Enclosure, Tullycommon, Co. Clare

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Enclosures

Enclosure, Tullycommon, Co. Clare

A drystone wall encircling a patch of rough, uneven rock on a small limestone ledge in County Clare might not seem like much to puzzle over, but this enclosure at Tullycommon is a mild curiosity precisely because of what it was initially mistaken for.

When inspectors visited the site in 1999, it caught attention as a possible cashel, the term for a dry-stone ringfort of early medieval origin typically used to enclose a farmstead or protect livestock. On closer inspection, however, the structure turned out to be considerably more recent, a roughly 20-metre-diameter enclosure of modern construction with no claim to early medieval activity.

The distinction matters more than it might first appear. The Burren and its surrounding areas in County Clare are genuinely rich in cashels and ringforts, and a walled enclosure on a rocky outcrop, with lower ground falling away to the north-west and south-east, could reasonably read as one at a glance. The wall here follows the same basic logic as its ancient counterparts, drystone construction enclosing a defined area, but the date places it firmly outside that tradition. A second enclosure of similar construction was noted immediately to the north-west, suggesting the two were built as a pair, most likely for agricultural use, perhaps managing livestock on ground too uneven and rocky for much else.

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