Earthwork, Clogher, Co. Mayo
Co. Mayo |
Ritual/Ceremonial
Something in this field was considered worth mapping in 1838, and then quietly forgotten.
The Ordnance Survey's six-inch map of that year shows a circular enclosure roughly ten to fifteen metres across at a spot in low-lying pasture near Clogher in County Mayo. By the time later editions were produced, it had been dropped entirely, leaving behind only what the ground itself still holds: a small, flattened mound no more than 2.4 metres across in either direction, its edges defined by a shallow scarp that rises barely half a metre above the surrounding field.
What survives is easy to overlook. The scarp, a gentle sloping edge that marks the boundary of the mound, is clearest on the northern side; to the south it fades so gradually that it becomes indistinguishable from the general lay of the land. A few stones protrude from the top and sides, though whether these are incidental or structural is not clear. The site sits on a broad, subtle rise in otherwise level ground, with the land dipping away very gently to the east. Its precise origins and function remain unclassified, which is part of what makes it notable. About 180 metres to the west lie two further earthworks, one a possible ringbarrow and the other a possible mound barrow. A ringbarrow is a type of Bronze Age funerary monument consisting of a low mound surrounded by a circular ditch or bank; a mound barrow is a simpler raised burial mound. Whether this small earthwork belongs to the same tradition or served some other purpose is an open question.
The 1838 mapping suggests someone once thought the feature clear enough to record as a defined enclosure. What caused it to disappear from subsequent surveys is unknown; it may simply have been judged too degraded to merit continued inclusion, or re-surveyed by someone who saw only a faintly uneven field.