Enclosure, Garryantanvally, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Garryantanvally, Co. Kerry

Some archaeological sites are remarkable for what they contain.

This one in Garryantanvally, County Kerry, is remarkable for what it no longer does. Recorded on the Ordnance Survey maps of 1841 to 1842 as a sub-circular enclosure, the kind of roughly oval or rounded earthwork that in Ireland often marks a former ringfort or early settlement boundary, it had already been partially compromised by a fieldbank running east to west across its southern side. By the time the next comparable survey came around in 1939, the site had disappeared from the map entirely. Today, nothing survives on the ground.

That gap between 1842 and 1939 tells a quiet story about land use and agricultural pressure in rural Kerry. The enclosure was, in a sense, already losing the battle when it was first officially recorded; a field boundary cutting through its southern arc suggests that whoever farmed the land found practical use more pressing than preservation. Over the following century, whatever earthwork remained was levelled completely, leaving only a cartographic ghost in the earlier Ordnance Survey sheets. C. Toal's North Kerry Archaeological Survey, published in 1995, captured this trajectory, noting the site's presence in historical mapping and its total absence in the present landscape.

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, Garryantanvally, Co. Kerry. 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