Enclosure, Baurearagh, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Enclosures
On the crest of a north-facing slope in south-west Kerry, where rough hill pasture gives way to bogland, a small oval ring of stones sits quietly above the Baurearagh River valley.
It is easy to miss: the lower courses of the wall have been swallowed by the encroaching bog, leaving only the uppermost stones visible, some still upright, others scattered along the perimeter where the structure has partly collapsed. What remains measures roughly ten and a half metres on its longer axis and just under seven metres across, the wall itself no more than half a metre thick at the base and narrowing as it rises to around seventy centimetres in height.
This kind of enclosure, built from drystone walling, which is stone laid without mortar and relying on careful placement and gravity for its stability, appears throughout Kerry's upland landscapes. The technique is ancient, though dating a simple field or enclosure wall without excavation is notoriously difficult; similar structures range from prehistoric to early medieval in origin, and some are far more recent. What makes this particular example quietly interesting is its position and its condition. The choice of a ridge crest looking out over the river valley below suggests it was placed deliberately in relation to the surrounding terrain, whether for shelter, for the marking of land, or for some other purpose now lost. The bog has crept in around its base over centuries, preserving the lower stonework even as it obscures it, a common dynamic in the wet uplands of the south-west, where peat growth can bury and protect structures that might otherwise have vanished entirely.