Enclosure, Coolasmuttane, Co. Cork

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Enclosures

Enclosure, Coolasmuttane, Co. Cork

In a field of level pasture in North Cork, a low ring of earth sits so quietly in the landscape that a casual glance might mistake it for nothing more than a slight irregularity in the ground.

It is, in fact, a small enclosure, the kind of circular earthwork that was once a common feature of the Irish countryside, and which survives here in a noticeably worn but still legible form.

The enclosure is roughly circular, measuring about 18.5 metres north to south and 15.5 metres east to west, which makes it a compact space, comparable in footprint to a modest house plot. It is defined by a low earthen bank, a type of boundary built up from the soil itself rather than from stone, standing about 0.3 metres on the interior and 0.6 metres on the exterior. Beyond the bank runs a slight external fosse, the term for a shallow ditch dug to reinforce the boundary, here reaching a maximum depth of around 0.4 metres. An entrance, roughly five metres wide, opens to the south-east, a direction favoured by many Irish enclosures, possibly for reasons connected to light, prevailing winds, or convention. To the north-east, the bank has been almost entirely levelled over a stretch of about two metres, suggesting that the site has been disturbed or gradually eroded at that point over a long period. Earthworks of this general type in Ireland range in date and function, some serving as ringfort enclosures associated with early medieval settlement and farming, others used as animal pens or as boundaries for activities that left little other trace in the ground.

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