Enclosure, Caherbullog, Co. Clare

Co. Clare |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Caherbullog, Co. Clare

On the south-eastern shoulder of a sharp ridge in County Clare, a small D-shaped enclosure sits quietly within what appears to have been a busy, layered landscape used across multiple periods of Irish prehistory and early history.

The enclosure is modest in scale, measuring roughly 12 metres along its north-north-east to south-south-west axis and about 6.5 metres across, with an unusual straight western side that gives it that distinctive D-shape rather than the more typical oval or circular form seen in many Irish field enclosures.

What makes it particularly interesting to look at closely is the construction history written into its fabric. The defining boundary consists of a loosely built stone wall, which varies noticeably in width, running between 0.3 and 0.5 metres at the northern end and thickening to between 0.6 and 0.9 metres at the south. Crucially, this wall appears to have been built on top of an earlier stony bank, up to 3 metres wide, suggesting that the boundary was added or modified at a later point than the bank beneath it. In Irish archaeology, this kind of layering is a common indicator of a site that was returned to, repurposed, or simply maintained across generations rather than built and abandoned in a single episode. The interior of the enclosure is flat and rocky towards the east-south-east, and a low stone wall abuts the exterior on that same side, hinting at further activity or subdivision around the structure. The whole thing sits within a much larger multiperiod field system, meaning this small enclosure was never an isolated feature but one component of an organised agricultural or pastoral landscape that people were actively shaping over a long stretch of time, looking out over a partly reclaimed valley to the south-east, with a parallel ridge visible roughly 1.6 kilometres away in the same direction.

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Pete F
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