Enclosure, Carrowcanada, Co. Mayo

Co. Mayo |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Carrowcanada, Co. Mayo

On a low ridge in the rough pasture of Carrowcanada, in County Mayo, a barely perceptible oval in the landscape marks something older than the field system surrounding it.

The ground rises almost imperceptibly within a rough oval shape, roughly 29.5 metres on its northeast to southwest axis and around 25 metres across the other way, and it takes a certain quality of light, or a deliberate slowness of attention, to notice it at all.

The feature did not appear on the Ordnance Survey's six-inch map of 1838, which is itself informative. That survey was meticulous, and the absence suggests that by the early nineteenth century whatever this enclosure once was had become so absorbed into the working landscape that it did not register as a distinct monument. It appears on later map editions, however, indicating that at some point it was recognised as something worth recording. The enclosure's edges are defined by a very low curving stony bank along the northeast and southeast, one that gradually peters out toward the south-southeast. A further low stony bank survives at the southwest. Most telling is an upstanding drystone field wall running from southwest to north-northeast that appears to follow the curve of the enclosure, as though whoever built it in more recent centuries was working around a boundary they could still trace. The northern half of the interior sits at a slightly higher level than the southern half, a subtle topographic irregularity that adds to the sense of an engineered, purposeful space.

An old farm laneway flanked by field walls skirts the eastern side of the enclosure and extends beyond it in both directions, suggesting the site was long integrated into the agricultural routines of the area. The northern portion of the interior has since been planted with conifers, which now partly obscure the interior ground surface and make a full reading of the space more difficult from within.

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, Carrowcanada, Co. Mayo. 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