Barrow (Ring Barrow), Manor, Co. Kerry

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Barrow (Ring Barrow), Manor, Co. Kerry

On the north bank of the River Lee in County Kerry, half a prehistoric burial monument has effectively vanished into a reclaimed field.

What remains is a ring-barrow, a type of funerary earthwork from the Bronze Age in which a low circular mound or platform is surrounded by a ditch, known as a fosse, and an outer bank. Here, agricultural land reclamation has removed the southern portion entirely, leaving the northern arc of the encircling fosse and bank, along with most of the central platform, to carry the evidence of the whole.

The surviving dimensions give a reasonable picture of what once stood here. The internal platform measures around 15 metres east to west, and a total diameter of approximately 22 metres can be estimated from north-west to south-east. The fosse, which cuts around the platform, is about two metres wide and sits roughly 30 centimetres below the surface of the central mound. The outer bank, best preserved on its eastern side, reaches a width of three metres and rises about 40 centimetres above the surrounding ground. These are modest but legible earthworks. Surveyed as part of a systematic examination of the Lee Valley carried out between 1996 and 1997, the site was noted as surviving despite considerable pressure from drainage work and land improvement. Several field drains still cross the area, and the field, despite the reclamation effort, remains notably wet and is likely to flood seasonally, which may itself have contributed to the survival of what little remains above ground.

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Pete F
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