Enclosure, Cnoc Na Ngabhar, Co. Kerry

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Enclosures

Enclosure, Cnoc Na Ngabhar, Co. Kerry

On level, poorly drained pastureland near the southern shore of Brandon Bay in County Kerry, an ancient enclosure sits in a state of quiet ambiguity.

What the Ordnance Survey maps record as a circular enclosure has been so heavily modified over the centuries that it now presents itself as an irregular oval mound of earth and stones, measuring roughly 17 metres along its longest axis. The perimeter rises slightly above the interior, and in the western sector a short stretch of stony bank survives to a height of about 0.6 metres. Whether the original boundary was a clay bank, a stone wall, or a stone-faced clay bank remains genuinely uncertain; the surface alone cannot resolve the question.

The site sits less than 100 metres west of the Scorid river, and its worn condition has left its internal arrangements similarly difficult to read. A depression about 4 metres in diameter, pressing against the western bank, may represent a hut-site, though other surface irregularities resist any clear interpretation. The more revealing detail lies in the south-eastern quadrant, where a series of small depressions mark the entrance to a souterrain. A souterrain is an underground passage, typically constructed in early medieval Ireland using drystone walling and large roof slabs, and often associated with nearby settlement sites. At Cnoc na nGabhar, one roof slab is visible at the edge of a collapse hollow, and a small opening beneath it gives a glimpse of the drystone-built passage extending at least 2 metres to the south. The enclosure and its hidden passage were recorded and described by J. Cuppage as part of the Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey, published in 1986.

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