Enclosure, Curraheen, Co. Waterford

Co. Waterford |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Curraheen, Co. Waterford

On a shoulder of land where the Comeragh Mountains begin their eastward descent into the Waterford countryside, a low earthwork survives in rough pasture, largely unnoticed. It is the remnant of an enclosure, the kind of roughly circular or oval earthen boundary that once defined a settled or ceremonial space in early medieval Ireland, and most of what it once was has long since gone back into the ground.

What remains is a scarp at the northern arc of the original bank, running approximately 21.5 metres in length, around three metres wide and 1.4 metres high. That modest ridge is now doing a second shift in life, pressed into service as a field boundary, which is both the reason it has survived at all and the reason it is easy to overlook. Countless enclosures across Ireland have been preserved precisely because a later generation found them useful as ready-made field banks, the ancient earthwork absorbed into a working agricultural landscape without anyone necessarily knowing or caring what it originally was. The rest of the enclosing circuit has been lost, leaving only this northern stretch as evidence that something more complete once stood here.

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, Curraheen, Co. Waterford. 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