Enclosure, Ballynacloghy, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Ballynacloghy, Co. Galway

In the townland of Ballynacloghy, a collapsed ring of limestone flagstones carries a name that most maps would never record: St. Sorney's Bed.

The name alone sets this small enclosure apart. Circular, with an internal diameter of around 5.7 metres, it is defined by a double-faced dry-stone wall, now heavily tumbled, built from large limestone slabs. At its eastern side there appears to be an entrance gap, though the interior is largely inaccessible, choked with boulders and overgrown with bramble.

What makes the site particularly curious is what may lie beneath that tangle. Writing in the early 1950s, a researcher named McCaffrey recorded that local people described a small covered passage built of stones somewhere within the enclosure, resembling a souterrain, the kind of narrow underground chamber or tunnel, typically lined with drystone walling, that appears at many early medieval Irish sites and is thought to have served for storage or refuge. By the time archaeological fieldwork was carried out, no trace of this passage could be seen at the surface. Whether it survives intact underground, has collapsed entirely, or existed only in memory, remains an open question. The enclosure sits roughly seven metres to the south-southwest of a cashel, a term for a stone-walled ringfort, suggesting this cluster of features may represent the remains of a small early medieval settlement. Some sixty metres to the southeast lies St. Sorney's Well, which completes a modest but coherent sacred landscape: a named bed, a named well, and the ruins of a fortified enclosure, all within a short walk of one another in the Galway countryside.

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, Ballynacloghy, Co. Galway. 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