Barrow (Ring Barrow), Cooga, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Barrows
A low circular mound sitting on the crown of a hillock in County Tipperary's upland pasture might be easy to overlook, particularly after centuries of ploughing have worn it down to little more than a faint swell in the ground.
But the ring barrow at Cooga is still legible in the landscape, its concentric features surviving in measurable form despite the agricultural pressure brought to bear on them over the years.
A ring barrow is a funerary monument of prehistoric date, typically comprising a central mound where human remains were deposited, surrounded by a circular ditch, known as a fosse, and an outer earthen bank. At Cooga, the central mound measures roughly 3.3 metres in diameter and now stands only about 8 centimetres proud of the surrounding ground, which gives a sense of just how much ploughing has reduced it. The enclosing fosse, now waterlogged and silted, is around 3 metres wide, and the outer bank beyond it extends the overall diameter of the monument to just over 16 metres. The bank has suffered most on its north-western side, where it is most heavily denuded, likely a consequence of repeated passes by agricultural machinery working downslope from that direction.
What sets this particular example apart is the care with which its position was chosen. The hillock commands wide views in almost every direction, interrupted only by the rising ground to the north-west. Whether that outlook was significant to the people who built it or simply incidental to a prominent natural feature is impossible to say, but the placement suggests an intention to be seen, or at least to see, that still registers clearly when you stand there today.