Barrow (Ring Barrow), Ballinascorney Upper, Co. Dublin
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Barrows
Somewhere in the upland pastures of Ballinascorney Upper, a ring barrow sits on a slight rise in the land, its circular form still legible after several thousand years, despite the intrusion of a later field boundary that has cut into its eastern side.
That boundary, running north to south, is a small reminder of how prehistoric monuments are gradually eroded not by dramatic destruction but by the quiet, incremental logic of farming.
A ring barrow is a burial monument of the Bronze Age tradition, typically consisting of a low central mound enclosed by a ditch and an outer bank. The example here follows that pattern closely. The circular raised area measures 25.5 metres in external diameter, defined by an external bank roughly 3.8 metres wide and between 0.4 and 0.5 metres high, with an internal fosse, the encircling ditch, running approximately 2 metres wide and 0.3 metres deep. The fosse would originally have separated the raised interior from the bank, giving the monument a distinct ringed profile when seen from outside. According to survey work cited by Healy in 1975, the eastern section has been clipped by a field boundary, meaning the monument's full circuit is no longer intact on that side. The record was compiled by archaeologists Geraldine Stout and Padraig Clancy.
The barrow sits on a prominent rise, and the extensive views it commands are likely not incidental. Bronze Age monuments of this type are frequently positioned with a deliberate relationship to the landscape, visible from a distance and offering wide sightlines in return. To find it, visitors should expect upland pasture terrain, which means appropriate footwear and awareness that access may depend on landowner permission, as is standard for field monuments in agricultural settings. The earthwork itself is subtle at ground level, a low bank and a shallow dip rather than anything dramatic, so it rewards slow walking and lateral thinking about the shape of the ground beneath your feet.