Enclosure, Fiddane, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Enclosures
Some archaeological sites announce themselves readily enough, a looming tower or a carved stone visible from the road.
The enclosure at Fiddane, in the uplands of County Tipperary, takes the opposite approach entirely. Sitting on a north-west-facing slope of rising ground, it is simply not visible at ground level, the kind of site that exists most clearly as a mark on a map or a shadow caught in an aerial photograph rather than as anything a passing walker would notice.
Enclosures of this type are among the more common, and more quietly mysterious, features of the Irish archaeological landscape. The term covers a broad range of roughly circular or oval earthworks, some associated with early medieval settlement, others possibly serving as burial grounds, stock enclosures, or ritual spaces. Their age and function can vary considerably, and without excavation many remain genuinely ambiguous. What places Fiddane's example in an interesting category is its upland setting, which may suggest a different pattern of land use than the lowland ringforts more commonly associated with early farming communities, though the specifics of this particular site remain undetermined.