Concentric enclosure, Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny

Co. Kilkenny |

Enclosures

Concentric enclosure, Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny

On a south-facing slope in Co. Kilkenny, just outside Ballyragget, a pair of concentric earthwork rings sits so quietly in the landscape that it took an aerial photograph to bring them properly to light.

From ground level, the banks are low and broad, easy to dismiss as natural undulation or the memory of a field boundary. Only when seen from above does the geometry become legible: two roughly circular enclosures, one nested inside the other, with a flat berm separating them.

The site was identified from aerial photography, and measured in detail during a field visit in 2018. The inner enclosure is approximately 32 metres in diameter, defined by a low broad bank and an outer fosse, which is the term for a ditch cut as part of a defensive or enclosing earthwork. A flat berm, essentially a narrow shelf of ground, separates this inner ring from a second, larger enclosure roughly 80 metres north to south and 70 metres east to west. The outer bank of that second ring is noticeably more pronounced on the southern side, and there appears to be a possible entrance in the southern sector, where the land naturally slopes downhill toward the valley floor. Crucially, the two enclosures are not perfectly concentric: the berm between them narrows considerably from the northeast around to the southeast and again at the west, while widening in the north and southwest. Whether that asymmetry reflects deliberate design, later disturbance, or simply the demands of the terrain is not known. Two further enclosures lie within roughly 100 to 200 metres to the northwest and southwest, suggesting this part of the slope was once a more densely occupied or organised landscape than it appears today.

By 2019, satellite imagery indicated the field had moved from pasture to tillage, which raises the possibility that repeated ploughing has since softened or damaged the already slight earthworks further. The banks were never especially tall, with external heights measured in tens of centimetres rather than metres, so the monument's survival depends heavily on what has happened to the land in the years since.

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 Concentric enclosure, Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny. 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