Enclosure, Laragh, Co. Sligo

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Enclosures

Enclosure, Laragh, Co. Sligo

On an east-facing slope in the pastureland around Laragh in County Sligo, a slightly raised oval of ground marks the outline of an enclosure that was apparently so inconspicuous, or so thoroughly absorbed into the working landscape, that the Ordnance Survey cartographers of 1837 did not record it at all.

That omission is itself a small puzzle. Ireland's first OS six-inch mapping was unusually thorough in noting earthworks and ancient features, so the absence of this site from the 1837 edition suggests it was either already too degraded to catch a surveyor's eye, or simply overlooked in a corner of Sligo that offered little else to detain them.

The enclosure measures roughly 28.7 metres northwest to southeast and about 18 metres northeast to southwest, making it a modest but reasonably substantial oval. Along its northeastern side, what remains of a low bank of earth and stone survives, roughly 3.6 metres wide but only about 0.3 metres high, little more than a gentle thickening of the ground. Elsewhere, the boundary is defined not by a built bank but by a scarp, a natural-looking slope or cut edge, reaching about 1.2 metres in height. There is no fosse, meaning no accompanying ditch was dug to reinforce the boundary, which distinguishes it from more defensive enclosure types. Whether it once served as a settlement, a stock enclosure, or some other function is not recorded. A modern field boundary now cuts across the site in a northwest to southeast direction, dividing it into two unequal portions. The smaller section to the southwest has been levelled entirely, and only its outline in the turf gives any indication that something once stood there.

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Pete F
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