Enclosure, Lounaghan, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Lounaghan, Co. Kerry

On a steep north-facing slope above the Roughty River valley in County Kerry, there are two small circular enclosures that are, in a precise and rather deflating sense, invisible.

The site cannot be seen at ground level. What is known of it comes largely from a 1895 Ordnance Survey six-inch map, which recorded two roughly circular features, each around four metres in diameter and spaced about forty metres apart, interpreted as possible sheepfolds. A third possible enclosure was identified roughly forty-five metres to the east. Whether these were ever substantial enough to leave a meaningful surface trace is unclear, but what is certain is that the landscape has changed considerably since the map was made.

The enclosures sit in rough hill pasture, the kind of ground that in Kerry tends to resist both improvement and easy investigation. The probable cause of any remaining physical evidence being disturbed or destroyed is a recently constructed farm road that zig-zags across the hillside, cutting through the area where the features were recorded. Small circular sheepfolds of this kind are relatively common in upland pastoral areas across Ireland, often dry-stone structures used to gather and shelter livestock, but even modest examples like these can carry archaeological interest when their age or origin is uncertain. At roughly four metres across, these would have been compact enclosures, functional rather than monumental, the sort of thing that tends to disappear quietly into the hill.

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Pete F
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