Barrow (Ring Barrow), Kilfeakle Churchquarter, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Barrows
In the north of a long-abandoned medieval settlement in County Tipperary, a prehistoric burial monument sits quietly in good pasture, encircled by the earthwork remains of the community that came after it.
What makes this ring barrow unusual is not just its age, but the evidence that the medieval people who settled around it deliberately left it alone. They cordoned it off within a small, square area defined by low banks, an act that suggests something between practical caution and conscious respect.
A ring barrow is a burial mound of prehistoric origin, typically consisting of a central raised area enclosed by a circular ditch, known as a fosse, and an outer bank. This example at Kilfeakle Churchquarter is modest in scale: the circular area measures 4.75 metres across in both directions, with a surrounding fosse roughly 2.25 metres wide and 0.15 metres deep, and an outer bank of comparable height. Its setting within the broader deserted medieval settlement, a site that appears to have been abandoned at some point after it was established, adds a layer of complexity to the landscape. The medieval occupants were not the first to find this ground significant, and they seem to have known it. A second ring barrow lies approximately 150 metres to the east-south-east, suggesting this was never an isolated monument but part of a wider pattern of early activity in the area.
The field remains low-lying and grassed over, and the earthworks are subtle enough that they could easily be overlooked without knowing what to look for. The fosse and outer bank survive at only 0.15 metres in height, so the most visible clue on the ground may actually be the square arrangement of medieval banks that frames the barrow, the later settlement's careful acknowledgement of something it chose not to disturb.