Enclosure, Castlewaller, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Enclosures
On a south-facing slope in the uplands of County Tipperary, the low stone footings of a small rectangular structure sit quietly in the landscape, easy to overlook and easier still to misread.
What makes this particular scatter of walling worth a second look is the suggestion that it may once have been a booley site, a type of seasonal settlement used during the practice of transhumance, when farming communities would drive their cattle to higher summer pastures and live there temporarily while the animals grazed. The associated walled garden or boundary plot adds a domestic note to what might otherwise seem like a purely agricultural arrangement.
The remains appear to date from the nineteenth century, a period when booley farming, though ancient in origin, was still practised in parts of upland Ireland before being gradually abandoned as land use patterns shifted and the population collapsed after the Famine. The Castlewaller site fits a recognisable pattern for such places: modest, rectangular, set on rising ground with a southern aspect to catch what warmth the season offered, and accompanied by enclosures that would have helped manage livestock or mark out a small working space. The wall footings themselves suggest a structure of some solidity, more than a temporary shelter perhaps, though whether it served a seasonal or more permanent purpose remains uncertain.