Barrow (Ditch barrow), Gortacloona, Co. Limerick

Co. Limerick |

Barrows

Barrow (Ditch barrow), Gortacloona, Co. Limerick

This burial monument in the townland of Gortacloona exists, for practical purposes, only from the air.

Walk the low-lying wet pasture of the Camoge River floodplain in County Limerick and you would be unlikely to notice anything underfoot beyond damp grass, land drains, and the slow geometry of agricultural channels. The barrow below that surface, however, has quietly endured, leaving just enough of a trace in the soil to be caught by a camera at the right season and altitude.

The monument was first identified during the Bruff aerial photographic survey in 1986, appearing in the survey record as image 226. What the photographs revealed was a suboval earthwork defined by a fosse, the term used for the enclosing ditch that typically surrounds a barrow of this kind, effectively defining its boundary and sometimes providing the material for an internal mound. The feature had never appeared on Ordnance Survey Ireland historic maps, suggesting it left no surface trace legible to cartographers working at ground level. Later satellite and aerial orthoimages, taken between 2005 and 2013, confirmed the monument's presence as a faint oval-shaped cropmark, measuring roughly 31 metres east-northeast to west-southwest and 23 metres north-northwest to south-southeast. Cropmarks form when buried features such as ditches or walls affect moisture retention in the soil above them, causing overlying vegetation to grow at a slightly different rate, producing variations in colour or density that become visible from above. The clearest image of this particular monument was captured on Google Earth on 25 March 2017. A second barrow, recorded as LI032-240, lies approximately 130 metres to the northwest, suggesting this stretch of floodplain may have held greater significance in the prehistoric landscape than its present condition implies. The Camoge River, some 430 metres to the west, marks the townland boundary with Ragamus.

Because the monument survives below the current ground surface and produces no visible earthwork, there is little for a visitor to observe in person. The site sits on private agricultural land and the fosse shows no upstanding remains. The aerial cropmark is best appreciated through the Google Earth image dated 25 March 2017, which remains the clearest documentation of the monument's extent and shape. Anyone researching the barrow in an archival context should consult the record compiled by Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly, uploaded to the national monument record in November 2020, alongside the Bruff aerial survey imagery.

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 Barrow (Ditch barrow), Gortacloona, Co. Limerick. 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