Enclosure, Glasshouse, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Glasshouse, Co. Cork

In a pasture above the Bride river valley, a low circular bank sits heavily overgrown, its purpose unannounced and its origins unrecorded in any written history.

The enclosure is modest in scale, roughly sixteen metres across from north to south, defined by an earthen and stone bank that rises about seventy centimetres on its interior face but barely twenty centimetres on the outside. That asymmetry is part of what makes such sites quietly puzzling: the higher interior scarp suggests the bank was thrown up from material dug within, yet whether this served as a farmstead boundary, a stock enclosure, or something altogether more ceremonial is not easily settled from the ground alone.

What sharpens the interest here is the company the enclosure keeps. On either side of it, in adjoining fields and the neighbouring townland, lie two fulachta fiadh, a type of prehistoric cooking site typically identified by a horseshoe-shaped mound of fire-cracked stone and charcoal, the debris of repeated episodes of water-boiling using heated stones. Fulachta fiadh are among the most common prehistoric monuments in Ireland, generally dated to the Bronze Age, and their clustering around this enclosure hints at a landscape that was purposefully organised rather than incidentally occupied. The enclosure itself sits on a gentle north-facing slope with a clear view down over the Bride river valley, a position that would have made practical sense for anyone keeping watch over movement along the valley floor or simply managing livestock on the hillside.

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, Glasshouse, Co. Cork. 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