Enclosure, Ardgroom Outward, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Ardgroom Outward, Co. Cork

On the lower north-facing slopes of Tooreennamna Mountain in the Ardgroom area of west Cork, a circular stone enclosure sits quietly in rough pasture on cutaway bog, its original shape still legible despite centuries of erosion and the encroachment of modern field boundaries.

The enclosure measures about 20.5 metres in internal diameter, a scale broadly consistent with the kind of early medieval or prehistoric ringfort-type structures found throughout Munster, though its precise date remains unestablished. What makes it quietly compelling is the way it sits at the intersection of the ancient and the entirely pragmatic: stones from its own walls appear to have been robbed out at some point to build the modern field boundaries that now cut directly through it.

The wall itself survives to a thickness of around 1.3 metres and a height of roughly 0.8 metres in its better-preserved sections. Between the south-east and south-west arcs, the construction technique is still visible: an inner and outer row of upright contiguous slabs, set side by side and packed with rubble and earth between them, a method sometimes described as slab-built or orthostatic walling. Moving around the perimeter from south-west to south-east, the fabric becomes more disordered, with larger stones lying haphazardly. A north-south modern field boundary bisects the western arc entirely, and west of that boundary only faint traces of the original wall survive. Two upright slabs at the south-east may represent one jamb of the original entrance, though the other side has not been identified. Inside the enclosure, in its northern quadrant, there is a hut site, a small structure of the kind typically associated with domestic occupation, suggesting this was once a place where people not only kept animals or defined territory, but actually lived.

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 Enclosure, Ardgroom Outward, Co. Cork. 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