Enclosure, Curraheen, Co. Tipperary

Co. Tipperary |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Curraheen, Co. Tipperary

On the lower northern slope of Carrigadoon hill in County Tipperary, a low rectangular earthwork sits in rough pasture, easy to overlook and hard to date with certainty.

What makes it quietly interesting is its shape: most early Irish enclosures are roughly circular, the familiar ring-fort or rath that dots the Irish countryside. A rectangular plan is less common, and that alone nudges the site into a category worth pausing over.

The enclosure measures roughly 40.8 metres north to south and 30 metres east to west, defined by an eroded earthen bank that has weathered down considerably over time. Internally it stands only about 23 centimetres above the enclosed ground surface, while the exterior face still reaches around 80 centimetres. A fosse, the external ditch that typically accompanies such earthworks and tells you a great deal about their defensive or symbolic intent, is entirely absent here, or at least no longer visible. There are two gaps in the bank: a narrow one of about 2.4 metres on the northern side, and a much wider break of 7.5 metres at the southern end of the western side, which may represent an original entrance or a later collapse. On the eastern side, a spring pond feeds a small stream that runs northward away from the enclosure. The presence of a natural water source within or immediately adjacent to an enclosure like this is not unusual; water would have been a practical consideration for any settled or agricultural use of the space, and some enclosures were deliberately sited to incorporate springs.

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Pete F
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