Enclosure, An Seanchnoc, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Enclosures

Enclosure, An Seanchnoc, Co. Kerry

On a low rise in rough pasture at An Seanchnoc in County Kerry, a roughly circular arrangement of boulders sits mostly forgotten in overgrown ground.

It would be easy to walk past without registering it as anything more than a scatter of old stones, yet it represents a type of enclosure that once organised life, land, and perhaps ritual across early Ireland.

The structure is subcircular in plan, enclosing an area of roughly 11.65 metres north to south and 13.5 metres east to west. Only the lower courses of the stone wall survive, and even these are incomplete; the eastern side has been lost entirely. On the western side the wall still stands about 0.65 metres on the outside face and 0.6 metres on the inside, with a width of 2.7 metres, suggesting the original build was substantial. Loose stones scattered across the overgrown interior may be the collapsed remains of the upper courses. The enclosure was recorded on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map, meaning it was visible and recognisable in the nineteenth century, though its precise date and original function remain unspecified. Circular enclosures of this kind, sometimes associated with early medieval settlement or agricultural use, are among the more common yet least-understood monument types across the Irish landscape, their builders and purposes often left to inference.

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Pete F
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