Enclosure, Carrick, Co. Tipperary

Co. Tipperary |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Carrick, Co. Tipperary

At the base of a south-west-facing slope in Carrick, County Tipperary, a large oval enclosure once occupied a roughly ninety-metre spread of ground.

Today the field is under tillage and the earthwork is gone, yet the land itself has not quite forgotten it. Along the eastern and southern edges, a broad, curving rise still traces the old perimeter through the soil, a faint topographical memory of something that maps and inspection records confirm was once a substantial presence.

The enclosure appeared clearly on both the first and second editions of the Ordnance Survey six-inch maps, drawn in the nineteenth century, suggesting it was a recognised feature of the landscape for generations. When inspectors visited in 1964, they found a small, irregularly shaped field retaining what they described as a fairly massive straight bank along the eastern side. That bank, and whatever remained of the enclosure around it, did not survive much longer. An aerial photograph taken in 1968 shows the site already levelled, the earthwork absorbed into the working farmland around it. The whole sequence, from mapped monument to obliterated field feature, played out in the space of a few years during a period when agricultural improvement across Ireland erased a great many such sites with little ceremony.

Enclosures of this general type, large oval or roughly circular earthworks defined by banks and sometimes ditches, are found across Ireland in considerable numbers. Their origins and functions vary; some are early medieval settlement enclosures, others may have ritual or boundary-marking purposes. Without excavation, the Carrick example cannot be assigned to any particular period or use. What can be said is that something measuring close to ninety metres across was once deliberately constructed here, and that a visitor walking the field today might notice the ground swelling gently at the eastern edge, the last legible trace of a structure that outlasted its builders by centuries before disappearing within a single decade.

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, Carrick, Co. Tipperary. 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