Enclosure, Craggataska, Co. Clare
Co. Clare |
Enclosures
In a small field of rocky pasture in Craggataska, County Clare, the ground holds the low, sod-covered remains of two enclosures that have been slowly subsiding into the landscape for centuries.
The more prominent of the two is roughly circular, measuring about 22 metres across, its collapsed stone wall now spread to more than five metres in overall width and barely visible above the surrounding turf. A gap of roughly 1.7 metres on the south-eastern side may once have served as an entrance, though the wall on all sides has long since fallen in on itself, leaving only the broad, grass-covered ridge of what was once a substantial boundary.
What gives the site its quietly layered quality is the relationship between this circular enclosure and a second, rectangular one adjoining it to the north. The two are connected by a collapsed field wall running from the north-north-east of the circular enclosure, where it meets the corner of the rectangular structure, which measures approximately 22 metres by 16 metres. That second enclosure has fared worse with time: two of its sides are still traceable, running to the south-east and south-west, but the remaining sides have been cut through by later field boundaries running in different directions, leaving only fragments. Enclosures of this kind, defined by dry-stone walls and associated with ancient field systems, are a common feature of the Irish rural landscape, often interpreted as early agricultural or settlement boundaries, though their precise date and function in any individual case can be difficult to establish without excavation. Here, the whole complex sits within a broader field system, suggesting that whatever activity took place within these walls was part of a more extensive and organised use of the land.
The enclosures occupy a gentle south-east-facing slope with open views across the surrounding landscape, though higher ground rises to the south-west and north-east. The interior of the circular enclosure slopes slightly downward toward the south-east, and the surface is uneven where rock outcrops push close to the surface, a reminder that this part of Clare has always been as much stone as soil.