Enclosure, Tullahedy, Co. Tipperary

Co. Tipperary |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Tullahedy, Co. Tipperary

Beneath the verge of a busy road connecting Nenagh to Limerick lies the partial remains of a prehistoric enclosure, most of it intact underground but one edge neatly clipped away by the modern carriageway that now passes over it.

The enclosure survived for millennia, only to have its perimeter interrupted by tarmac and a field drainage ditch, two of the more mundane forces that archaeology routinely has to account for.

The site was uncovered in 2000 during an excavation led by Donald Murphy. What emerged was a small, oval-shaped ditch, roughly 22 metres long, between 0.4 and 0.6 metres wide, and about 0.6 metres deep. An enclosure ditch of this kind typically defined the boundary of a settlement or activity area, creating a modest but deliberate separation between an interior space and the surrounding landscape. Inside that defined space, excavators identified five possible post-holes, ten small pits, and three stake holes, the kind of pattern that suggests structures or organised activity rather than casual occupation. A single fragment of iron slag recovered from one of the features adds a further layer of interest; iron working, even at a small scale, points to specialised knowledge and deliberate craft. The date of the enclosure has not been specified precisely in what is known of the site, but its character places it within the broad sweep of Irish prehistoric settlement.

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