Barrow (Ring Barrow), Curragh, Co. Kildare
Co. Kildare |
Barrows
On the Curragh, the wide open plain in County Kildare long associated with horse racing and military training, there sits a prehistoric burial monument so modest in scale that it could easily be crossed without a second thought. This ring barrow, a type of funerary earthwork typically dating from the Bronze Age, consists of a low central mound enclosed by a shallow ditch, known as a fosse, and a slight outer bank. What makes this particular example quietly remarkable is just how small it is: the raised central area measures only two metres across and rises a mere twenty centimetres above the surrounding ground. The enclosing bank, present along the east-northeast to south to north-northwest arc, stands no higher than fifteen to twenty centimetres on the outside. It is, by any measure, an unassuming thing.