Enclosure, Dromtine, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Dromtine, Co. Kerry

On the Iveragh Peninsula in south Kerry, there is a site that exists now only on paper.

A small circular enclosure, the kind that appears with quiet regularity across early Irish landscapes, was once visible in boggy pasture just north of Dromtine Lough. Today, following recent tree planting in the area, no visible trace of it remains on the ground.

Circular enclosures of this type are among the most common surviving earthwork forms in Ireland, typically interpreted as enclosed farmsteads or settlement sites from the early medieval period, though some may be considerably older. They were often constructed as a raised or embanked ring around a dwelling or cluster of dwellings, providing a degree of protection for both inhabitants and livestock. This particular example was recorded on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps, those detailed surveys carried out in the nineteenth century that captured the Irish landscape at a moment before much of its older fabric was disturbed or erased. The fact that it appeared on those maps at all suggests it retained some physical presence into the 1800s, even in its boggy, marginal setting beside the lough.

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Pete F
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