Enclosure, Drumcar, Co. Louth

Co. Louth |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Drumcar, Co. Louth

In a field on a gentle north-facing slope at Drumcar in County Louth, something circular lies buried, invisible to anyone walking past, and yet legible, just barely, from space.

A cropmark roughly forty metres in diameter, possibly the trace of two concentric fosses, or ditches, on the western and northern sides, shows up in Apple Maps satellite imagery. Cropmarks form when buried features alter the moisture and nutrients available to the soil above them, causing the vegetation to grow differently in ways that become visible only from the air, and often only in particular lighting or seasonal conditions. That this one appears on a commercial mapping platform rather than through a dedicated aerial survey programme is, in itself, slightly unusual.

The site was first reported by Jean Charles Caillére, and its western edge carries a complication that helps to date at least one moment in its history. The perimeter at that side is cut through by a north-south field drain, a feature that does not appear on Ordnance Survey six-inch mapping until the 1907 edition. This means the drain post-dates its earlier surveys, though the enclosure itself is almost certainly far older. The two fosses, if that is what they are, suggest a defended or formally bounded space, the kind of arrangement associated with ringforts, enclosures of status or agricultural function that were common across Ireland in the early medieval period, though the evidence here remains at the level of a cropmark outline rather than excavated ground.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Enclosure, Drumcar, Co. Louth. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement