Mound, Shallon (Nethercross By.), Co. Dublin
Co. Dublin |
Ritual/Ceremonial
In a field in Shallon, in the old barony of Nethercross in north County Dublin, a low earthen mound sits within a patch of rough pasture, distinguished from its surroundings by five small granite pillars that have been inserted into it as an artwork.
The pillars are an unusual intrusion, marking a place that might otherwise pass unnoticed, and they raise the obvious question: what exactly is the mound they have been planted in?
The mound measures roughly 35 metres in length, 20 metres in width, and just 1.5 metres in height, giving it an elongated, irregular shape that does not conform neatly to any single monument type. When the Ordnance Survey mapped the area in 1938, it was recorded as a circular earthwork, a classification noted by Healy in 1975, though the actual form on the ground is rather less regular than that description implies. Earthen mounds of this kind in the Dublin countryside can have origins ranging from prehistoric burial to later agricultural or boundary features, and without excavation it is difficult to say more with confidence. What the record does make clear is that the mound survives, sitting within a buffer zone of rougher ground that has kept it from the plough.
The site lies within undulating open fields with extensive views across the surrounding landscape, which makes it relatively easy to spot once you are oriented. The rough pasture immediately around the mound is the most reliable visual cue on approach, contrasting with the larger cultivated fields nearby. The granite pillars, modest in scale, are the detail that rewards a closer look; they suggest that someone considered the mound worth marking and interpreting as more than an agricultural inconvenience, even if the artwork itself offers no explanation of what lies beneath.