Enclosure, Tom Naíonán, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Tom Naíonán, Co. Galway

On the summit of a rocky knoll in County Galway, the outline of an ancient enclosure clings to the high ground, its boundaries now little more than a grassed-over ridge in the landscape.

Oval in shape and modest in scale, measuring roughly 33 metres east to west and just over 10 metres north to south, it is the kind of site that rewards patient looking rather than dramatic first impressions. What survives is a low stone wall, largely buried under turf, with a berm running around the outer edge; a berm being a narrow, deliberately formed ledge or shelf in the earthwork. Along the arc from the north-west to the north-east, the outer face of this berm is revetted with stone, meaning the stonework was laid to reinforce and hold the bank in place, a detail suggesting some care in the original construction even if time has since been unkind to it.

The interior of the enclosure may once have contained a cashel or built-up stone feature, referenced in the archaeological record as a possible CBG, a term used to denote a stone structure of the kind commonly associated with early medieval settlement in the west of Ireland. The site sits within the broader landscape of West Galway, a region with a dense and varied archaeological inheritance, and its position crowning a rocky knoll is typical of enclosures that were sited for visibility, defensibility, or both. Paul Gosling's Archaeological Inventory of County Galway, published in 1993, recorded the enclosure in its present poorly preserved state, which suggests that by the late twentieth century much of the structural detail had already been lost to the slow processes of collapse and vegetation growth.

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