, and without excavation it is difficult to say more. What survives is fragmentary but legible, the footprint of a deliberate human effort to divide and define space on a mountain slope that has since been reclaimed by bog and rough grazing.